jJ^V  OF  PRiNCfJg-. 


SEROLOGICAL  St>^^^ 


6R  515  .D7  1888 
Dorchester,  Daniel,  1827- 

1907. 
Christianity  in  the  United 

States  from  the  first 


CHRISTIANITY 


TN    THE 


IJNITED  STATES 


FROM  THE  FIRST  SETTLEMENT 


DOWN    TO    THE    PRESENT   TIME 


BY 

DANIEL   DORCHESTER.   D.D. 


NEW  YORK: 

CINCINNATI  : 

CRANSTON    A     STOWE. 

iSSS. 


Copyright,  1888,  by 
New  York. 


^■^M^: 


lifl'v  PREFACE.  i.. 

^^^T^HE  genesis  and  purpose  of  this  volume  are  easily  told.  It  had 
fv"*"  a  genuine  spiritual  conception,  birth  and  growth. 
■  Before  the  death  of  that  eminent  historian  oi Religion  in  America, 
Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D.,  the  undersigned  held  correspondence 
with  him  upon  questions  pertaining  to  the  religious  history  and 
prospects  of  our  country — the  beginning  of  a  series  of  inquiries 
resulting  in  this  volume.  For  over  a  dozen  years  the  subject  was 
studied  for  the  author's  personal  satisfaction,  with  no  expectation  of 
putting  the  results  into  printed  pages.  The  mental  exercises  which, 
led  him  to  undertake  the  volume  and  the  difficulties  encountered  in 
the  task  need  not  be  here  related.  The  work,  sometimes  intermit- 
ted for  months  and  twice  for  several  years,  amid  other  heavy  duties, 
though  never  out  of  thought,  has  constantly  broadened  and  ma- 
tured. 

Believing  that  Christianity  is  best  known  and  attested  by  its 
influence  in  the  actual  life  of  communities,  not  only  have  the  relig- 
ious statistics  of  the  churches  been  studied,  but  also  the  moral  and 
social  phenomena,  and  the  tidal  movements  and  trend  of  the 
nation's  life./'  These  phenomena,  sometimes  subtle  and  latent, 
sometimes  overt  and  out-bursting,  sometimes  vibratory,  and  some- 
times complex,  require  the  most  careful  discrimination  in  the  work 
of  interpreting,  analyzing  and  classifying.  Conscious  that  the  his- 
torian cannot  too  carefully  guard  lest  he  discolor  or  distort  by  his 
lens,  the  work  has  been  undertaken  and  prosecuted  under  conscien- 
tious convictions,  in  the  hope  that  the  best  interests  of  Christianity 
may  be  subserved  by  it,  and  that  it  may  prove  helpful  to  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  and  to  the  public  at  large. 


4         ^v  PREFACE. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  write  the  history  of  the  various 
religious  denominations,  for  the  author  did  not  so  conceive  his  task. 
Taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  field,  and  apprehending  what  are 
currently  regarded  as  three  great  competing  forces  in  the  relig- 
ious life  of  the  nation — Protestantism,  Romanism,  and  a  variety  of 
Divergent  Elements — he  adopted  and  has  kept  this  classification 
throughout  the  volume.  ^y 

As  to  the  Protestant  Churches,  the  beginning  of  each,  the  organic 
changes,  schisms  and  reunions,  and  the  great  benevolent,  illumi- 
nating and  evangelizing  agencies  employed  by  them,  have  been 
sketched,  and,  for  the  most  part,  kept  grouped  together,  either  by 
express  statements  or  by  implication,  avoiding  so  far  as  possible 
invidious  comparisons,  and  seeking  to  do  full  justice  to  all.  Very 
much  matter  relating  to  individual  denominations  was,  from  neces- 
•sity,  omitted.  The  Roman  Catl.olic  Church  has  been  freely,  fully 
and  generously  treated,  eulogies  have  been  expressed  upon  some 
of  the  earlier  gifted  and  devoted  emissaries,  and  a  great  amount  of 
expensive  and  wearisome  labor  put  forth  in  efforts  to  adequately 
represent  the  body  in  the  later  statistical  tables.  The  Divergent 
/i/ements,  existing,  as  they  do,  as  drifts  of  sentiment  only  slightly 
organized,  have  required  different  treatment  from  either  evangelical 
Protestantism  or  Romanism.  The  statistical  exhibits  of  all  the 
religious  bodies  are  the  best  their  own  official  "  Minutes  "  or  Year 
Books  make  possible.  To  go  behind  them  would  be  unfair  and 
impracticable.  Newspaper  statistics  have  been  omitted  almost  en- 
tirely, because  very  liable  to  errata,  and  only  under  stern  necessities 
have  estimates  been  accepted  and  used. 

Deeply  sensible  of  the  delicacy  of  an  undertaking  in  which  such 
diverse  and  multiform  interests  are  involved,  the  author  commends 
his  work  to  the  Christian  indulgence  of  the  public. 

DANIEL  DORCHESTER. 
Cffelsea.   Mass..  Dcccnder  i.  1S87. 


CONTENTS. 


I.     THE    COLONIAL    ERA. 

f:    '                                               CHAPTER    I. 
.    The  First  Discoveries  and  Settlements— Under  Roman  Catholic  Auspices. 
The  Spaniards  in  the  South »3 


PACI 


CHAPTER  II. 
Protestant  Beginnings. 

§  1.  Discoveries 23  I  §  3-  Churches  Organized 35 

§  2.  Settlements 27  j 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Later  Roman  Catholic  Beginnings. 

§  I.  The  French  in  the  North 44  j  §  3-  The  French  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.     68 

§  2.  The  English  in  Maryland 66|§4.  Resume  of  Early  Papal  Movements. .     78 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Church  and  State. 

§  I.  Diverse  Colonial  Constitutions 84  |  §  4.  Religious  Legislation 89 

§  2.  Points  of  Agreement 86  j  §  5.   Religious  Intolerance 108 

§  3.  Religious  Limitations 87  |  §  6.  General  Considerations izr 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Religious  Life  of  Protestantism. 

S  I.  From  1607  to  1662 126  I  §  4.  From  1745  to  1776 14S 

§  2.  From  1662  to  1720 ^34    §  5-  Fruits  of  the  Half-way  Covenant 150 

§  3.  From  X720  to  1745 ^39  I 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Religious  Customs  Among  Protestants. 

§  I.  The  Ministry i53  I  §  4-  The  Catechism 167 

J  2.  The  "  Meeting-houses." 156    §  5-  Thanksgivings  and  Fasts 171 

§  3,  Public  Worship. 161  | 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Protestant  Missions  Among  the  Indians. 


§  I.  In  New  England 172 

§  2.   In  the  Middle  Colonies 185 

S  3.  In  the  South 189 


§  4.  Jesuit  and  Protestant  Missions  Com- 
pared     '90 

§  5.   Results »92 


6  V  CONTENTS. 

*  CHAPTER  VIII. 

Diverse  Currents. 


PAflt 


{  I.  Inception  of  American  Skepticism 195 

8  2.  Inception  of  Unitarianism 196 


§  3.  Inception  of  Universalism 209 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Morals. 

%  I.  The  Drinking  Habits 212  I  §  5.   Indentured  Servitude 220 

%  2.  Sabbath  Observance 214  I  §  6.  African  Slavery 222 

$  3.  Unchastity— Lotteries 217   §  7.  Antislavery 225 

§  4.  Superstitions 219 ' 

CHAPTER  X. 
Education  Under  Protestantism. 

§  I.  The  Common  School  System 230 1  §  3.  Education  of  the  Ministry 250 

S  2.  The  Colleges 240 1 

CHAPTER  XI. 
General  Summaries 253 


II.     THE    NATIONAL    ERA. 
Period  l.-From  1776  to  1800. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Revolution  and  the  Churches. 


S  I.  Union  Through  Suffering 259 

J  2.   Patriotism  of  the  Clergy 261 

%  3.  Unfavorable  Effects 267 

§  4.  Civil  Troubles 271 


§  5.  Sundering  of  Ecclesiastical  Ties 273 

§  6.  The  Churches  After  the  War 278 

§  7.  Revivals  of  Religion  Rare 287 


CHAPTER  II. 
Protestant  Beginnings  Beyond  the  Alleghanies. 

S  I.   Roman  Catholic  Preoccupancy 289  [  §  3.   Evangelizing  Efforts 292 

s  2.  Anglo-American  Settlements 291  |  §  4.  Early  Privations,  etc 298 

CHAPTER   III. 

Diverse    Currents. 

S  I.  The  Unitarian  Trend 300 1  ?  3.  The  New  Jerusalem  Church 310 

S  2.   Universalism 304  '  §  4.  The  Shakers • 312 

CHAPTER    IV. 
The  French-American  Infidelity. 


§  I.  Type  of  French  Unbelief 313 

$  2.   Introduction  into  America 314 

$  3.  Skepticism  Among  Statesmen,  etc 315 


S  4.   Infidel  Organizations 318 

§  5.  Testimonies 323 


m.^-^^ 


'•'^■^ 


:.«& 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church. 


:4:-8  r.  Patriotic  Under  Disabilities 325 

'^ji'fi.  The  Hierarchy  Established 327 

->.  %  3.  Progjess  in  Individual  States 330 


PAOI 

§  4.  Religious  Orders  and  Publications. . . .  335 
S  5.  Indian  Missions 335 


CHAPTER 
Morals. 


§  I.   Post  bellum  Irritations 337 

S  2.  .Political  Bitterness 339 

%  3.  The  Family,  Dueling,  etc 341 


VI. 


§  4.  The  Social  and  Physical  Condition,  etc.  343 

§  5.  Intemperance 347 

§  6.  Survey  of  the  Dark  Period 348 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Reforms    I^tiated. 

§  I.  Early  Temperance  Seed-Sowing 3Si  I  §  2.  Early  Anti-slavery  Seed-Sowing 355 


Period  ll.-From  1800  to  1850. 

CHAPTER   I. 
New  Life  in  the  Protestant  Churches— An  Era  of  Revivals  Inaugurated. 


§  I.  A  Survey  of  the  Period 363 

S  2.  The  Revival  of  1800  Incepted 367 

%  3.  Character  of  the  Revival 369 


§  4.  Subsequent  Revivals 372 

§  5.  College  Revivals 376 

§  6.  Effects 378 


CHAPTER   II. 
The  New  Life  Expanding— The  Mississippi  Valley 
§  I.   Moral  and  Religious  Conditions 381 


Ecclesiastical  Beginnings 383 

§  3.  Trials  of  Pioneer  Preachers 388 


§  4.   Roman  Catholic  Opposition 390 

§  5.  Condition  from  1830  to  1850 395 

§  6.  Benevolent  and  Educational  Work. . .  395 


Evangelizing  Agencies 399 

1.  Home  Missions 399 

2.  City  Missions 408 

3.  Foreign  Missions 410 

4.  Societies  for  Seamen 41S 

5.  Efforts  for  the  Jews 4 '6 

Religious  Publication  Agencies 416 

1.  Tract  Societies 416 

2.  Bible  Societies 419 


CHAPTER    III. 
The   New  Life  Organizing. 

3.  Denominational    Publication 
Houses 421 

4.  Religious  Periodicals 424 

Religious  Educational  Agencies 426 

1.  Sunday-schools      and      Sunday- 
school  Societies 426 

2.  Educational  Aid  Societies 429 

3.  Cnlleges  and  the  Churches 435 

4.  Theological  Schools 437 


CHAPTER   IV. 
The  New  Life  Reformatory. 

§  I.  The  Temperance  Rpform 440  ,  §  3.  The  Sabbath  Reform . 

§  3.  The  Anti-slavery  Reform 448  | 


473 


Organic  Changes. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
Organic  Changes  in  Protestant  Churches. 


f>? 


478 


CHAPTER   VI. 
Divergent    Currents. 

$  t.   Unitarianism 492  I  §  4.  The  Progressive  Friends 517 

8  2.   Universalism S'o    §  5-  The  New  Jerusalem  Cliurch 518 

5  3.  The  Christians. 515  |s  6.  Millerism 518 


$  I.  Radical  Doubt. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
Skepticism,  Socialism,  Etc. 
521  I  §  2.  Socialism  . 


530 


s 


CHAPTER  VIII, 
Mormonism. 

The  Earliest  Phases 538  I  §  3.  Organized  Mormonism. 


S  2.  Secondaiy  Stages 539  | 


54' 


CHAPTER    IX. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

S  1.  General  Progress 543 

S  3.  Bishop  Englartd  and  Bishop  Hughes.  548 

§  3.  The  Lay  Trustee  Contest 550 

§  4.  Common  School  Contest  Begun 551 


§  5.  Native  American  Movements 55,, 

§  6.  Councils 554 

§  7.   Propaganda  Funds 556 

§  8.  Statistics  for  1850 558 


Period  lll.-From  1850  to  1887. 

CHAPTER    I. 
Moral  Phases. 


5  I.  Emancipation 562 

S  a.  Temperance 570 

5  3.  Sabbath  Observance 575 


4.  Chastity  and  Divorce 578 

5.  Crime 580 


CHAPTER    II. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

8  I.  General  Progress 585 

S  2.  The  System  of  Church  Tenure 595 

S  3.  The  Common  School  Contest 599 

S  4.  The  Religious  Orders 604 


§  r,.  Benevolent  Institutions 609 

§  6.   Educational  Institutions 611 

^  7.  Growth 614 


CHAPTER    III. 
Divergent     Currents. 


8   I.  The  Jews 624 

S  2.   Shakers 625 

8  3.   Progressive  Friends 635 

8  4.  The  New  Jerusalem  Church 626 

S  5.   Universalism 626 


5    6.   Unitarianism 628 

8     7-   "  Free  Religion  " 635 

8    8.   Multiform  Skepticism 640 

8    9.  The  Latest  Socialism 64  j 

%  10.   Mormonism 6^6 


■■■»"' 


CONTENTS. 


iJ 


I  I.  From  Atheism  to  Theism 653 

5  a.  From  Science  vs.  the  Bible  to  Science 

with  the  Bible 658 

S  3.  From    Christ    Discarded    to    Christ 

Honored ; 661 

8  4.  F'rdm  Negative  to  Biblical  Ethics. ...  663 


CHAPTER   IV. 
Convergent    Currents. 


§  5.  From  the  Poverty   of  Skepticism   to 

the  Wealth  of  Christianity 664 

§  6.  From  Defiant  Discourtesy  to  Patron- 
izing Respect 667 

§  7.  From  Scholastic  to  Vital  Truth 663 

§  8.  Vibratory  Movements 673 


CHAPTER   V. 
Life  in  Protestant  Churches. 


S  I.  Organic  Relations 675 

I  I,  Lay  Activity '. 680 


3.  Revivals 693 

4.  Spirituality 6g6 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Evangelizing  and  Illuminating  Agencies. 


1.  Foreign  Missions 700 

2.  Home  Missions 710 

3.  Progress  and  Test  of  Pecuniary  Benev- 


olences. 


714 


§  4.  Religious  Publication  Agencies 717 

1.  Religious  Periodicals 717 

2.  Religious  Publication  Houses 721 

§  5.  Higher  Education  and  the  Churches. .  724 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Growth  of  *•  Evangelical  "  Protestant  Churches. 

§  I.  TThe  Actual  Growth 733 

§  2.  The  Population  Test 742 

1.  The  Large  Cities 743 

2.  In  New  England 748 

3.  In  the  Whole  Country '  749 


3.  The  Interdenominational  Test 750 

1.  The     "Evangelical"     and     the 
"  Liberal  "  Churches 751 

2.  The  Evangelical  Protestant  and 
Rom.  Cath.  Bodies  Compared. .   75  r 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Review  and  Outlook— Pending  Problems 

The  Problem  of  the  Population 757 

The  Spirit  of  Free  Inquiry 766 

Modem  Revolutionizing  Tendencies 769 


Index. 


The  New  Functions  of  Public  Opinion. . . .  771 

The  Civil  Problem 773 

The  Problem  of  Protestantism 775 


781 


LIST  OF  MAPS,  CHARTS,  AND  DIAGRAMS. 


FASS 


Map  of  French,  English,  Dutch,  Swedish,  and  Spanish  Provinces facing    22 

Map  of  Aboriginal  America facing    70 

Chart— Colonial  Period facing  256 

Map  Showing  Territorial  Growth facing  393 

Chart  Showing  Church  Accommodations facing  675 

Diagram        I.  Sunday-school  Growth facing  693 

"  II.  Colleges,  Denominational  and  Undenominational facing  726 

III.  Denominational  Students facing  728 

IV.  Growth  of  City  Populations facing  743 

V.  The  Foreign  Elements  in  the  Fifty  Principal  Cities.. .  .facing  745 

"  VI.  Protestantism  and  Romanism  in  New  England facing  752 

"         VII.  Relative   Progress  of   Protestantism  and   Romanism   in   the 

United  States facing  753 

VIII.   Increase   of  Protestant  and   Roman  Catholic  Churches   and 

Clergy  from  1 850-1 886 facing  754 

"  IX.  Growth  and  Status  of  Protestantism  and  Romanism  compared 

with  the  Population  of  the  United  States,  1850-1886.  .facing  755 
"  X.   Illustrating  the  Growth  of  Immigration  from  1 790-1 885. facing  759 

"  XI.   Illustrating   the    Relative    Immigration    from    Four    Leading 

European  Countries facing  761 


I. 
THE  COLONIAL  ERA. 


/. 

'-'*** 


'0^5 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE    FIRST    DISCOVERIES   AND    SETTLEMENTS -UNDER 
ROMAN  CATHOLIC  AUSPICES. 


The  Spaniards  in  tlie  South. 

RELIGIOUS  motives  manifestly  acted  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
earliest  discoveries  and  settlements  in  America,  though  consid- 
erations of  maritime  enterprise  and  commercial  advantage,  not 
wantincj  from  the  first,  soon  directed  and  dominated  the  New 
World  movements. 

It  is  a  striking  but  not  unfamiliar  fact  that  those  portions  of 
our  national  domain,  the  last  to  become  integral  parts  of  the 
United  States,  were  the  first  upon  which  the  efforts  of  the  papacy 
were  expended,  and  that  in  all  of  them,  for  many  years,  the  Roman 
Catholic  became  the  dominant  and  only  faith.  These,  therefore, 
will  first  receive  attention. 

Columbus,  Perez,  and  Isabella,  a  trinity  of  Roman  Catholic 
devotees — a  mariner,  a  monk,  and  a  queen — under  the  solemn 
benediction  of  the  Church,  projected  and  achieved  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World. 

"Piety,"  says (^Prescott,  "gave  a  peculiar  coloring  to  Isabella's 
mind;  "  a  remark  not  less  true  of  Columbus,  "  the  Christ-bearer."  as 
his  name  (Christopher)  signifies.  Explorer  though  he  was,  and  filled 
with  enthusiastic  conceptions  of  a  new  route  to  the  East,  opening  up 
regions  of  untold  wealth  and  splendor,  he  was  also  a  deeply  relig- 
ious man  and  a  diligent  student  of  the  Bible,  especially  of  the  proph- 
ecies, in  whose  fulfillment,  through  his  cherished  plans,  he  saw 
an  easy  communication  established  between  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth,  and  the  entire  human  family  brought  under  the  influence 
of  the  "Holy  Catholic  Church."  Believing  that  God  had  singled 
him  out  and  set  him  apart  for  this  work,  he  solemnly  declared, 
"God  made  me  a  messenger  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 
earth ;  "  and  the  power  and  riches  to  accrue  from  his  looked-for  dis- 
coveries were,  in  anticipation,  consecrated  to  the  bringing  of  souls  to 


14  CHRISTIAXITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Christ,  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West,  and  even  to  the  rescue  of 
the  Holy  Sepulcher  from  the  hands  of  the  infidel,  Juan  Perez,  the 
prior  at  Palos,  deeply  interested  in  maritime  subjects,  and  a  former 
confessor  to  Isabella,  exerted  his  priestly  influence  to  forward  the 
interests  of  Columbus  at  the  court. 

Starting  from  a  deeply  impressive  service  of  the  Holy  Commun- 
ion, in  a  temporary  chapel  on  the  shore  of  Palos,  the  adventurers 
broke  the  silence  of  ages  over  the  trackless  waters,  with  prayers 
and  hymns  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  The  first  sight  of  the  New  World 
was  greeted  with  a  Gloria  in  excelsis — "  the  first  Catholic  hymn 
whose  swelling  cadences  were  wafted  to  the  shores  of  America;" 
and  the  first  landing  witnessed  Columbus  upon  his  knees,  with 
tears  of  joy  giving  thanks  to  God  and  kissing  the  earth.  Religious 
names,  San  Salvador,  Santa  Trinidata,  Santa  Maria,  etc.,  were  given 
to  the  first  islands  discovered. 

On  his  second  voyage  Columbus  was  accompanied  by  the  first 
band  of  missionaries,  consisting  of  twelve  priests  and  a  vicar  apos- 
tolic, who,  at  Isabella,  on  the  Island  of  Hayti,  consecrated  the  first 
chapel,  on  the  feast  of  Epiphany,  in  the  year  1494  — ///f*  date  of  the 
founding  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  New  World. 

"Isabella  the  Catholic"  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  natives,  "  ordering,"  says  Irving,  "  that  great  care  should  be 
taken  of  the  religious  instruction  of  the  Indians  ;  that  they  should 
be  treated  with  the  utmost  kindness;  and  that  Columbus  should 
inflict  signal  punishment  upon  all  Spaniards  who  should  be  guilty 
of  outrage  or  injustice  toward  them." 

It  will  not  be  questioned  that  the  discovery  of  the  New  World 
was  a  maritime  enterprise ;  but  the  religious  auspices  and  inspira- 
tion under  which  it  was  conducted  were  Roman  Catholic,  then 
almost  the  only  religious  faith  of  Europe,  and  every-where  blended 
with  the  civil  power.  The  great  Protestant  reformation  was  waiting 
for  its  leader,  a  lad  of  only  nine  years,  when  the  cross  first  touched 
the  shores  of  San  Salvador. 

The  success  of  Columbus  aroused  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
turned  all  minds  to  the  West.  In  the  fifty  years  following  his  first 
discovery,  voyages  of  exploration  were  conducted  by  more  than 
twenty  adventurers,  among  whom  were  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot. 
Caspar  and  Miguel  Cortereal,  Vespucci,  Ponce  de  Leon,  Balboa, 
Cordova,  D'Ayllon,  Magellan,  Verazzano,  Gomez,  Narvaez,  Cartier, 
and  De  Soto,  all  acting  under  the  patronage  of  Roman  Catholic  na- 
tions, and  most  of  them  carrying  on  their  expeditions  ecclesiastics 
of  that  faith. 


n.  FIRST  DISCOVERIES  AND  SETTLEMENTS.  IS 

;V  Motives. 

'I       The  motives   actuating  these    explorers,  Spanish,  French,  and 
/  Portuguese,  despite  national  jealousies,  were  essentially  alike,  secular 
,     considerations  largely  predominating,  sustained  in  most,  if  not  in  all 
of  them,  by  a  substratum  of  devotion  to  the  Church  of  Rome.     At 
first,  gorgeous  visions  of  the  "  far  Cathay,"  where,  for  centuries,  had 
reigned  "  a  line  of  mighty  monarchs  of  the  race  of  Kublai  Khan," 
of  which  Marco  Polo  had  told  fabulous,  entrancing  stones— a  land 
redolent  with  aromatic  spices,  filled  with  birds  of  gayest  plumage, 
and  teeming  with  all  manner  of  precious  things  which  enrich  kin^^- 
doms,  and  make  states  and  princes  powerful — furnished  the  inspira- 
tion for  expensive,  tedious  and  dangerous  expeditions.     Some  Ophir 
or  Aura  Chersonesus  of  the  Indies,  filled  with  magnificent  cities 
and  crowded  with  commerce,  flitted  like  bewitching  lights  before 
their  minds.     This  fair  land  of  the  East  they  believed  lay  not  far  to 
the  westward.     When,  after  a  {Q\^f  years  of  exploration,  the  discovery 
of  a  vast  western  continent,  every-where  presenting  itself  as  an  un- 
reclaimed wilderness,  peopled  with  naked  savages,  made  it  apparent 
that  they  had   not  found  the  short  passage  to  the  much-coveted 
East,  their  feverish  imaginations  were  still  haunted  with  glowing 
panoramas  of  tropical  beauty,  alluvial   fertility,  and  inexhaustible 
riches.     Under  this  alluring  impulse,  European  sovereigns  vied  with 
each  other  to  share  the  glory,  wealth,  and  extended   dominion  of 
new  discoveries.     Voyagers  were  sent  forth  in  quest  of  unknown 
islands  and  continents,  full  of  gold  and  heathen  men,  or  to  find  some 
north-west  passage  to  the  Indies,  now  further  than  ever  from  their 
insatiable  grasp;  while  other  expeditions  advanced  beyond  the  un- 
promising    coast-line   of  the   continent  into   the    remote    interior 
attracted  by  stories  of  rich  and  powerful  kingdoms  far  to  the  west- 
ward. 

Explorers. 
Amerigo  Vespucci,  in  early  life  an  agent  for  a  commercial  house 
in  Seville  and   a  familiar  acquaintance  of  Columbus,  whose  story  of 
the  newly,  opened  regions  he  had  heard,  longing  to  share  in  the  glory 
and  profit  of  the  New  World  enterprises,  sails  upon  extensive  expe- 
ditions which  identify  his  name  with  an  immense  continent. 
.      •^^"'^^  ^^  L^°"'  '^hose  youth  has  been  spent  in  the  military  serv- 
ice of  Spain,  sharing  in  the  wild  predatory  exploits  of  the  wars  of 
Granada,  a  fellow-voyager  of  Columbus  in    his  second  expedition, 
the  subjugator  and  governor  of  Porto  Rico,  when  trembling  under 
the  decrepitude  of  age,  beguiled  by  marvelous  stories  of  a  land  in 


16  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

the  deep  recesses  of  whose  forests  was  a  hidden  fountain  of  perpetual 
youth,  fits  out  an  expedition,  discovers,  names  and  overruns  the 
flower-clad  peninsula  of  Florida. 

"  The  wise  and  prudent  Coronado,"  inspired  by  the  flaming 
reports  by  Mexican  priests  of  cities  far  to  the  north  larger  and  richer 
than  those  of  Mexico,  parting  from  his  lovely  wife  and  vast  posses- 
sions, leads  forth  a  band  of  chivalrous  adventurers  to  hunt  in  the 
wilderness  for  "  the  seven  great  cities  of  Cibola  "  and  the  fabled 
wealth  of  their  mighty  princes. 

Lucas  Vasquez  D'Ayllon,  setting  out  in  quest  of  a  sacred  river 
with  healing  waters  akin  to  those  of  the  fabled  fountain  of  youth,  and 
Stephen  Gomez,  in  search  of  a  passage  to  the  romantic  Cathay,  sup- 
posed to  be  reached  through  some  of  the  broad  estuaries  to  the  north- 
ward of  Florida,  return  with  cargoes  of  Indians  doomed  to  servitude. 

Pamphilo  de  Narvaez  leads  a  formidable  expedition  in  search  of 
gold  to  replenish  the  coffers  of  Charles  V. 

And  Hernando  De  Soto,  the  favorite  companion  of  Pizarro,  in 
Peru,  returning  to  Spain  with  the  opulence  of  South  American  con- 
quests, blinded  by  avarice  and  an  ambition  to  achieve  new 
dominions,  where  he  shall  no  longer  be  a  subaltern,  leads  forth  the 
dite  of  Spain  and  Portugal  in  a  splendidly  equipped  but  singularly 
ill-fated  expedition  for  the  subjugation  of  magnificent  cities  with 
richly  endowed  temples,  supposed  to  be  concealed  in  the  interior 
wilds  of  Florida  and  Mississippi. 

However  much  inspired  by  cupidity  and  ambition,  it  should  not 
be  forgotten  that  patronizing  princes  and  adventurers  alike  perform- 
ed their  parts  in  close  subordination  to  the  Church.  So  complete 
was  the  ecclesiastical  ascendency,  in  that  age,  that  each  sovereign 
felt  bound  to  promote  its  cause — an  element  serving  both  as  an  im- 
pulse and  a  check.  Expeditions  were  fitted  out  under  impressive 
ecclesiastical  benedictions;  and  adventurers,  soldiers  and  priests 
landed  together,  taking  possession  of  new  countries  in  the  name  of 
"THE  Church — the  Queen  and  Sovereign  of  the   World." 

However  strange  the  characters  of  many  of  these  leaders,  they 
seem  not  to  have  vacillated  in  their  devotion  to  the  Papal  Church. 

Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  a  companion  of  Columbus  in  his  first  expe- 
dition, subsequently  sailing  under  the  patronage  of  the  Bishop  of 
Fouseca,  with  stolen  charts  of  the  great  navigator,  explores  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien,  "  his  track  every-where  marked,"  says  Bryant, 
"with  lust  for  slaves,  for  women  and  for  gold,"  but  often  pausing  in 
those  trackless  wilds  to  worship  the  picture  of  the  Madonna,  to  whom 
he  was  enthusiastically  devoted. 


THE  CROSS  AS  AN  ENSIGN.  17 

,  X  ;,Vksco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  a  Spanish  freebooter,  though  "  pitilessly 
;cruel,  unscrupulous  and  dissolute,"  is  "  at  the  same  time  zealous  for 
the  Church."  Fighting  his  way  through  the  hostile  Indians  of 
Darien,  "he  hews  them  in  pieces,"  says  the  quaint  Peter  Martyr, 
"  as  the  butchers  doe  fleshe  in  the  shambles;  from  one  an  arme,  from 
another  a  legge,  from  him  a  buttocke,  from  another  a  shoulder,  and 
from  some  the  necke  from  the  bodie,  at  one  stroke ;  "  but  when,  at 
last,  from  the  top  of  a  high  mountain,  he  first  beholds  the  vast 
Pacific,  sparkling  and  glorious  in  the  sunlight,  overcome  with  mingled 
emotions  of  ecstasy  and  devotion,  he  prostrates  himself  upon  the 
earth,  giving  thanks  to  God  that  it  has  "  pleased  his  Divine  Majesty 
to  reserve  for  him  on  that  day  so  great  a  thing,"  and  praying  for 
success  in  subduing  those  lands  "  to  the  glory  of  his  holy  name  and 
the  increase  of  his  holy  religion." 

De  Soto,  in  whom  "  avarice  rendered  ferocious  "  is  singularly 
united  with  religious  zeal,  in  his  great  expedition  from  Florida  to 
the  Mississippi  valley,  while  reveling  in  scenes  of  robbery,  carnage 
and  lust,  massacring  and  "  leading  Indians  in  chains  "  with  "  iron 
collars  around  their  necks,"  marches  under  the  insignia  of  the  cross, 
is  attended  by  ecclesiastics,  scrupulously  maintains  the  solemn  pro- 
cessions and  festivals  of  the  Church,  and  even  himself  explains  the 
significance  of  the  cross,  and  discourses  homilies  on  the  atone- 
ment to  assembled  natives. 

The  cross,  as  a  symbol  of  papal  supremacy,  was  borne  by  Ma- 
gellan in  his  world-wide  voyages,  and  planted  on  the  southernmost 
cape  of  South  America ;  by  Fernando  and  Cortez,  who  subjugated 
the  land  of  the  Montezumas  and  made  it  obedient  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith  ;  by  Cartier  down  the  great  river  of  Canada,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  a  celebrated  saint;  and  by  Champlain,  a  devoted 
son  of  the  Church,  who  established  its  ecclesiastical  supremacy  in 
all  the  northern  region. 

Mexico. 

The  first  portion  of  North  America  subjugated  and  held  by 
Europeans  was  Mexico.  The  thrilling  story  need  not  be  here 
related.  The  Aztec  priesthood  was  overthrown  and  the  ecclesias- 
tics of  Rome  were  installed  in  their  stead.  Thenceforth,  Mexico 
became  a  burning  focus  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  from  which 
colonies  and  missions  penetrated  northward  within  the  present  limits 
of  our  national  domain.  These  Spanish  missions,  radiating  from 
Mexico,  extended  across  the  continent  from  Florida  to  California. 
A  little  later,  we  shall  see  Quebec  also  becoming  a  papal  focus,  and 
3 


18  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

radiating  her  missions  along  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
great  lakes,  down  the  Mississippi,  till  they  meet  those  on  the  Gulf, 
and  sagaciously  plotting  and  attempting  the  conquest  of  the  vast 
region  inclosed. 

These  missionary  movements  present  many  scenes  of  unexcelled 
devotion,  invincible  purpose,  patient  toil,  and  sublime  martyrdom. 
Unappalled  by  the  New  World  barbarians,  the  emissaries  of  the 
papacy  hasted  to  bring  them  to  her  embrace.  Her  wonderful 
religious  orders,  Franciscan,  Augustinian,  Dominican,  and  Carmelite, 
with  organizations  eminently  adapted  to  missionary  work,  were 
already  extended  through  many  countries  ;  and  in  the  same  epoch 
with  the  American  discoveries  the  new  order  of  Jesuits,  expressly 
intended  for  missionary  labors,  arose,  and  hastened  to  achieve  its 
earliest  triumphs  on  the  new  continent.  However  notorious  this 
celebrated  order  subsequently  became,  it  must  be  allowed  that  the 
record  of  its  earliest  missionary  toils  in  North  America  abounds  in 
thrilling  incidents  and  examples  of  rare  devotion. 

"  Habituated  to  self-denial,  a  solitary  man,  with  no  earthly  tie 
to  make  life  dearer  than  the  call  of  duty,  a  man  who  had  renounced 
not  only  the  luxuries  but  most  of  the  comforts  of  life,  the  Catholic 
missionary,  crucifix  in  hand,  bearing  a  few  articles  of  church  service, 
hastened  to  rear  the  cross  amid  the  scenes  of  idolatrous  worship.  .  .  . 
Sometimes  a  mission  rose  by  royal  command,  and  a  missionary,  sup- 
plied or  supported  from  the  public  treasury  like  a  soldier,  proceeded 
to  his  post.  Sometimes  the  settlers  collected  yearly  means  to  en- 
able the  frugal  priest  to  live  and  obtain  what  he  needed  for  his 
ministry ;  but  most  generally  the  princes,  nobles,  and  people  of 
Europe  raised  funds  for  each  particular  mission,  which  enabled  proc- 
urators of  religious  orders,  in  seaport  towns,  to  send  across  the 
Atlantic  missionaries,  books,  church  articles,  and  often  objects  of 
agricultural  or  mechanical  industry  for  the  Indian  tribes."  * 

Florida. 

Florida^  from  its  first  discovery  to  the  founding  of  St.  Augustine 
( 1 5^5)>  was  the  scene  of  numerous  unsuccessful  colonies  and  missions. 
Regarded  as  "  a  paragon  of  wealth  and  beauty,"  expeditions  were 
fitted  out  to  explore  and  settle  it,  soldiers  and  priests  accompanying 
the  adventurers.  The  savage  inhabitants  so  effectually  resisted  their 
invaders  that  most  of  the  latter  perished.  In  1526,  Pamphilo  de 
Narvaez,  with  the  title  of  Governor,  and  accompanied  by  a  large 

*  John  G.  Shea,  Catholic  Missions  in  the  United  States,  p.  29. 


PEACEFUL   CONQUEST  ATTEMPTED.  19 

force  of  soldiers,  undertook  the  conquest  of  the  country.  Fran- 
ciscan priests,  under  Father  Juarez,  one  of  the  first  of  that  order 
who  entered  Mexico,  attended  the  expedition.  With  great  re- 
ligious solemnities,  they  took  possession  of  the  Bay  of  Pensacola. 
Scenes  of  exacting  toil  and  terrible  suffering  followed ;  disease 
and  savage  hostilities  decimated  their  numbers,  and  all  but  four 
perished.       +- 

In  1547,  Father  Louis  Cancer,  a  Dominican  priest,  hoping  to  win 
new  conquests  for  the  cross  by  "  subduing  unarmed  and  in  peace  a 
country  that  had  baffled  the  hardiest  military  expeditions,"  projected 
the  spiritual  conquest  of  this  region.  Drawing  into  his  plan  "  the 
great  Labasas,"  Bishop  of  Chiapas,  a  fellow-passenger  to  Spain,  he 
gained  the  full  approbation  of  Philip  II.  for  "the  peaceful  and 
bloodless  conquest  of  Florida."  With  three  other  Dominican  fathers 
Cancer  landed  upon  the  coast,  and  by  presents  and  other  friendly 
means  sought  to  win  the  favor  of  the  natives.  But  kindly  acts 
failed  to  disarm  their  ferocity,  and  within  a  few  days  two  of  the 
missionaries  were  massacred,  and  the  others  immediately  withdrew 
from  the  field.  In  1553,  five  Dominican  priests  belonging  to  a  large 
expedition  bound  for  Mexico  were  wrecked  upon  the  coast,  and 
only  one  survived  to  reach  Mexico.  In  1559,  Don  Tristan  De  Luna, 
a  scion  of  the  nobility  of  Arragon,  with  a  fleet  of  thirteen  vessels 
and  fifteen  hundred  men,  accompanied  by  families  and  six  Domini- 
can missionaries,  were  sent  to  subdue  and  colonize  the  peninsula. 
After  a  series  of  terrible  calamities  and  sufferings,  extending  through 
several  years,  the  field  was  abandoned. 

In  1565,  Pedro  Melendez,  the  most  distinguished  naval  command- 
er of  his  day,  whose  banner  had  long  floated  over  the  Mediterranean, 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  North  Sea,  and  who  at  his  own  expense 
had  served  his  royal  master  against  the  Corsairs  and  the  French, 
after  a  series  of  humiliating  reverses  was  rewarded  by  Philip  II.  with 
the  grant  of  Florida,  on  two  conditions  :  twelve  Franciscans  and 
four  Jesuits  were  to  be  carried  as  missionaries,  and  the  Huguenot 
colony  under  Ribault,  on  St.  John's  River,  was  to  be  dispersed. 
"  Melendez  himself,"  says  Bryant,'*  "  was  a  bigot  who  could  conceive 
no  better  manifestation  of  love  to  God  than  cruelty  toman,  when  man 
was  heretical."  Fitting  out  his  expedition  with  alacrity,  he  sailed 
with  thirty- four  vessels,  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-six 
men,  eleven  Franciscans,  one  father  of  the  order  of  Mercy,  one  sec- 
ular priest,  and  eight  Jesuits.  His  first  work  was  to  extirpate  the 
Huguenots,  which  he  effected  with  the    most  diabolical  and  mer- 

*  Popular  History  0/  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.,  p.  206. 


20  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ciless  slaughter.  The  details*  are  too  sickening  to  be  related 
here — the  first  Protestant  blood  shed  on  American  soil. 

St.  Augustine  was  immediately  founded,  and  a  small  colony, 
under  the  spiritual  direction  of  the  Jesuits,  was  also  planted  on  the 
Chesapeake,  the  latter  having,  however,  only  a  brief  existence. 
Among  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Augustine,  missions  were 
undertaken,  the  Jesuits  leading,  and  Father  John  Baptiste  Segura 
soon  appeared  as  Vice  Provincial,  full  of  zeal  and  plans  for  action. 
The  instruction  of  the  natives  in  Christian  principles  was  under- 
taken, and  a  school  for  Indian  children  was  established  at  Havana, 
while  Father  Segura  and  others  made  their  novitiate  in  missionary 
life  amid  the  hardships  of  the  wilderness,  in  the  provinces  of  Carlos, 
Tequestra,  and  as  far  as  Tocobago  on  the  Appalachee  Bay.  Grounds 
were  selected,  agricultural  impliments  obtained,  and  commodious 
houses  erected;  but  the  natural  fickleness  of  the  Indians  soon  pre- 
vailed, the  village  was  abandoned,  and  the  wild  life  in  the  woods 
was  resumed.  The  Jesuits  followed,  patiently  instructing,  and  bap- 
tizing a  few.  Calling  a  council  of  the  chiefs,  they  proposed  that  the 
tribe  should  renounce  the  devil  and  embrace  the  new  faith.  A 
scene  of  confusion  followed.  "  The  devil  is  the  best  fellow  in  the 
world,"  was  the  unanimous  cry;  "we  adore  him;  he  makes  men 
valiant."  The  discomfited  missionaries  abandoned  them.  In  1572 
the  Jesuits  left  Florida  for  the  more  inviting  field  of  Mexico ;  three 
priests  and  four  lay  brothers  having  fallen  victims  to  the  perfidy  of 
the  natives,  and  one  sinking  under  the  exactions  of  his  arduous 
toils. 

In  1573,  a  new  band  of  Franciscans  landed  at  St.  Augustine,  but 
no  missions  beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  colony  were 
undertaken  until  after  1592,  when  a  re-enforcement  of  twelve  Fran- 
ciscans arrived  and  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians 
were  resumed.  Mission  stations  were  established,  an  abridgment 
of  Christian  doctrine  was  drawn  up  and  printed  in  the  Indian 
dialect,  and  villages  of  neophytes  were  formed ;  but  suddenly  a 
storm  arose  which  turned  the  smiling  garden  into  a  howling  wilder- 
ness. Missionaries  were  massacred  and  the  neophytes  were  scattered. 
The  work  was  resumed  in  1601.  In  the  next  twenty  years  about 
fifty  Franciscans  labored  in  Florida,  and  no  less  than  twenty  convents 
or  religious  houses  were  established.  Subsequently  missions  were 
founded  among  the  Appalachees  and  Creeks,  in  West  Florida  and 
Georgia,  and  in    1643  a   Cherokee    chief  received    baptism.      The 

*  A  Roman  Catholic  writer,  Mr.  John  G.  Shea,  says :  "  la  no  point  of  view  can  his  conduct  be 
justified."     History  of  Indian  Missions,  p.  55. 


MISSIONARY  HEROES.  21 

founding  of  Pensacola,  in  1693,  gave  a  new  impulse  to  missions  in 
that  region,  and  the  Spanish  colony,  though  small,  was  surrounded 
by  Indian  tribes  most  of  whom  received  the  Roman  Catholic  faith. 
Villages  of  converts,  directed  by  Franciscans,  existed  along  the 
the  Apalachicola,  Flint,  and  other  rivers. 

New  Mexico 

was  the  next  scene  of  missionary  labor  within  the  recently  adopted 
territory  of  the  United  States.  Coronado's  famous  expedition  from 
Mexico,  in  1542,  in  search  of  a  fancied  realm  of  wealth  and  splendor, 
traversed  the  territory  of  New  Mexico  even  to  the  borders  of  Colo- 
rado. After  a  long  and  unsuccessful  search,  wearied  of  journeyings 
and  disappointed  in  discoveries,  he  turned  his  course  homeward  ; 
but,  when  not  far  from  the  present  site  of  Santa  F6,  the  two  Fran- 
ciscans, Father  Padilla  and  Brother  John  of  the  Cross,  who  had 
accompanied  the  expedition,  remained  behind  to  establish  a  mission. 
Turning  his  steps  to  Quivira,  Father  Padilla  labored  assiduously 
among  that  fierce  people,  but  with  no  success.  Hearing  of  a  tribe 
more  docile  in  character,  he  started  for  their  town,  but  on  his  way 
he  fell  pierced  with  a  shower  of  arrows,  sealing  his  mission  with  his 
blood.  Of  his  companion  no  tidings  were  ever  received.  Only  the 
previous  year,  the  brilliant,  cruel,  and  unfortunate  expedition  of  De 
Soto  had  penetrated  several  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
into  the  territory  above  the  Red  River. 

Coronado's  unfavorable  reports  discouraged  further  secular  ex- 
ploration of  this  region  for  a  long  time.  Meanwhile  the  Indian 
missions  of  Mexico  steadily  advanced  toward  the  north,  and  there 
dwelt  in  the  valley  of  St.  Bartholomew  a  pious  lay  brother,  Augus- 
tine Rodriguez,  who  had  grown  gray  amid  the  austerities  of  the 
Franciscan  missions.  Hearing  of  populous  countries  far  to  the 
north,  unvisited  by  Spaniards,  he  burned  with  desire  to  proclaim  to 
them  the  Gospel.  A  mission  was  projected  ;  Father  Francis  Lopez 
was  appointed  Superior,  and  the  learned  and  scientific  Father  John 
de  Santa  Maria  and  Brother  Rodriguez  accompanied  him,  escorted 
by  ten  soldiers  and  six  Mexican  Indians.  Reaching  the  country  of 
the  Teheras,  the  soldiers,  seeing  seven  hundred  weary  miles  behind 
them,  refused  to  advance  further.  Honor,  pride,  patriotism,  and 
religion  were  appealed  to  in  vain.  They  abandoned  the  missiona- 
ries to  their  fate.  A  mission  was  commenced  among  a  people 
dressed  in  cotton  mantles  and  living  in  houses,  unlike  the  wild 
Indians  of  the  plains.     Father  Maria  was  sent  back  to  Mexico  for 


22  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

auxiliaries,  but  while  asleep  by  the  wayside  he  was  surprised  and 
killed.  In  an  attack  upon  the  town,  soon  after,  Father  Lopez  fell 
beneath  the  shafts  of  the  assailants,  and  Brother  Rodriguez  was 
left  alone  until,  weary  of  his  presence  and  reproaches,  the  natives 
silenced  his  voice  in  death. 

Don  Antonio  de  Espejo.  a  rich,  brave,  and  pious  man,  set  out 
the  following  year  to  explore  the  head-waters  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
He  named  the  country  New  Mexico,  and  founded  the  city  of  Santa 
Fe,  the  second  oldest  city  within  the  present  limits  of  the  United 
States — twenty-five  years  older  than  Jamestown,  Va.  The  Francis- 
cans immediately  undertook  the  task  of  converting  the  natives — a 
work  slow,  difficult,  and  attended  with  dangers.  The  blood  of  the 
missionaries  flowed  freely;  their  number  was  recruited;  the  work 
went  slowly  on  ;  the  dusky  savages  yielded  ;  whole  tribes  accepted 
the  faith  ;  and,  in  the  year  1608,  eight  thousand  Indians  had  received 
baptism  in  New  Mexico.  In  1626  the  twenty-seventh  mission  was 
established. 

Texas. 

Father  de  Olmos,  a  Franciscan,  visited  this  region  in  1546,  and 
founded  a  mission  among  the  wild  tribes  '  of  the  Chechimecas. 
Gathering  around  this  solitary  envoy,  they  listened  in  peace  to  his 
message.  He  studied  their  language  and  made  translations  into  it; 
but  no  further  data  have  been  transmitted  to  us  concerning  this 
"  humble  conquest  of  Olmos'  hardy  zeal,"  and  a  long  interval  with 
no  records  of  missions  followed. 

California. 

A  series  of  explorers  visited  California  at  a  very  early  date: 
Cortez,  who  is  supposed  to  have  reached  its  extreme  southern  part ; 
Cobilla,  who  landed  at  San  Diego  in  1542;  Sir  Francis  Drake,  who 
sailed  along  its  coast  in  one  of  his  expeditions,  and  spent  the  sum- 
mer of  1579  in  the  Bay 'of  San  Francisco;  and  Viscaino,  who  ex- 
plored the  coast  in  159^,  ^nd  again  in  1601,  proceeding  as  far  as 
Monterey,  where  the  Carmelite  Friars  who  accompanied  his  expe- 
dition erected  a  rustic  altar  beneath  the  branches  of  a  spreading 
oak  and  celebrated  the  mysteries  of  the  papal  faith. 


SUCCESSORS  OF  COLUMBUS.  23 


CHAPTER   II. 


PROTESTANT    BEGINNINGS. 


Sec.  I.  Discoveries.         Sec.  2.  Settlements.         Sec.  3.  Churches  Organized. 


Section  J.— DiscOYeries. 

COLUMBUS  and  his  successors  in  discovery  accomplished  great 
Providential  purposes,  opening  up  pathways  for  nations  and 
/  imparting  new  impulses  of  progress  to  the  world.  The  amazing 
foresight,  indomitable  purpose,  superhuman  energy  and  lofty  hero- 
ism of  Columbus  verify  his  personal  conviction  that  he  was  "  the 
called  of  God  "  to  a  great  mission.  A  spirit  so  elevated  and  far- 
seeing,  so  patient  and  enduring,  so  potent  to  resist  and  wear  out 
opposition,  so  fruitful  in  expedients  and  creative  of  resources,  clearly 
evinces  a  divine  co-working.  But  he  had  a  very  feeble  conception 
of  the  grand  results  of  his  wonderful  career  and  the  new  life  he  im- 
parted to  the  age.  Nor  was  it  necessary,  in  order  to  the  part  he 
performed,  that  he  should  see  the  far-reaching  consequences.  He 
was  not  chosen  to  be  the  founder  of  a  perishable  empire  nor  to  wear 
the  diadem  of  a  fading  royalty.  But  he  fulfilled  his  mission  and 
gained  the  crown  of  enduring  immortality — the  true  saintship. 

The  Successors  of  Columbus 

were  men  of  inferior  character,  in  whom,  says  Bancroft,  "  avarice 
and  religious  zeal  were  singularly  blended  ;  and  the  heroes  of  Spain 
sailed  to  the  West  as  if  they  were  bound  on  a  new  crusade  for  which 
infinite  wealth  was  to  reward  their  piety."  The  visions  of  vast 
riches  which  the  newly-discovered  country  inspired  stimulated  in  the 
breasts  of  Europeans  the  powerful  passions  of  ambition  and  avarice, 
and  eager  adventurers  were  sent  forth  with  ships  and  stores  to  the 
new  El  Dorado.  Numerous  disasters  and  disappointments  attended 
the  early  navigators,  but  countries  were  subdued  and  vast  sums  of 
gold  and  silver  transmitted  to  Europe.  These  singularly  mixed 
motives  were  potential  factors,  mysteriously  working  under  a  super- 
intending Providence,  by  which  willing  agents  were  strangely  led  on. 


24  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

though  often  effectually  checked  and  frustrated.  What  striking 
evidences  do  those  times  afford  of  a  superior  power  controlling  the 
movements  of  men  !  What  alluring  openings  and  also  inscrutable 
reservations  of  Providence  !  In  this  higher  light  how  weak  and  nar- 
row the  schemes  of  human  cupidity  and  ambition  !  While  thirst  for 
gold,  lust  of  power  and  love  of  daring  adventure  served  the  Provi- 
dential purpose  of  opening  the  New  World  to  papal  Europe,  and 
Roman  Catholic  colonies  were  successfully  planted  in  some  portions, 
the  territory  originally  comprised  within  the  United  States  was 
mysteriously  guarded  and  reserved  for  another — a  prepared  people. 

The  Upheaval  in  Europe. 

Under  the  great  Protestant  Reformation  in  Northern  Europe  a 
new  social  order,  invested  with  new  ideas  and  an  improved  civiliza- 
tion, was  developed,  and  soon  thrust  forth  into  the  central  portion 
of  the  American  Continent — a  fitting  theater  for  the  sublime 
achievements  of  the  advancing  age.  Speaking  of  the  Spaniards, 
Bryant  says :  *  "  Fortunately  for  the  progress  of  the  human  race 
and  the  future  history  of  North  America,  all  their  efforts  to  gain  a 
permanent  foothold  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  in  the  main 
unsuccessful." 

English  enterprise  followed,  but  with  hesitating  steps.  English 
voyagers  sailed  along  the  main  coast  of  North  America  as  early  as 
1497,  but  no  conquests  or  settlements  were  attempted.  Distracted 
by  civil  disturbances,  agitated  by  the  Reformation  and  crippled  by 
the  poverty  of  her  people,  England  was  prevented  from  taking  ad- 
vantage of  her  first  discoveries. 

One  hundred  and  ten  years  passed  from  the  time  that  Cabot, 
under  the  authority  of  Great  Britain,  sailed  along  the  coast  of  North 
America  until  the  first  permanent  English  settlement.  It  was  the 
most  important  century  in  modern  history,  noted  for  that  mighty 
upheaval  styled  "  The  Reformation,"  which  powerfully  shook  the 
continent  of  Europe  and  ushered  in  the  brighter  and  wonderfully 
expanding  phases  of  progress  which  have  gladdened  our  day  and 
prophesy  of  better  days  to  come.  Spain  and  Portugal,  engrossed 
with  avaricious  schemes,  only  slightly  affected  by  this  great  religious 
movement,  remained  in  passive  acquiescence  to  mediaeval  ideas  and 
absolutism,  sacrificing  intellectual  and  religious  freedom  upon  the 
altar  of  lust  and  power.  Not  so  with  the  more  northerly  nations. 
In  Germany,  Switzerland,  France,   England  and  Scotland,  a   great 

*  History  0/ the  United  States,  Vol.  I,  p.  173. 


ENGLISH  ENTERPRISES.  23 

emancipation  was  going  on,  destined  to  bring  in  its  train  the  higher 
and  more  enduring  resources — intelligence,  freedom  of  conscience, 
commercial  enterprise,  the  triumphs  of  inventive  genius,  supremacy 
in  the  world  of  thought  and  social  and  religious  elevation.  In  the 
pangs  of  the  Reformation  a  new  people  was  begotten,  with  new  ideas, 
invested  with  loftier  prerogatives  and  aims,  and  intended  by  Provi- 
dence to  found  in  the  New  World  a  great  Christian  Republic,  one 
of  the  mightiest  agencies  in  human  progress. 

English  Voyagers. 

Secular  motives  were  not  wanting  in  the  early  English  discover- 
ers in  North  America.  England's  conflicts  with  Spain  had  devel- 
oped her  navy  and  marine.  To  equip  and  command  a  ship  had 
■  /-'attractions  for  ambitious  courtiers,  and  the  capture  of  a  richly-laden 
/  Spanish  vessel  from  the  New  World  amply  repaid  the  cost  of  an  ex- 
pedition. To  this  was  soon  added  the  alluring  hope  of  making 
profitable  foreign  settlements.  The  rich  products  of  America  glit- 
tered before  the  vision  of  ardent  Englishmen,  who,  on  easy  terms 
of  paying  one  fifth  part  of  the  precious  metals  to  the  queen,  eagerly 
exchanged  a  patrimony  for  a  fleet  in  the  hope  of  golden  acres  across 
the  Atlantic.  In  1576-78  Captain  Martin  Frobisher  made  several 
unsuccessful  voyages  to  the  frozen  shores  of  North  America,  hoping 
to  bring  home  large  stores  of  gold.  Quaint  stories  *  are  told  of  the 
expectations,  delusions,  and  sufferings  of  the  voyagers ;  of  "  cruel 
stormes  of  snow  and  haile,  great  islands  of  yce,  and  mighty  deere 
that  seemed  to  be  mankind,"  of  finding  "  spiders  which  are  signs  of 
great  store  of  gold,"  of  streams  beneath  the  frozen  surface,  "  by 
which  the  earth  within  is  kept  warmer  and  springs  have  their  re- 
course, which  is  the  only  nutriment  of  gold  and  minerals,"  and  car- 
goes of  worthless  "  black  ore  "  carried  to  England.  These  "  pain- 
full mariners  and  poore  miners  were  faine  to  submit  themselves 
and  their  ships  to  the  mercy  of  the  unmerciful  yce,"  and  endure 
"  the  brunt  of  so  great  and  extreme  dangers,  praysing  God,  and 
altogether,  upon  their  knees,  giving  Him  due,  humble,  and  heartie 
thanks."  In  those  inhospitable  solitudes  the  Lord's  Supper  was 
celebrated,  "  the  first  signe,  seale  and  confirmation  of  Christ's  name, 
death  and  passion  ever  knowen  in  those  quarters." 

From  1 579-1 585  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  a  courtier  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  "  with  nobler  aims  than  finding  ore  of  gold,"  made 
several  attempts  at   discovery  and  colonization.      "  To   prosecute 

*Hackluyt,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  63-68,  87,  88. 


26 


CHRISTIANITY  IX    THE  UNITED   STATES. 


effectually  the  full  possession  of  those  so  ample  and  pleasant  coun- 
treys  for  the  crown  and  people  of  England,"  "  the  honor  of  God, 
the  compassion  of  poore  infidels  captivated  by  the  Devil,"  and  "the 
reliefe  of  sundry  people  within  this  distressed  realme,"  are  the  ele- 
vated motives  under  which  Sir  Humphrey  went  forth,  authorized  by 
letters  patent,  "  to  discover  all  such  heathen  lands  as  were  not 
acutally  possessed  by  any  Christian  prince  or  people."  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  followed,  but  both  were  unsuccessful,  and  as  late  as  the 
year  1600  the  American  continent  was  wholly  untenanted  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  At  that  time  Roman  Catholic  countries  had 
planted  permanent  colonies  from  Florida  and  New  Mexico  to  Chili. 

A  tabulated  view  of  the  discoveries  and  settlements  in  the  New 
Hemisphere,  from  1492  to  1733,  will  be  helpful. 


PERIOU  I.-IOH  Years. 

Settlements  from  countrieb  not  affected  by  the  Reformation, 
made  either  before  or  during  its  progress. 


DATES    DISCOVERIES. 


1492 
1493 
1494 
1497 
1498 
J  500 
1502 
I510 
I512 
JSI7 
1318 
1320 
1525 
1537 
1545 
1565 

i6uo 


San  Salvador. 
Porto  Rico... 


Jamaica 

The  main  coast 
of  North  Amer- 
ica..    

South  America. . . 


PERM.^NENT 
SETTLE.ME.NTS. 


!  West   India 
I  Islands 


The  Amazon 

jBay  of  Honduras. 


.Florida 

Yucatan 

Southern  Mexico. 


RELIGIOUS 
FAITH. 


Roman  Catholic 


Isthmus  of  Darien 


Roman  Catholic 


.Mexico \  Roman  Catholic 

I  Peru ;  Roman  Catholic 

I 

IChili Roman  Catholic 

Holivia 'Roman  Catholic 

I 

]  Florida Roman  Catholic 


PERIOD  II.— 133  Years. 

Settlements  from  countries  pervaded  by 
the    Reformation 


PERM.-VNENT 
SETTLEMENTS. 


RELIGIOUS 
F.\ITH. 


1605    Xova  Scotia Protestant. 

i. 


1607 
1608 
1614 


Virginia ". .  .Protestant. 

Quebec Roman  Catholic. 

New  York Protestant. 

1620  'Massachusetts Protestant. 

i62'5  IXew  Hampshire. .  Protestant. 

I  ' 

1626  .  Maine 1  Protestant. 


1664  '  New  Jersey Protestant. 

1631    Delaware Protestant. 

I 

1633  Connecticut Protestant. 

1634  Marj-land Roman  Catholic. 

1636    Rhode  Island Protestant. 

1650    North  Carolina. ..  iProtestant. 

i 
1670    South  Carolina. .  .'Protestant. 

1682    Pennsylvania Protestant. 

1700    Louisiana Roman  Catholic. 

1733    Georgia Protestant. 


Stirring  Events  in   Europe. 

The  Protestant  colonies  within  the  original  limits  of  the  United 
States  were  chiefly  founded  amid  the  stirring  events  of  the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century.     The  long  and  prosperous  reign  of  Queen 


EUROPEAN  DISTURBANCES.  '2.1 

Elizabeth  closed  four  years  before  the  settlement  of  Virginia ;  and 
under  her  successor  the  crowns  of  England  and  Scotland  were  united, 
James  IV.  of  Scotland  becoming  James  I.  of  England.  Under 
Elizabeth's  reign  the  Puritan  agitation  became  a  distinctive  move- 
ment, and  it  grew  and  expanded  under  James  and  Charles  I.  James- 
town was  settled  in  1607;  Plymouth  in  1620.  Charles  I.  ascended 
the  throne  in  1625.  Buckingham  was  assassinated  in  1627.  Laud, 
the  champion  of  prelacy,  was  tightening  his  clutch  upon  the  Puritan 
throat,  a  reaction  from  which,  a  few  years  later,  took  off  his  head. 
Cromwell  was  born  with  the  century,  and  in  1628  entered  Parlia- 
ment. In  1636  John  Hampden  uttered  his  bold  protest  against 
exorbitant  impositions  upon  mariners.  In  1642  the  fomentations 
that  drove  many  colonists  to  America  culminated  in  a  terrible  civil 
outbreak  at  home.  Under  the  administration  of  Richelieu,  France 
was  recovering  from  her  disordered  state  and  reviving  her  financial 
and  political  strength.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  was  raging  in 
Europe,  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  being  the  sub-issues.  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus's  grand  career  dates  in  the  same  period,  and  the 
victory  of  Protestant  Germany  at  Lutzen.  The  glory  of  Spain  was 
declining,  and  the  emancipated  Netherlands  were  growing  into 
the  dignity  of  "the  Dutch  Republic."  Italy  was  turbid.  The 
Crescent  was  waning  and  its  military  power  was  eclipsed.  Cortez, 
Pizarro  andAlmagro  had  passed  away  during  the  previous  century. 


Section  ^.—Protestant  Settlements. 

French  Protestants  were  vainly  trying  to  establish  colonies  in 
Brazil  while  the  Puritans  were  struggling  with  Elizabeth.  Then 
followed  the  planters  to  Virginia  ;  next  came,  in  the  same  year,  the 
Pilgrims  to  Plymouth  Rock  and  a  cargo  of  slaves  to  Jamestown, 
Virginia;  and  after  them,  in  rapid  succession,  the  Puritans  to  Salem, 
Boston  and  Dorchester.  At  the  time  Boston  was  settled  "  William 
Shakespeare  and  the  author  of  Don  Quixote  had  been  dead  seven 
years;  John  Bunyan  was  an  infant  of  two  years  ;  Pascal  was  but 
seven  ;  La  Fontaine  nine;  Bossuet  but  three.  Tillotson  and  Barrow 
were  born  that  very  year  and  Dryden  a  year  later.  Jeremy  Taylor, 
Cudworth,  La  Rochefoucauld  were  in  their  teens ;  Cowley  and  Mo- 
liere  had  not  reached  theirs.  Spinoza  was  born  two  years,  Boileau 
six  years  and  Racine  nine  years  after.  John  Milton,  Thomas  Fuller, 
the  church  historian,  Lord  Clarendon,  the  author  of  the  history  of 
the    English    rebellion,  were    each    twenty-two  years    of  age  ;  and 


28  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Hobbes,  Des  Cartes.Grotius,  Lord  Herbert,  Isaac  Walton,  Massinger, 
Selden,  Archbishop  Usher,  Guido  and  Van  Dyke,  were  all  in  the 
prime  of  life.  Ben  Jonson  was  still  living,  and  so  was  Robert  Bur- 
ton. Bacon  had  been  dead  but  four  years.  The  English  Bible 
received  official  recognition  only  nineteen  years  before."  * 

Such  was  the  period,  its  actors  and  events,  amid  which  the  early 
Protestant  settlements  in  the  United  States  were  effected.  No 
previous  century  for  long  ages  could  parallel  it. 

Three  Parties  in  England. 

The  earliest  English  settlers  in  America  comprised  three 
religious  parties  which  had  long  been  at  sore  variance  with  each 
other  in  the  mother  country,  but  all  of  whom  agreed  in  their  op- 
position to  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  prelatical  party  who  founded 
Jamestown,  Virginia,  exalted  the  order  and  functions  of  the  clergy, 
investing  them  with  hierarchical  prerogatives  and  retaining  ancient 
forms  and  ceremonies,  hoping  thereby  to  conciliate  the  papists  to 
the  Protestant  faith.  The  Puritans  bore  an  implacable  hatred  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  contended  that  the  work  of  the  Refor- 
mation was  left  half  done  so  long  as  any  of  the  forms  of  the  Romish 
Church  were  retained  in  the  Church  of  England.  They  rejected 
every  ceremony  and  vestment  not  clearly  enjoined  in  the  Word  of 
God.  The  surplice  and  square  cap  they  regarded  as  the  livery  of 
superstition,  and  the  decisions  and  prerogatives  of  the  priesthood, 
the  king  and  the  parliament,  in  religious  matters,  as  the  setting  up 
of  human  authority  above  the  Divine  Word.  But  both  parties  ad- 
hered to  the  Church  of  England,  the  latter  in  the  hope  of  purifying 
it.  Seeing  its  evils  they  nevertheless  acknowledged  the  value  of  the 
Church  and  hoped  to  reform  it.  They,  therefore,  remained  in  it. 
The  third  party  was  the  Separatists,  or  Independents,  who  denounced 
the  Church  of  England  as  an  idolatrous  institution,  false  to  the 
truth  and  to  Christianity,  and  fit  only  to  be  destroyed.  They, 
therefore,  separated  from  it. 

Thus  the  struggle  went  on  through  Elizabeth's  reign.  The  acces- 
sion of  King  James  to  the  throne  at  first  gave  new  hopes  to  the 
reformers;  but  they  were  not  long  cherished.  He  declared,  "  I  will 
have  no  liberty  as  to  ceremonies ;  I  will  have  one  doctrine,  one  dis- 
cipline, one  religion,  in  substance  and  ceremony."  Nor  would  he 
allow  contradiction.  In  1604  three  hundred  Puritan  and  Separatist 
ministers  were  silenced,  imprisoned,  or  exiled.     But  their  principles 

*  Rev.  S.  J.  Barrows,  D.D.,  at  the  Quarter  .Millennial  of  the  first  church  in  Dorchester,  Mass. 


THE  PLYMOUTH  COLONY.  29 

kept  spreading.  After  severe  trials  and  delays  a  company  of  Sep- 
aratists, self-exiled,  reached  Holland,  whence,  after  twelve  years,  see- 
ing no  hope  for  them  in  England,  they  sailed  in  the  Mayflower  for 
America,  and  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock,  December  22,  1620.  Still 
the  contest  went  on  in  England,  until  companies  of  Puritans,  in 
1628-1630,  etc.,  embarked  for  New  England  and  founded  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  Colony. 

The  former  came  as  Separatists,  Independents,  bringing  the 
first  Congregational  Church  to  the  New  World.  The  latter  still 
claimed  to  be  Puritans,  avowing  that  they  were  not  Separatists,* 
but  continued  to  adhere  to  the  Church  of  England,  though  discard- 
ing many  of  her  ceremonies  and  her  prelatical  assumptions.  In  a 
few  years,  however,  they  too  became  Separatists,  or  Independents. 

/  The  Founders  of  New  England. 

Within  twenty  years  from  the  planting  of  the  Plymouth  Colony 
all  the  other  chief  colonies  in  New  England  were  founded,  their 
governments  organized,  and  the  Atlantic  coast,  from  the  Kennebec 
River  almost  to  the  Hudson,  was  marked  by  various  settlements. 
Such  were  the  founders  of  New  England.  They  were  iconoclasts, 
reformers,  in  Church  and  State,  men  of  strong  religious  convictions. 
To  them  the  Bible  was  every  thing ;  the  source  of  religious  principles, 
the  basis  of  civil  law,  the  supreme  authority  in  matters  of  common 
life.  Numbering  many  men  of  great  learning  who  had  been  edu- 
cated at  the  English  universities,  they  gave  great  prominence  to  clas- 
sical education,  and  established  schools,  seminaries  and  colleges. 
They  were  men  of  .self-denying,  abstemious  and  industrious  habits. 
Far  in  advance  of  their  times  in  respect  to  integrity  of  conscience, 
they  were  nevertheless  very  defective  in  their  views  of  toleration ; 
but  they  were  eminently  religious,  with  high"  conceptions  of  the  duty 
of  living  for  God  and  advancing  his  kingdom  in  the  world.  "  In 
coming  to  this  new  continent  they  were  influenced  by  a  double  hope  : 
the  enlargement  of  Christ's  kingdom  by  the  conversion  of  heathen 
tribes,  and  the  founding  of  an  empire  for  their  own  children  in 
which  his  religion  should  gloriously  prevail." 

The  fathers  of  New  England  were  no  mean  men.  John  Cotton, 
John  Wilson,  Thomas  Hooker,  Thomas  Shepherd,  Governor  Win- 
throp,  Dunstan  and  Chauncy,  associates  or  correspondents  of  Milton, 
Bunyan,  Lightfoot,  Selden,  Baxter,  etc.,  are  names  which  can  never 
be  obscured  in  history.  They  have  left  a  deep  and  lasting  impress 
upon  New  England.  

*  Cotton  Mather,  Book  I,  Chap.  iii. 


so  CHRISTIANITY  T\    THE  UNITED   STATES. 

The  Founders  of  the  Southern  Colonies. 

Widely  different  in  character  were  the  early  colonists  of  the  Southern 
from  those  of  the  Northern  States.  It  has  been  said,  if  New  England 
may  be  regarded  as  colonized  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  with  its  sim- 
ple manners,  more  equal  institutions,  and  love  of  liberty,  the  South 
was  colonized  by  men  very  Norman  in  blood,  aristocratic  in  feeling 
and  spirit,  and  with  superior  dignity  of  demeanor  and  elegance  of 
manners.  If  New  England  was  the  favorite  asylum  of  the  Puritan 
"  Roundhead,"  the  South  became,  in  its  turn,  the  retreat  of  the 
"  Cavalier,"  upon  the  joint  subversion  of  the  altar  and  the  throne 
in  his  native  land.  And  if  the  religion  of  the  one  was  strict, 
serious,  in  the  regard  of  its  enemies  unfriendly  to  innocent  amuse- 
ments, and  even  morose,  the  other  was  the  religion  of  the  court 
and  of  fashionable  life,  and  did  not  require  so  uncompromising 
a  resistance  to  "  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the 
pride  of  life." 

The  Virginia  Colony  was  a  Christian  colony  in  intent  and  in  fact. 
The  charter  required  the  maintenance  of  religious  worship;  bor- 
oughs were  erected  into  parishes,  with  glebes  and  other  provisions 
for  the  clergy.  The  assembly  and  the  governor  were  urged  to  civ- 
ilize the  natives  and  bring  them  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel, 
and  Indian  children  were  educated.  The  Proprietaries  of  North 
and  South  Carolina  were  not  wanting  in  high  professions  of  zeal  for 
the  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  but  it  was  left  for  later  settlers  to 
practically  illustrate  the  purpose.  Varied  in  origin,  the  number  of 
those  interested  in  promoting  religious  ends  soon  increased.  "  The 
good  Oglethorpe,  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  a  Christian  gentle- 
man of  the  cavalier  school,"  led  over  a  mixed  people  to  settle  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Savannah — poor  debtors 'from  English  prisons, 
with  godly  Moravians  from  Germany,  and  brave  Highlanders  from 
Scotland. 

The  Settlers  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  etc. 

"  The  spirit  of  the  age  was  present  when  the  foundations  of  New 
York  were  laid.  Every  great  European  event  affected  the  fortunes 
of  America.  Did  a  State  prosper — it  sought  an  increase  of  wealth 
by  plantations  in  the  West.  Was  a  sect  persecuted — it  escaped  to 
the  New  World.  The  Reformation,  followed  by  collisions  between 
English  Dissenters  and  the  Anglican  Hierarchy,  colonized  New 
England.  The  Reformation,  emancipating  the  United  Provinces, 
led   to   European   settlements  on    the  Hudson.     The  Netherlands 


NEIV  NETHERLANDS.  31 

divide  with  England  the  glory  of  having  planted  the  first  colonies 
in  the  United  States;  they  also  divide  the  glory  of  having  set  the 
example  of  perfect  freedom.  If  England  gave  our  fathers  the  idea 
of  popular  representation,  Holland  originated  for  them  the  principle 
of  federal  union."  * 

In  the  year  1609  the  long  conflict  of  Holland  with  Spain  was 
suspended  at  the  suggestion  of  Philip  III.,  a  confession  on  the  part 
of  Spain  that  she  could  no  longer  hope  to  successfully  contest  the 
supremacy  of  Holland,  and  a  practical  establishment  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  Netherlands.  In  the  very  same  year  that 
Holland  took  her  position  among  the  nations  as  a  free,  self-govern- 
ing republic,  Henry  Hudson  appeared  at  Manhattan  Island  and 
took  possession  of  the  region  from  the  capes  of  Delaware  to  Canada, 
which  he  styled  New  Netherlands.  The  first  occupancy  was  trading 
stations  by  the  merchants  of  Amsterdam,  who  quickly  perceived  its 
admirable  adaptation  as  a  center  for  trade  and  commerce.  First, 
the  New  Netherlands  Company,  in  1614,  then  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, in  1621,  held  the  situation,  the  latter  purchasing  the  island  of 
the  Indians.  The  West  India  Company  appointed  its  governors, 
and  public  affairs  were  conducted  by  Dutch  men  on  Dutch  prin- 
ciples. 

Though  trade  was  the  prime  object  with  the  first  settlers  at  Man- 
hattan, colonization  soon  became  the  ruling  motive.  Bold  and 
enterprising  were  the  first  colonists,  and  intent  upon  the  acquisition 
of  wealth,  but,  having  been  educated  in  the  National  Dutch  Church, 
they  were  much  attached  to  it,  and  adopted  early  measures  to  estab- 
lish religious  worship  in  their  new  home.  Although  the  Dutch  came 
to  Manhattan  in  troublous  times,  they  were  not  fugitives  from  papal 
persecution,  as  were  the  Huguenots,  or  from  Protestant  persecution, 
as  were  the  Puritans.  They  belonged  to  the  ruling  party  in  the 
mother  country,  and  brought  with  them  the  established  Church 
order  and  the  Calvinistic  creed.  These  "  contra-remonstrants " 
brought  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  stamped  with  the  seal  of  orthodoxy 
by  the  Synod  of  Dort.  A  wise  policy  guided  the  West  India  Com- 
pany in  supplying  their  trading-posts  and  colonies  with  the  means 
of  religion  and  education  at  a  very  early  date. 

The  earliest  settlers  in  New  Jersey  were  from  New  York.  En- 
glish Puritans  from  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island,  at  an  early 
period,  settled  at  Elizabethtown ;  and  others  from  Connecticut  soon 
followed.     Later    a  considerable   number  of  Scotch  and  Irish  em- 

*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  II,  p.  256. 


32  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES, 

igrants — all  Protestants  and  most  of  them  Presbyterians — settled  in 
the  central  portions.  English  Quakers  settled  in  West  Jersey. 
Among  them  all  the  Puritan  type  decidedly  predominated. 

Delaware  was  claimed  by  the  Dutch,  in  right  of  discovery,  who 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  settle  it ;  but  subsequently  it  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  eminent  Swedish  prince 
and  benefactor,  and  an  eager  promoter  of  colonization.  Falling  on 
the  plains  of  Lutzen,  his  minister,  Oxenstiern,  carried  out  his  plans, 
and  Delaware  was  settled  with  Lutheran  Swedes.  Though  the  col- 
ony was  subsequently  subdued  by  the  Dutch  from  New  York  the 
Swedes  are  supposed  to  have  constituted  a  large  part  of  the  sub- 
stratum of  the  population.  Quakers,  New  Englanders,  Scotch  and 
Irish  Presbyterians  were  subsequently  added. 

The  Quakers. 

The  Quaker  origin  of  the  population  of  Pennsylvania  is  one  of 
the  familiar  facts  of  history.  A  few  settlers  occupied  positions  with- 
in its  ample  area  prior  to  the  settlement  by  William  Penn,  in  1682. 
Swedes,  Dutch  and  New  Englanders,  who  had  previously  established 
themselves  within  the  limits  of  Penn's  charter,  were  kindly  tolerated, 
as  were  also  the  Moravians,  Mennonites,  Welsh,  Irish,  Scotch, 
Huguenots,  etc.,  who  came  at  a  later  date.  A  colony  from  Wales 
settled  on  "a  sort  of  table-land  "  in  the  center  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains. 

Scotch  Presbyterians. 

Not  much  behind  the  Puritans  were  the  Scotch  in  their  contribu- 
tions to  the  religious  character  of  the  United  States.  On  the  acces- 
sion of  Charles  II.  to  the  throne  of  England,  Presbyterianism  was 
almost  immediately  abolished,  and  Episcopacy,  in  a  very  extreme 
form,  was  established  in  Scotland.  An  intense  revulsion  was  awak- 
ened among  the  Highlanders.  Many  Scotch  Presbyterians  went  over 
from  Scotland  to  Ireland,  and  others  emigrated  to  America.  A  long 
and  steadily  flowing  stream  of  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterian  em- 
igration to  America  continued  down  to  the  time  of  the  American 
Revolution.  Some  came  to  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  to  Boston,  Pelham 
and  Palmer,  in  Massachusetts ;  to  Ulster  County,  Orange  and  Albany, 
New  York ;  to  East  New  Jersey,  to  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  South 
Carolina,  etc. 

The   Huguenots. 

Closely  after  the  Puritans  and  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  follow 
the  Huguenots,  in  the  list  of  those  who  contributed  largely  to  the 


HUGUENOT  SETTLEMENTS.  33 

formation  of  the  religious  character  of  the  United  States.  With 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685,  all  public  worship 
among  Protestants  was  suppressed.  Dark,  lurid,  bloody  scenes  of 
persecution  and  torture  followed.  Multitudes  perished  at  the  stake 
or  on  the  gibbet  and  the  wheel.  It  has  been  estimated  that  not 
less  than  Jialf  a  million  Protestants  left  France.  In  vain  were  the 
frontiers  guarded.  The  fugitives  sought  refuge  in  all  the  Protestant 
countries  of  Europe,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  in  America. 
Many  of  them,  skilled  in  useful  arts,  introduced  new  manufactures  . 
in  their  new  homes.  In  the  American  colonies  they  were  welcomed 
every-where.  New  England  cordially  received  them  ;  New  York 
was  not  backward  ;  but  "  a  warmer  clime  was  more  inviting  to  the 
exiles  of  Languedoc,  and  South  Carolina  became  the  chief  resort  of 
the  Huguenots."  But  the  Huguenot  emigration  to  the  English 
colonies  of  America  had  been  going  on  from  the  time  of  the  Siege 
of  Rochelle,  and  even  as  early  asj6^5_6,  and  continued  down  through 
the  whole  colonial  history. 

We  find  Huguenots  in  Boston  in  1662.  In  1686  they  settled  in 
Oxford,  Mass.,  and  also  erected  a  church  in  Boston.  From  these 
excellent  people  were  derived  the  Faneuils,  the  Bowdoins,  the  Le- 
gares,  Dehons,  etc.  Smith,  the  historian  of  New  York,  says  that  in  ' 
1706,  next  to  the  Dutch,  they  were  the  most  numerous  and  the  ■ 
wealthiest  class  of  the  population  in  that  colony.  New  Rochelle, 
N.  Y.,  was  settled  by  them,  and  their  descendants  are  numerous  in 
Ulster  and  Dutchess  counties.-  In  1679,  Charles  II.,  at  his  own  I 
expense,  sent  two  ship-loads  to  South  Carolina.  In  1690,  WiUiam 
III.  sent  a  large  colony  to  Virginia,  and  two  more  colonies  came 
thither  within  ten  years.  In  1752,  no  fewer  than  1,600  settled  in 
South  Carolina,  and  more  than  200  others  in  1764.  In  Virginia 
they  were  exempted,  by  a  special  edict,  from  parochial  assessments 
as  early  as  the  year  1700.  It  is  evident  that  the  Huguenots  con- 
stituted a  very  considerable  element  numerically,  and  a  very  potential 
and  beneficent  one  in  character,  in  our  colonial  population.  Some 
of  the  most  eminent  persons,  divines,  educators,  financiers  and  states- 
men, that  ever  adorned  the  United  States  were  Huguenots.  "  The 
very  best  of  the  old  ministers  of  Virginia  were  from  this  stock  ;  Mon- 
cure,  Latane,  the  two  Fontaines,  the  two  Maurys,  and  others."  *  In 
later  times  "  the  pious  McDuvall,  of  Richmond,"  and,  among  the 
patriots  and  statesmen.  Chief  Justice  Jay,  Elias  Boudinot,  the 
Bayards,  Legare,  the  Lawrences,  the  Grympys,  Marion,  Rutledge, 
etc.,  were  of  Huguenot  origin.  

*Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Virginia.     By  Bishop  Meade,    Vol.  I,  p.  465- 
3 


34  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  Palatines,  Moravians,  Lutherans,  etc. 

Large  numbers  of  Protestant  Germans,  conspicuously  those  suf- 
fering from  the  devastations  of  the  French  in  the  Upper  Palatinate,. 
a  country  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhine,  came  to  the  United 
States  in  the  colonial  era.  Successive  waves  of  pillage,  fire,  and 
blood  rolled  over  that  unhappy  land,  causing  a  long  stream  of  emi- 
gration. About  2,700  "  Palatines,"  refugees  in  England,  were 
shipped  to  New  York  in  1710;  and  5,000  more  came  soon  after  and 
settled  on  the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk.  Mennonites  from  Ger- 
many founded  Germantown,  Pa.,  about  i68i-'84,  ^r^d  in  1707  a 
large  number  settled  in  Lancaster  County,  Pa.  In  1722  they  were 
supposed  to  constitute  the  third  part  of  the  population  of  that  re- 
gion. Some  of  these  German  emigrants  were  Presbyterians  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  others  were  Lutherans,  and  others  still  Mora- 
vians. The  earlier  German  emigrations  spread  into  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia, the  Carolinas,  Georgia  and  Maine.  Previous  to  the  time  of  the 
American  Revolution  the  German  emigration  was  not  only  exten- 
sive but  very  pure,  and  almost  wholly  Protestant,  with  a  high 
standard  of  morality  and   distinguished  for  Christian  virtues. 

A  few  Protestant  Poles  settled  in  New  Jersey  about  1683,  and  a 
few  Piedmontese,  fleeing  from  persecution,  found  an  asylum  in  the 
colony  of  New  York. 

How  different  in  respect  to  religious  character  and  intelligence 
were  these  early  settlers  in  the  Urtited  States  from  the  colonists  of 
Phenicia,  Greece  and  Rome,  or,  in  later  times,  the  papists  from 
France,  Spain,  and  Portugal.  They  were  not  the  rich,  the  voluptu- 
ous and  the  effeminate,  nor  were  they  poor  and  spiritless ;  but  from 
the  middle  class,  noted  for  industry,  temperance,  and  frugality. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  they  were  not  ignorant,  but  well  informed  for 
their  times.  Many  had  acquired  a  good  education,  almost  all  could 
read,  and  were  too  much  developed  in  thought  to  be  slaves  of 
despotic  power.  They  were  not  vicious  men  of  unbridled  appetites 
and  lusts,  like  the  colonists  of  South  America  and  Mexico,  but 
virtuous.  Some  emigrants  in  the  colonial  era  there  were  whose 
profligacy  could  no  longer  be  endured  at  home  ;  and  some  broken- 
down  gentlemen,  too  lazy  to  work,  and  some  infamous  dependents 
upon  aristocratic  families,  sent  away  to  screen  their  friends  from 
shame.  These  were,  however,  not  the  earliest  colonists  who  laid 
the  new  social  foundations  in  the  United  States.  The  former  were 
religious  men,  in  whom  religious  motives  predominated.  Their 
minds  had  been  agitated  by  the  religious  questions  which  had  hith- 


CHURCH  ESTABLISHMENT.  S5 

ertc  chiefly  occupied  the  attention  of  the  schoolmen,  but  were  now 
brought  prominently  before  the  minds  of  the  people.  Not  a  few 
fled  from  persecution  for  conscience'  sake.  Secular  considerations 
were  not  wanting,  for  they  hoped  to  improve  their  temporal  cir- 
cumstances and  found  States.  If  some  of  the  prejudices  and  errors 
of  former  ages  adhered  to  them  in  respect  to  rights  of  conscience, 
etc.,  they  were,  nevertheless,  even  in  these  respects  in  advance  of  the 
rest'  of  the  world,  and  opened  here  the  best  asylum  for  liberty  the 
world  had  ever  known.  To  extend  the  kingdom  of  God  was  the 
prominent  object  of  their  labors.  With  the  exception  of  the  colony 
of  Lord  Baltimore,  they  were  Protestants ;  men  "  of  stern  and  lofty 
virtue,  invincible  energy,  and  iron  wills— the  fitting  substratum  on 
which  to  build  great  States. 


Section  5.— Cliurclies  Organized. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  the  first  planted  within  the 
limits  of  the  original  United  States.  Introduced  by  the  Virginia 
Colony  in  1607,  only  thirteen  years  later  within  that  jurisdiction 
there  were  eleven  parishes  and  five  clergymen.  Being  the  only 
religious  body  legally  recognized  within  the  vast  territory  granted 
to  that  colony  at  a  very  early  period,  it  acquired  an  extensive  in- 
fluence. It  also  soon  entered  Maryland,  where,  notwithstanding  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  was  the  faith  of  the  founders  of  the  colony, 
yet,  by  the  terms  of  the  charter,  toleration  was  allowed  to  all  churches 
recognized  by  the  crown  at  home.*  In  the  latter  State  it  soon  out- 
stripped the  Papal  Church,  its  adherents  becoming  a  majority  of  the 
population  before  the  close  of  the  century,  and  the  Church  itself  the 
established  Church,  in  1692.  In  Virginia,  however,  although  it  was 
the  favored  Church,  sustained  by  the  whole  strength  of  the  civil 
power  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  yet  its  prosperity  was  not  com- 
mensurate with  its  external  advantages. 

The  Episcopal  Church  was  not  introduced  into  New  York  until 
after  that  colony  surrendered  to  the  British  forces  in  1664.  It  made 
no  progress  toward  ecclesiastical  distinction  until  after  1693,  when, 
under  the  governorship  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Fletcher,  who  was 
devotedly  attached  to  that  communion,  a  foundation  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Church  was  laid  and  the  people  were  taxed  for  its 
support. 


*  Maryland  enjoyed  religious  toleration  until  1692,  when  the  Episcopal  Church  was  legally 
established  and  the  privileges  of  the  Roman  Catholics  were  curtailed. 


36  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  first  attempt  to  establish  the  Episcopal  Church  in  New  En- 
gland was  at  the  settlement  of  Portsmouth,  in  1634,  when  John 
Mason,  one  of  the  first  grantees  of  New  Hampshire,  sent  from  across 
the  ocean  a  communion  service,  Bible,  prayer-book  and  altar-cloth. 
William  A.  Gibbons,  the  assistant  governor,  and  other  persons  pre- 
sented a  glebe  of  fifty  acres  of  land.  Rev.  R.  Gibson  was  rector 
until  1642,  when  the  Puritan  government  at  Boston  compelled  him 
to  leave,  and  a  long  interregnum  followed,  until  1732,  when  a  church 
was  permanently  founded. 

In  Massachusetts  no  Episcopal  Church  service  was  held  until 
the  arrival  of  Andros  in  Boston  in  1686,  when  he  compelled  the 
opening  of  the  Old  South  Church  for  a  Church  of  England  service. 
"  King's  Chapel"  was  erected  in  1688.  Dr.  Bradford,  in  his  biogra- 
phy of  Dr.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  says  that  the  governors  of  Massachu- 
setts, being  appointed  by  the  king,  were  Episcopalians  sent  over 
from  England.  Thus,  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  before  the  Revo- 
lution, the  few  Episcopal  clergy  enjoyed  official  patronage  and  favor 
in  their  efforts  to  build  up  the  English  Episcopal  Church  in  America. 
It  was  considered  important  to  extend  and  increase  this  Church  here 
so  as  to  secure  obedience  to  the  political  measures  of  the  crown. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  Episcopal  Church  had  been 
established  in  most  of  the  colonies.  Some  adverse  circumstances 
operated  against  it.  The  American  churches,  forming  a  part  of  the 
diocese  of  London,  were  far  removed  from  Episcopal  supervision, 
and  could  obtain  fresh  supplies  of  clergy  only  from  England.  A 
very  hostile  feeling  long  before  the  Revolution  existed  in  the  north- 
ern colonies  toward  Great  Britain,  biasing  the  people  against  clergy- 
men coming  from  England.  For  these  reasons,  notwithstanding 
this  Church  had  able  ministers,  yet  her  energies  were  only  partially 
developed,  and  in  the  whole  country  north  of  Maryland  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolution  the  parochial  clergymen  did  not  ex- 
ceed eighty,  all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of  those  in  Boston, 
Newport,  New  York  City  and  Philadelphia,  received  their  principal 
support  from  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  and  thirty  of  whom  were  in  New  England.  In  Virginia  there 
were  164  churches  and  chapels  and  91  clergymen  supported  by  a 
legal  establishment. 

American  Congregationalism  dates  from  the  landing  of  the  Pil- 
grims in  1620.  In  its  doctrines  being  very  similar  to  the  Presby- 
terians of  the  Middle  States,  it  did  not  extend  much  beyond  New 
England  until  after  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  As  early 
as  1700  its  churches  in  New  England  numbered  one  hundred  and 


CONGREGATIONALISTS  AND  BAPTISTS.  37 

twenty,  of  which  seventy-seven  were  in  Massachusetts,  thirty-five  in 
Connecticut,  six  in  New  Hampshire,  and  two  in  Maine.  At  that 
time  only  five  churches  of  all  other  denominations  existed  m  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  namely,  two  Baptist,  one  Episcopal,  one  Quaker,  and 
one  French  Protestant ;  but  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  there 
were  three  hundred  Congregational  churches  in  Massachusetts  to 
seventy-eight  of  all  others.  In  the  other  New  England  States  this 
denomination  held  nearly  the  same  relative  rank,  though  in  Con- 
necticut it  was  probably  even  stronger.  Two  memorable  synods 
were  held  during  the  colonial  era— at  Cambridge  in  1648,  and  at 
Saybrook,  Conn.,  in  1708. 

It  should  not  be  overlooked  that  New  Jersey  had  a  considerable 
number  of  Congregational  churches  between  1640  and  1740,  and  a 
few  even  later.  Being  settled  largely  by  emigrants  from  New 
England  they  naturally  brought  their  ecclesiastical  polity  with  them. 
In  Morris  County  there  was  a  cluster  of  those  churches  whose  form 
of  government  was  pure  Congregationalism  and  which  were  served 
by  Congregational  ministers.  The  first  church  in  Newark  was  or- 
ganized on  a  Congregational  platform  at  Branford,  Conn.,  and  emi- 
grated to  Newark  in  1666.  A  competent  authority  affirms  that  the 
first  churches  (now  Presbyterian)  at  Orange,  Bloomfield,  Caldwell, 
Shrewsbury,  Piscataway,  Connecticut  Farms,  Woodbridge,  and  a 
number  of  others  were  originally  as  thoroughly  Congregational  as 
the  churches  of  Massachusetts  or  Connecticut.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  oldest  churches  of  South  Jersey,  in  Sussex  and  Warren  counties, 
settled  by  sons  of  New  England.  But  Presbyterianism  and  Congre- 
gationalism in  that  day  were  so  intertwined  that  the  denominational 
names  were  often  interchanged,  until  it  was  not  easy  to  draw  the 
line  of  separation.  During  the  first  half  of  the  present  century  only 
a  half  dozen  Congregational  Churches  were  left  in  the  State. 

The  Regular  Baptists  had  a  purely  American  origin  in  Rhode 
Island  in  1639.  Baptist  churches  and  ideas  had  previously  existed, 
but  the  organization  of  the  Church  in  America  was  entirely  the  re- 
sult of  local  circumstances,  and  not  from  a  foreign  impulse.  In  1663, 
twenty-four  years  after  the  beginning  in  Rhode  Island,  amid  much 
opposition  the  first  Baptist  Church  in  Massachusetts  was  constituted 
in  the  town  of  Seekonk,  or  Swansea,  and  two  years  later  another  in 
Boston.  The  first  Baptist  Church  in  New  York  City  was  organized 
in  1669.  but  it  existed  only  a  short  time.  In  1702  the  Baptist  in- 
terest was  revived  there  in  a  permanent  form.  The  first  Church  in 
Maine,  formed  at  Kittery  in  1682,  was  broken  up.  In  1768  perma- 
nent churches  were  organized  in  Berwick  and  Gorham.     The  hrst 


38  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

in  South  Carolina  was  organized  in  1683,  but  in  1751  there  were 
only  four  small  Baptist  churches  in  that  State.  The  first  in  Penn- 
sylvania dates  back  to  1684;  in  New  Jersey,  1688;  in  Delaware, 
1701  ;  in  Connecticut,  at  Groton,  1705  ;  in  Virginia,  1714;  in  North 
Carolina,  1742;  in  New  Hampshire,  1755;  i^^  Georgia,  1755;  in 
Vermont,  1768;  in  Kentucky,  1781  ;  in  Tennessee,  1780;  in  Illinois, 
1796.  It  should  be  added  that  many  important  accessions  of  Bap- 
tists were  received  from  England,  Wales,  the  Isle  of  Wight,  etc. 

For  nearly  a  century  the  Baptists  were  a  persecuted  people  in 
many  of  the  colonies,  and  in  1762  they  numbered  only  about  100 
churches  in  this  country.  In  1775  they  had  increased  to  227  and 
were  situated  as  follows :  in  Maine,  3  ;  New  Hampshire,  7  ;  Massa- 
chusetts, 40;  Connecticut,  15;  Rhode  Island,  28;  New  York,  7; 
New  Jersey,  20;  Pennsylvania,  15;  Delaware,  i;  Maryland,  4; 
Virginia,  55  ;  North  Carolina,  28;  South  Carolina,  11  ;  Georgia,  3.* 

The  Six  Principle  Baptists  are  accustomed  to  date  their  origin 
back  to  1639,  in  Rhode  Island. 

The  Seventh-Day  Baptist  Church  in  the  United  States  was  first 
formed  in  Rhode  Island.  In  1665  Mr.  Stephen  Mumford,  a  mem- 
ber of  this  denomination,  came  from  England  to  Newport,  R.  I.,  and 
soon  after  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard,  a  member  of  the  regular  Baptist 
Church,  embraced  these  views.  In  167 1  there  was  an  open  separa- 
tion, and  a  Seventh-Day  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  that  city. 

The  "  United  Brethren  in  Christ "  originated  in  this  country  in 
175$.  This  body  grew  out  of  a  great  spiritual  quickening  in  the 
mind  of  Rev.  William  Otterbein,  a  distinguished  minister  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church.  This  occurred  after  he  landed  in  Amer- 
ica. Two  other  German  ministers  soon  entered  into  hearty  sympa- 
thy with  him.  At  one  time  they  were  called  German  Methodists, 
and  were  in  close  fellowship  with  Rev.  Messrs.  Asbury  and  Wright, 
early  Methodist  itinerants. 

The  Reformed  (Protestant  Dutch)  Church  was  planted  on  Man- 
hattan Island  in  1628,  though  some  religious  services  had  been  pre- 
viously held.  Rev.  Jonas  Michaelius  was  the  first  pastor.  Rev. 
Everardus  Bogardus,  a  prominent  early  divine,  came  in  1633.  This 
denomination  held  exclusive  sway  until  the  English  took  possession 
of  the  colony  in  1664.  During  the  next  thirty  years  the  English 
population  increased.  After  the  Episcopal  Church  was  established, 
in  1693,  all  non-episcopal  inhabitants  in  the  counties  of  New  York, 

*  See  articles  on  the  "  Baptist  Interest  in  the  United  States,"  by  Rev.  Rufus  Babcock,  D.D., 
in  the  American  Quarterly  Register,  1840,  1841,  1842,  and  1844,  p.  185. 


DUTCH  CHURCH,   FRIENDS,  PRESBYTERIANS.  39 

Richmond,  Queens  and  Westchester  were  compelled  by  law  to  sup- 
port the  Episcopal  Church.  The  growth  of  the  Dutch  Church  was 
therefore  much  retarded ;  but  immigration  favored  the  Church,  and 
from  1664  to  1737  about  fifty  churches  were  added  to  the  denom- 
ination. This  Church  being  dependent  on  the  Church  of  Holland 
for  ministers,  and  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters  subject  to  the  Classis 
of  Amsterdam,  existed  at  a  great  disadvantage,  agitated  by  many 
internal  troubles,  until,  through  the  influence  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  H. 
Livingston,  an  independent  organization  was  effected  in  177 1.  In 
1775  it  numbered  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey  25  churches  and 
^  ministers. 

The  Friends  first  appeared  in  New  England  about  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  where  they  suffered  severe  persecution 
in  all  the  colonies  except  Rhode  Island.  As  early  as  1672  George 
Fox  found  an  established  settlement  of  Friends,  in  Perquimans  Coun- 
ty, North  Carolina.  In  1674  another  colony  was  founded  in  New 
Jersey,  and  in  1682  the  famous  William  Penn  Colony  settled  in  Penn- 
sylvania. They  rapidly  increased,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
€xerted  a  large  influence  in  some  of  the  Middle  States.  Yearly 
meetings,  which  are  in  a  limited  sense  diocesan,  having  each  a  de- 
fined territorial  jurisdiction  and  independent  of  each  other  in  govern, 
ing  and  legislative  powers,  were  established  in  New  England  in  1661, 
in  Philadelphia  in  1683,  in  New  York  in  1695,  in  North  Carolina  in 
1708. 

The  Presbyterians  were  of  Scotch  and  Irish  origin,  the  first  com- 
ing to  this  country  to  escape  persecution.  The  Huguenot  exiles 
from  France  were  of  the  same  religious  faith.  The  earliest  Presby- 
terians settled  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Eastern  Maryland  and 
Central  Virginia.  In  1688  they  existed  in  considerable  numbers  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  first  Presbyterian  churches*  in  America  of 
which  we  have  record  were  founded  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Mary- 
land, at  Snow  Hill,  Rehoboth,  Monokin,  etc.,  about  1684;  at  Free- 
hold, N.  J.,  in  1692  ;  at  Philadelphia,  in  1698;  in  New  York  City  in 
1716,  after  ten  years  of  occasional  services.  Rev.  Francis  Makensie 
was  the  first  pioneer  of  this  denomination  in  the  New  World.  The 
first  Presbytery  was  constituted  in  1706,  consisting  of  seven  minis- 
ters, and  was  called  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  Ten  years  later 
it  became  a  Synod.  The  first  Presbyterian  church  in  New  York  was 
erected  in  1719.     Others  followed  in  the  New  York  Colony  and  in 


*  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     By  Rev.  E.  H.  GiUett,  D.D., 
Vol.  I,  pp.  3,  4- 


40  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

New  Jersey,  and  the  Synod  was  called  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia.  From  1713-1719  large  emigrations  from  the  North  of 
Ireland  and  Scotland  came  to  New  England  and  the  Middle  States. 
Irish  Presbyterians  settled  in  Boston,  Worcester,  Pelham  and  New- 
buryport,  in  Massachusetts;  at  Casco  Bay,  Macosquin,  Boothbay, 
etc.,  in  Maine ;  and  in  Pembroke,  Peterborough  and  Londonderry, 
N.  H.  The  first  Presbytery  in  New  England  was  constituted  at 
Londonderry,  N.  H.,  April  16,  1745. 

A  new  phase  of  Presbyterianism  developed.  The  old  Scotch 
and  Irish  Presbyterians  mingled  largely  with  Presbyterians  from 
England,  Wales  and  New  England.  The  latter  had  more  liberal 
views  in  regard  to  some  practical  matters  than  the  old  stanch  men 
of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  The  opinions  began  to  differ  until,  in  1741, 
there  was  a  complete  division  into  the  two  synods  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia.  The  old  side,  representing  the  Scotch  and  Irish  Pres- 
byterians, made  a  great  deal  of  what  they  called  "  literature  ;  "  the 
new  side,  representing  the  revival  element,  made  a  great  deal  of  per- 
sonal piety.  Out  of  this  division,  under  the  new  side,  came  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  first  at  Elizabeth,  then  at  Newark,  and  finally 
at  Princeton.  In  1758  these  two  bodies  came  together  again.  In 
1773  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  numbered  2 
Synods,  10  Presbyteries  and  104  ministers. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  is  composed  of  descendants 
of  the  persecuted  Presbyterians  in  Scotland,  who  refused  to  accede 
to  the  Erastian  "  Settlement  of  Religion  "  at  the  Revolution  of  1688, 
and  who  in  that  country  still  maintain  dissent  from  the  union  of 
Church  and  State.  As  early  as  1752  some  Reformed  Presbyterian 
congregations  had  been  formed  in  North  America,  but  owing  to 
various  difficulties  they  did  not  unite  in  a  regular  organization  until 
the  year  1798,  when  "The  Reformed  Presbytery  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America  "  was  constituted  in  Philadelphia. 

The  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  this  country  originated  in  a 
union  formed  June  13,  1782,  between  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
and  a  portion  of  the  Associate  Church.  The  Associate  body  in 
Scotland  commenced  its  existence  in  1747,  on  the  basis  of  opposition 
to  the  Burgess  oath,  by  means  of  which  the  seceders  were  divided 
into  the  Burgher  and  Anti-Burgher  Synods,  the  latter  assuming 
the  name  of  "  Associate."  Companies  sympathizing  with  both  of 
these  parties  emigrated  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  petitioned 
the  mother  churches  for  pastors,  which  resulted  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  in 
1754  and  the  Reformed  (Covenanter)  in  1765. 


THE  GERMAN  REFORMED  CHURCH.  41 

In  1734  a  colony  of  Schwenkfelders  emigrated  from  Silesia  to 
the  United  States  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  where  their  descend- 
ants have  chiefly  resided  in  the  counties  of  Montgomery,  Bucks, 
Berks  and  Lehigh. 

The  first  German  Reformed  pioneer  in  the  United  States  was 
Peter  Minuit,  a  deacon  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  city  of 
Wesel,  who  led  a  colony  of  Germans  to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware. 
Of  Minuit  and  his  colony  no  permanent  record  exists.  Revs.  John 
Philip  Boem  and  George  Michael  Weiss  were  the  earliest  German 
Reformed  ministers  in  this  country,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  that 
Church  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Boem  commenced  preaching  at  Falk- 
ner  Swamp,  Skippack  and  Whitemarsh,  as  early  as  1720,  and  within 
ten  years  of  that  date  nearly  a  dozen  churches  were  founded,  though 
1727  has  been  generally,  but,  as  now  thought,  erroneously,  re- 
garded as  the  earliest  date.  These  people,  re-enforced  by  emigrants, 
spread  into  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Car- 
olina. In  1746  Rev.  Michael  Schlatter  arrived  from  Germany,  author- 
ized to  collect  and  organize  the  scattered  and  confused  congregations. 
The  preliminary  steps  for  the  formation  of  a  Coetus,  or  Synod,  were 
taken  in  1746,  and  the  first  annual  meeting  was  held  in  Philadelphia, 
September  29,  1747.  Thirty-one  persons  were  present,  5  ministers 
and  26  elders.  The  meetings  were  regularly  held  each  year,  except 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  the  proceedings  were  reported 
to  the  Synods  of  Holland,  no  action  being  final  without  their 
approval. 

In  the  colony  of  New  York  there  were  many  early  German 
Reformed  churches.  The  church  on  Nassau  Street,  New  York  City, 
numbered  among  its  pastors  such  men  as  John  Michael  Kern,  Dr. 
J.  Daniel  Gross  and  Dr.  Philip  Milledoler,  who  were  famous  in  their 
day.  There  were  churches  at  Claverack,  Montgomery,  Schoharie, 
and  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  some  of  which  passed  over  to  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church. 

The  Lutheran  Church,  though  early  represented  in  America,  was 
slow  in  gaining  an  organized  existence.  Lutherans  appeared  on 
Manhattan  Island  as  early  as  162 1,  but  they  came  without  a  shep- 
herd. The  Swedish  Lutheran  settlers,  who  came  to  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware  in  1638,  brought  with  them  a  minister,  but  no  Church 
organization  long  existed.  Other  Lutherans  came  to  New  York  in 
1644,  but  were  dependent  on  lay  instruction.  In  1653  they  had  so 
increased  as  to  seek  the  services  of  a  preacher,  but  vainly  presented 
their  petition  to  the  Dutch  Directory.  In  1664  the  English  author- 
ities granted  the  Lutherans  religious  liberty,  and  in  1669.  Rev.  Jacob 


42  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Fabricius,  their  first  pastor,  reached  this  country.  Two  years  later 
the  first  house  of  worship  was  erected.  The  Lutherans  received 
large  accessions  in  1710  to  17 17,  when  4,000  Germans,  victims  of 
oppression,  took  refuge  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  South  Car- 
olina. In  1734  a  colony  of  German  Lutherans,  accompanied  with 
pastors,  settled  in  Georgia.  As  early  as  1739  Waldoborough,  Maine, 
was  settled  by  Lutherans.  The  towns  of  Frankfort  and  Kennebec, 
in  Maine,  and  Leyden,  in  Massachusetts,  were  also  settled  by  Ger- 
man Lutherans.  With  the  year  1742  opens  a  new  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  when  it  assumed  an  organic 
form  under  the  leadership  of  that  eminent  man  Rev.  H.  M.  Muhlen- 
berg, D.D.  In  1748  a  Synod  was  formed,  and  in  1765  a  private  the- 
ological seminary  was  started. 

The  German  Seventh-Day  Baptist  Church  was  introduced  into 
this  country  by  a  company  of  German  emigrants,  who  settled  in 
Germantown,  Pa.,  in  1723. 

The  "  Drinkers,"  "  German  Baptists,"  or  "  BretJiren,"  as  they  have 
been  variously  called,  came  in  considerable  numbers  from  17 19  to 
1730,  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  Mennonites  first  came  from  Germany  to  Pennsylvania  in 
1683.  Others  followed  in  1698,  settling  near  Germantown,  where 
they  erected  their  first  school  and  meeting-house  in  1708.  Others 
followed  in  171 1,  1717  and  1727.  In  1735  they  numbered  five  hun- 
dred families  in  the  county  of  Lancaster  alone. 

The  first  colony  of  Moravians  came  in  1734.  Count  Zinzendorf 
visited  the  United  States  in  1741,  and  churches  had  been  consti- 
tuted in  Bethlehem,  Emmaus,  Philadelphia  and  Lancaster,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  in  New  York  City,  before   1750. 

Methodism  commenced  its  career  in  this  country  twenty-seven 
years  after  its  origin  in  England.  Followers  of  Rev.  John  Wesley 
had  settled  in  different  localities,  not  as  colonies,  or  by  any  concerted 
action,  but  as  individuals  and  families.  Their  first  religious  services, 
held  in  New  York  City  in  1766,  were  the  result  of  spontaneous  relig- 
ious convictions ;  but  the  first  societies  were  organized  under  the 
ecclesiastical  supervision  of  Mr.  Wesley,  who  sent  some  of  his 
preachers  as  missionaries  to  America.  The  first  church  edifice  was 
erected  in  1768.  Francis  Asbury  came  to  America  in  1771.  The 
first  Conference  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  1773,  consisting  of  ten 
preachers,  whose  fields  of  labor,  as  indicated  in  the  Minutes  of  that 
year,  were  in  the  States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland  and  Virginia;  1,160  communicants  were 
reported.      In   1776  their   number  had   increased   to  24   preachers 


FIRST  SYNAGOGUE  ERECTED.  43 

-and  4,921  communicants,  and  they  had  extended  their  labors  as  far 
south  as  North  Carolina.  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck,  Philip  Embury, 
Capt.  Webb,  a  local  preacher,  who  preached  the  first  sermon,  and 
Robert  Stravvbridge,  *  were  the  earliest  Methodist  names  in  America, 
if  we  except  the  transient  visits  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley  thirty 
years  before,  and  of  George  Whitefield,  who,  at  the  time  of  his  first 
tour  through  the  colonies,  had  not  broken  away  from  Rev.  John 
Wesley. 

The  Jews  first  came  to  America  for  the  same  reason  that  the 
Puritans,  Huguenots  and  others  did— to  escape  persecution.  Man- 
'  hattan  Island  was  their  first  refuge,  whither  Jews  of  Spanish  and 
^  Portuguese  descent  fled  to  escape  the  Inquisition.  The  name  of 
Assur  Levy,  a  Jew,  appears  on  the  New  York  City  Records  for  1660. 
Peter  Stuyvesant  opposed  giving  them  protection,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  end  of  the  century  that  they  obtained  freedom  of  worship.  In 
1728  their  first  synagogue  was  erected,  and  the  following  year  their 
first  cemetery  was  dedicated.  Noe  Willey,  of  London,  gave  the 
land  to  his  three  sons,  who  were  New  York  merchants,  as  a  lasting 
heritage  for  the  Hebrews.  Subsequently  the  terms  of  the  gift  were 
violated  by  the  Tradesman's  Bank,  and  later  still  by  the  New  Bowery. 
A  Jewish  synagogue  was  built  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  1658 ;  at  Savan- 
nah, Ga.,  in  1733;  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1750;  in  Richmond,  Va., 
in  1719. 


*  Strawbridge  is  now  claimed  by  some  as  being  the  first  to  actively  and  formally  promote  Meth- 
odism in  America.    See  History  of  Methodism,  by  Bishop  H.  N.  McTyeire,  D.D.,  p.  253. 


44  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  III. 


LATER  ROMAN   CATHOLIC  BEGINNINGS. 

Sec.  I.  The  French  in  the  North.  I  Sec.  3.  The  French  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

"   2.  The  English  in  Maryland.  I    "   4.  Resume  of  Papal  Movements. 


Section  i.— Tlie  Prencli  in  tiie  Hortli. 

AS  in  the  South,  so  also  in  the  North,  papal  missions  closely 
follow  in  the  wake  of  discovery;  in  the  former  section  the 
Spaniards  leading  the  way ;  in  the  latter,  the  French. 

In  a  short  period,  the  Spaniards  subjected  the  continent  south  of 
31  degrees  north  latitude  to  their  dominion.  France  promptly  en- 
tered the  lists,  competing  for  the  possession  of  the  New  Hemisphere. 
But  within  seven  years  of  the  discovery  of  the  continent  the  bold 
mariners  of  Normandy  became  familiar  with  the  fisheries  of  New- 
foundland, and  as  early  as  1506,  a  map  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence, drawn  by  a  citizen  of  Honfleur,  was  exhibited  in  Paris.  Two 
years  later  North  American  Indians  were  presented  at  the  French 
Court. 

During  the  next  130  years  French-American  exploration  clus- 
tered around  three  distinguished  names — Verrazano,  Cartier,  and 
Champlain — the  second  following  ten  years  after  the  first,  and  the 
last  seventy  years  after  the  first  voyage  of  the  second.  Verrazano 
sailed  for  America  in  1524.  Touching  the  coast  of  North  Carolina, 
he  proceeded  northward,  entered  New  York  harbor,  tarried  fifteen 
days  off  Rhode  Island,  inspected  the  broken  line  of  New  England, 
reached  Newfoundland,  and  returned  to  France  with  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  his  discoveries. 

Cartier  next  bore  the  flag  of  France  into  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. Reaching  Newfoundland,  he  entered  the  great  gulf  and 
river  beyond,  to  both  of  which  he  gave  the  name  St.  Lawrence, 
sailed  up  the  river  as  far  as  Montreal  and  returned  to  France.  Two 
other  expeditions  under  Cartier,  with  colonists,  reached  the  territory 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  made  no  permanent  settlement. 

During  the  next  fifty  years,  rent  by  civil  strife  at  home,  France 


CHAMPLAIN.  43 

made  no  attempt  to  gain  new  possessions  in  America.  Under  the 
mild  and  tolerant  reign  of  Henry  IV.  the  star  of  France  once  more 
emerged  from  the  clouds  that  had  enshrouded  its  glory.  After 
several  futile  attempts,  the  period  of  permanent  success  dawned, 
and  French  dominion  in  America  was  extended  from  the  Frozen 
Ocean  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Champlain. 

Champlain,  a  naval  officer  of  high  repute  for  science,  keen  intel- 
lect, cautious  inquiry,  and  versatility,  had  also  become  noted  for 
enterprise  and  courage.  Delighting  in  bold  adventure,  he  had 
already,  in  the  service  of  Spain,  visited  Porto  Rico,  St.  Domingo, 
Cuba,  and  the  City  of  Mexico  ;  and  his  fertile,  penetrating  mind  had 
suggested  the  project  of  uniting  the  two  great  oceans,  by  a  canal 
at  Darien.  Him  the  merchants  of  Rouen  selected  to  secure  a 
monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  in  the  vast  regions  which  Cartier  had 
explored.  But  Champlain  could  not  be  restricted  to  so  narrow  a 
sphere.  Faithfully  executing  the  designs  of  his  patrons,  he  aspired 
not  merely  to  the  profits-  of  trade,  but  also  to  the  higher  glorj'  of 
founding  a  State.  Sailing  from  France  in  1604,  after  leaving  colo- 
nists in  Nova  Scotia,  he  visited  various  points  along  the  New 
England  coast  and  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  In  1608,  he  founded 
Quebec.  For  about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  presided  over  the 
province,  extending  his  exploration  up  the  Saguenay  and  the 
Ottaway,  into  northern  New  York,  and  as  far  as  Lake  Nippissing 
and  the  Georgian  Bay  of  Lake  Huron,  and  entered  into  friendly 
negotiations  with  all  the  Indian  tribes  except  the  implacable  Iro- 
quois. His  wise  policy  and  energetic  administration  firmly  estab- 
lished French  dominion  in  all  those  vast  regions. 

The  standard  of  the  papacy  was  every-where  united  with  that 
of  France ;  Verrazano,  Cartier,  and  Champlain  all  being  devoted 
sons  of  Rome.  When  Champlain  embarked  with  colonists  the 
benediction  of  the  Roman  pontiff  followed  the  families  which 
exiled  themselves  to  evangelize  the  Indians.  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  accompanied  the  expedition,  Mary  de  Medici  contribut- 
ing money  for  their  support ;  and  the  Indian  tribes,  soon  "  touched 
with  the  humanity  of  the  French,  listened  attentively  to  the  mes- 
sage of  redemption."  A  little  earlier  than  this,  De  Monts,  the 
Huguenot  founder  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  obtain  the  free  exercise  of 
his  own  religion  consented  to  allow  the  Indians  of  that  province 
to  be  instructed  in  the  Catholic  faith.  This  was  the  first  foothold 
of  the  papacy  in  the  north.     Two  Jesuit  missionaries  labored  among 


46  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

the  Micmacs  in  Nova  Scotia,  but  soon  removed  to  the  coast  of 
Maine,  where,  seven  years  before  the  Pilgrim  fathers  anchored  with- 
in Cape  Cod,  they  planted  a  French  Catholic  mission  on  Mt.  Desert. 
The  latter  was  soon  destroyed  by  fishermen  from  the  Virginia  Colony 
on  their  way  to  Newfoundland. 

Quebec  Founded. 

Quebec  furnished  a  more  secure  as  well  as  a  more  strategic  cen- 
ter for  French  and  papal  aggression,  and  religious  zeal,  not  less  than 
commercial  ambition,  inspired  its  settlement.  The  commercial 
monopoly  of  a  privileged  class  alone  could  not  foster  a  colony ; 
the  climate  "  where  summer  hurries  through  the  sky  "  did  not  invite 
to  agriculture;  no  persecution  of  the  Catholics  in  France  swelled  the 
stream  of  emigration,  and  at  first  "  there  was  little  except  religious 
enthusiasm  to  give  vitality  to  the  province." 

First,  three  RecoUets,  a  reformed  branch  of  the  Franciscans,  re- 
sponded in  1615,  one  establishing  a  mission  at  Quebec,  another  at 
Tadousac,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay,  among  the  Montagnais, 
and  the  other  among  the  Hurons  and  other  tribes  of  the  great 
north-western  lakes.  In  1625,  three  Jesuit  priests  arrived  to  aid 
them.  On  the  capture  of  Quebec  by  the  English,  in  1629,  all  the 
missionaries  were  carried  to  England.  The  province  was  restored 
to  France  in  1632,  when  the  missions  fell  exclusively  into  the  hands 
of  the  Jesuits,  who  soon  returned  to  wrestle  with  paganism  in  the 
northern  and  western  wilds.  They  traversed  not  only  the  Canadian 
solitudes,  but  also  entered  within  the  present  domain  of  the  United 
States,  in  Maine,  New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  But  Quebec  was  the  center  whence  they  issued  forth 
on  their  widely-extended  missions.  We  shall  soon  see  them  dis- 
covering the  Mississippi  River,  founding  missions  at  Mackinaw,  on 
the  Green  Bay,  in  Illinois,  in  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana,  all  except  the 
last  three  subject  to  the  Superior  at  Quebec* 

"  Thus,"  says  Bancroft,  "  it  was  neither  commercial  enterprise 
nor  royal  ambition  which  carried  the  power  of  France  into  the 
heart  of  our  continent  ;  the  motive  was  religion.  Religious  enthu- 
siasm colonized  New  England,  and  religious  enthusiasm  founded 
Montreal,  made  a  conquest  of  the  wilderness  on  the  upper  lakes,  and 
explored  the  Mississippi.  .  .  .  Within  three  years  after  the  second 


♦Quebec  was  the  burning  focus  of  the  papal  faith— the  strategic  center  of  Roman  CathoHc  prop- 
agandism,  above  the  tropics,  as  Mexico,  for  more  than  loo  years,  had  already  been,  within  the 
tropics. 


THE  JESUITS.  47 

occupation  of  Canada,  the  number  of  Jesuit  priests  in  the  province 
reached  fifteen."  They  rapidly  increased,  and  "  the  history  of  their 
labors  is  connected  with  the  name  of  every  celebrated  town  in  the 
annals  of  French  North  America;  not  a  cape  was  turned  nor  a 
river  entered  but  a  Jesuit  led  the  way." 

The  Jesuits. 

At  an  early  morning  hour,  near  the  end  of  May,  1633,  the  boom- 
ing of  cannon  from  the  fort  on  the  hill  at  Quebec  heralded  the  ar- 
rival of  the  old  Governor,  Samuel  de  Champlain,  who  had  returned 
to  resume  the  command  of  the  province.  He  was  accompanied  by 
four  Jesuit  fathers.  Conspicuous  among  them  was  Jean  de  Brebeuf, 
"  a  tall,  stern  man,  with  features  which  seemed  carved  by  nature 
for  a  soldier,  but  which  the  mental  habits  of  years  had  stamped 
with  the  visible  impress  of  the  priesthood."  A  descendant  from 
a  noble  family  of  Normandy,  he  had  become  more  eminent  for  self- 
mortification,  austerities,  and  devotedness.  He  had  been  abundant 
in  labors,  in  vows,  in  visions,  and  ecstasies ;  and,  as  the  highest  of 
all  human  attainments,  he  eagerly  coveted  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 
Edward  Masse,  Anthony  Daniel,  and  DaVost  were  his  companions. 

"  These  men,"  says  Parkman,  "  aimed  at  the  conversion  of  a 
continent.  From  their  hovel  on  the  St.  Charles  they  surveyed  a 
field  of  labor  whose  vastness  might  tire  the  wings  of  thought  itself 
—a  scene  resplendent  and  appalling,  darkened  with  omens  of  peril 
and  woe.  They  were  an  advance  guard  of  the  great  army  of  Loy- 
ola, strong  in  the  discipline  that  controlled  not  alone  the  body  and 
the  will,  but  the  intellect,  the  heart,  the  soul,  and  the  innermost 
consciousness." 

On  Christmas  day,  1635,  the  spirit  of  Champlain,  the  founder  of 
New  France,  passed  away.  Who  will  be  his  successor?  Will  he 
be  zealous  for  the  faith  ?  These  anxious  inquiries  of  the  Jesuits 
were  soon  satisfactorily  answered.  The  following  June,  Charles  de 
Mortmagny,  a  knight  of  Malta,  arrived.  Climbing  to  the  heights  of 
Quebec,  he  prostrated  himself  before  the  uplifted  crucifix  and 
zealously  espoused  the  cause  of  the  missions.  Slowly  the  popula- 
tion  of  Quebec  increased.  A  school  for  Indian  children,  a  convent, 
and  a  hospital  were  founded.  The  fort  was  rebuilt  with  stone ;  be- 
hind the  fort  a  church  was  erected  and  streets  were  laid  out.  In 
1640  the  inhabitants  did  not  exceed  two  hundred,  chiefly  agents  of 
the  fur  company  and  men  in  their  employ,  few  of  whom  had  fam- 
ilies.    The    remainder   were   priests   and    nuns.     There    were    few 


48  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

motives  to  emigration.  Hunting  was  freely  allowed,  but  trade  and 
fishing  were  restricted,  and  the  rude  soil  yielded  meager  crops. 
The  climate  was  rigorous,  and  the  civil  affairs  arbitrary.  All  were 
kept  in  passive  subjection  to  the  priest  and  the  soldier,  and  liable, 
for  the  neglect  of  any  religious  service,  to  be  tied  like  a  dog,  with 
collar  and  chain,  to  a  post.  Quebec  life  was  mediaeval.  Monastic 
and  military  appendages  were  every-where  visible.  Processions, 
penances,  masses,  and  confessions  were  punctiliously  observed. 
All  were  under  the  watchful  eye  of  the  Jesuit,  not  even  the  Gov- 
ernor excepted.  A  system  of  espionage  was  established — a  female 
association,  called  Sainte  Famille,  met  every  Thursday  in  the  church, 
with  closed  doors,  and  related,  as  they  had  previously  pledged  them- 
selves to  do,  all  they  had  learned,  good  and  evil,  concerning  other 
people  during  the  week.  It  was  not  strange  that  some  people  became 
restive,  and  that  deputies  were  sent  to  France  begging  relief  "  from 
the  hell  in  which  the  consciences  of  the  colony  were  kept."  But 
little  relief,  however,  came. 

"  To  the  Jesuits,"  says  Parkman,  "  the  atmosphere  of  Quebec 
was  well-nigh  celestial.  *  In  the  climate  of  New  France,'  they 
wrote,  *  one  learns  perfectly  to  seek  only  God,  to  have  no  desire  but 
God,  no  purpose  but  for  God.'  And  again,  '  To  live  in  New  France 
is  to  live  in  the  bosom  of  God.'  " 

In  the  still  depths  of  convent  cells,  and  in  the  self-sacrificing  scenes 
of  distant  missions,  there  were  doubtless  deep  fervors,  enkindling 
quenchless  longings  in  devout  hearts  unperverted  by  the  prestige 
of  royalty,  the  wiles  of  intrigue  or  the  patronage  of  power.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  do  justice  to  some  great  examples  of  self-for- 
getfulness  and  devotion  in  this  truly  heroic  period  of  Jesuit  mis- 
sions. But  others  possessed  a  different  spirit.  Blinded  by  love  of 
power,  they  aspired  for  extended  dominion.  Regarding  the  Church 
as  supreme  over  the  State,  the  political  Jesuit  schemed  to  make 
them  play  into  each  other's  hands. 

I  would  not  asperse  this  distinguished  order  nor  its  Canadian 
missionaries,  however  credulous,  supersitious,  or  shorn  of  some  of 
the  best  attributes  of  real  manhood  under  the  self-mortifying  proc- 
esses of  their  peculiar  discipline.  The  patient,  toiling,  suffering, 
dying  sons  of  Loyola,  scattered  through  those  rigorous,  barbarous, 
and  far-reaching  wilds,  were  not  open  to  the  suspicion  of  personal 
ambition.  And  yet,  in  this  early  period  of  the  comparative  purity 
of  the  order,  their  religious  propagandism  seems  to  have  been  di- 
rected by  worldly  policy,  which  had  reference  largely  to  the  ends  of 
commerce    and    national    expansion.     They   sought    to    establish 


MONTREAL  FOUNDED.  49 

French  dominion  in  the  hearts  of  savages  by  subduing  their  stub- 
born necks  to  "  the  yoke  of  the  Faith."  The  power  of  the  temporal 
ruler  was  to  follow  the  power  of  the  priest.  Thus  it  was  hoped, 
with  the  divided  and  scattered  Indian  bands,  to  build  up  "a  vast 
united  wilderness  empire  whicK  in  time  might  span  the  Continent." 

Montreal  Founded. 

The  founding  of  Montreal,  in  1642,  and  its  early  history  were  not 
less  religious.  For  several  years  it  was  almost  wholly  a  religious 
community.  Its  founders  bound  themselves  to  seek  no  earthly  re- 
ward, but  hastened  to  this  perilous  outpost,  then  exposed  to  the 
inroads  of  the  ferocious  Iroquois.  It  was  an  excellent  position  for 
a  mission  ;  for  here  met  two  great  rivers.  The  St.  Lawrence  flow- 
ing from  the  west,  the  outlet  of  the  great  inland  lakes,  with  their 
countless  tributaries  covering  the  heart  of  the  continent,  and  the 
Ottawa,  draining  a  vast  northerly  region,  jointly  embraced,  in 
their  uniting  waters,  the  island  of  Montreal,  "  the  key  of  a  bound- 
less heathenism."  Montreal  and  Quebec  continued  under  the 
governor,  with  his  seat  at  Quebec,  down  to  the  conquest  of  the 
province  by  the  English  in  1763. 

From  this  burning  focus  of  intense  religious  propagandism  the 
emissaries  of  Rome  irradiated  the  northern  borders  of  the  United 
States,  and  bore  the  torch  of  discovery  and  missions  through  the 
great  western  regions. 

Champlain  could  conceive  of  no  more  feasible  plan  of  building 
up  the  French  kingdom  in  Canada  than  an  alliance  with  the  Hurons, 
the  most  mighty  and  stationary  of  all  the  Indian  tribes,  and  of  no 
method  of  confirming  that  alliance  but  by  the  establishment  of 
missions.  The  charter  of  the  province  favored  the  measure,  "  for  it 
recognized  the  neophyte  among  the  savages  as  an  enfranchised  citi- 
zen of  France." 

The  Hurons,  in  respect  to  location,  held  the  key  of  the  great 
west.  They  must  therefore  be  the  first  to  be  won  to  the  faith. 
With  their  aid  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  subdue  the  Iroquois,  whom 
he  had  failed  to  attach  to  him,  and  thus  ultimately  gain  possession 
of  New  York. 

The  Huron  Mission. 

About  eighty  miles  north  of  the  present  city  of  Toronto,  on  an 

irregular  indented  peninsula  extending  from  Lake  Simcoe  into  the 

southern  portion  of  the  Georgian  Bay,  lived  the  great  Huron  tribes. 

DweUing  compactly  in  eighteen  populous  villages,  they  numbered 

4 


80  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

thirty  thousand  souls.  The  region  was  "  an  alternative  of  meadows 
and  forests  interlaced  with  footpaths  leading  from  village  to  village." 
The  fields  afforded  evidence  of  careful  industry,  rewarded  with 
abundant  crops  of  corn,  beans,  squashes,  etc.,  in  autumn  frugally 
stored  for  winter's  use.  In  respect  to  language,  superstitions,  and 
many  other  thin'gs,  they  were  like  most  Indian  tribes ;  but  in  size  of 
brain  they  far  exceeded  other  Indians,  equaling  the  famous  Iroquois 
of  New  York,  of  whom  they  were  a  cognate  tribe.  Their  large,  com- 
pact villages,  their  domestic,  agricultural,  and  trading  habits,  their 
brave  warriors,  and  favorable  situation,  made  them  a  powerful 
people,  with  great  political  influence  over  all  other  Canadian  Indians. 

The  sagacious  mind  of  Champlain  was  not  slow  to  perceive  the 
advantages  which  would  accrue  to  France  and  the  papacy  from  the 
conversion  of  the  Hurons  to  the  Catholic  faith.  He  therefore  re- 
solved upon  special  efforts  to  evangelize  this  remarkable  people, 
three  hundred  leagues  away. 

In  1615,  Le  Caron,  an  unambitious  Franciscan,  through  many 
privations  and  wild  experiences,  on  foot  or  paddling  a  birch  canoe, 
reached  this  far-off  region.  Other  Franciscan  priests  followed,  and, 
in  1625,  three  Jesuit  priests,  who  remained  until  the  capture  of  Can- 
ada by  the  English,  in  1629.  We  have  already  seen  one  of  these,  the 
indomitable  Father  Br^beuf,  after  four  years'  absence,  once  more  at 
Quebec,  with  co-laborers,  preparing  to  renew  the  Huron  mission. 

In  the  summer  of  1634  a  party  of  Hurons  visited  Quebec,  and 
the  Jesuit  fathers,  obedient  to  their  vows,  amid  salvos  of  cannon 
from  the  fort  set  forth  with  them  for  their  distant  homes.  They 
journeyed  by  way  of  the  Ottawa  and  its  interlocking  streams  for  more 
than  nine  hundred  miles,  through  a  region  horrible  with  forests, 
wild  beasts,  and  wild  men.  All  the  day  long,  and  day  after  day,  the 
missionaries  paddled  the  canoe,  or  waded  in  the  shallow  streams 
drawing  it  along  against  the  swift  current,  with  no  food  but  a 
scanty  measure  of  crushed  corn  mixed  with  water,  and  no  couch  at 
night  but  the  bare  earth  and  rocks.  Five  and  thirty  water-falls  and 
fifty  rapids  and  shallows  were  counted,  where  they  lifted  their  canoes 
from  the  water  and  carried  them  upon  their  shoulders  for  leagues 
through  thick  and  tangled  woods.  Thus  these  "  consecrated  envoys" 
pursued  their  way  by  rivers,  lakes,  and  forests,  making  solemn  vows 
to  St.  Joseph,  and  snatching  intervals  from  their  imperfect  sleep  to 
read  their  breviaries  by  moonlight  or  the  camp  fire.  At  the  end  of 
thirty  days  they  descended  the  French  River,  passed  along  the  lonely 
shores  of  the  Georgian  Bay,  and  reached  the  heart  of  the  Huron 
wilderness,  stretched  in  its  unbroken  savage  slumbers.     The  mission- 


THE  HURONS.  SI 

aries  were  worn  and  exhausted.     Even  the  iron  frame  and  resolute 
spirit  of  Br^beuf.  the  Ajax  of  the  mission,  were  severely  taxed. 

Recovering  from  their  fatigue,  they  commenced  their  mission  ; 
first  the  language,  then  translations,  then  instruction,  baptisms,  etc. 
"  All  that  the  church  offered  to  the  princes  and  nobles  of  the  Euro- 
pean world,"  says  Bancroft,  "  was  showed  to  the  humblest  of  the 
savage  neophytes.  The  hunter  as  he  returned  from  his  wild  rovings 
was  taught  to  hope  for  eternal  rest ;  the  braves,  as  they  returned 
from  war,  were  warned  of  the  wrath  which  kindles  against  sinners 
a  never  dving  fire,  fiercer  far  than  the  fires  of  the  Mohawks;  and 
the  idlers  of  the  Indian  villages  were  told  the  exciting  tale  of  the 
Saviour's  death  for  their  redemption." 

The  mission  was  re-enforced  in  due  time,  and  new  missions 
were  founded  among  neighboring  tribes.  In  1649  the  mission  force 
numbered  more  than  fifty  priests  and  assistants,  laboring  in  eleven 
stations.  The  news  from  this  Huron  mission  awakened  in  France 
the  strongest  sympathy.  The  king,  the  queen,  the  princesses,  and 
the  clergy  sent  presents  and  substantial  aid.  Even  Italy  listened 
with  interest  to  the  novel  story,  and  the  pope  himself  expressed  his 
favor.  But  reverses  severe  and  overwhelming,  just  at  the  time 
when  the  labors  of  the  missionaries  were  achieving  their  best  suc- 
cess, came  upon  both  priest  and  people. 

The  Hurons  were  a  doomed  nation.  Between  them  and  the 
Iroquois,  as  the  Six  Nations  in  New  York  were  called,  an  old  feud 
existed.  In  the  years  1648  and  1649  a  succession  of  vengeances 
almost  annihilated  them.  While  the  braves  were  absent  at  a  great 
distance,  on  a  hunting  expedition,  the  Iroquois  suddenly  burst  upon 
the  Huron  country,  and  their  villages  were  destroyed  with  a  destruc- 
tion almost  as  sudden  as  lightning  from  a  cloud.  A  series  of  ter- 
rible  scenes  too  fearful  to  relate  transpired  under  the  several  inva- 
sions of  their  implacable  foes.  The  missionaries  had  no  thought  of 
flight,  but  stood  like  steel  in  the  teeth  of  danger.  Hurrying  from 
cabin  to  cabin,  they  prepared  the  sick  and  infirm  for  death,  soothed 
the  wounded,  cheered  the  courage  of  the  defenders,  until  they 
themselves  became  victims  of  the  assailants.  Their  enemies  seized 
them,  fiercely  tore  off  their  finger-nails,  compelled  them  to  run  the 
dreadful  Indian  gauntlet,  and  then  bound  them  to  stakes.  Brebeufs 
hands  were  cut  off,  but  he  gloried  in  his  sufferings  and  exhorted  his 
captive  converts.  Hatchets  heated  in  the  fire  were  forced  under  his 
armpits  and  between  his  thighs,  and  a  collar  of  heated  hatchets  was 
placed  round  his  neck.  He  exhorted  his  converts  until  a  stone 
crushed  his  mouth.     They  cut  off  his  nose  and  underhp  and  thrust 


52  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  burning  torch  into  his  mouth.  In  derision,  the  priests  were  bap- 
tized with  boiling  water.  Br^beufs  iron  frame  endured  unaccount- 
ably. Seeing  him  nearly  dead,  they  opened  his  breast,  and  crowded 
around  to  drink  the  heart-blood  of  so  valiant  a  man,  thinking  thus 
to  imbibe  his  courage. 

The  death-knell  of  the  Hurons  had  sounded.  Left  in  scattered 
remnants,  without  a  leader  or  an  organization,  crazed  and  paralyzed, 
their  towns  were  deserted,  and  they  wandered  as  fugitives.  Some 
settled  in  small  groups  on  the  islands  of  Lake  Huron.  Pressed  from 
point  to  point  by  the  insatiable  Iroquois,  they  passed  into  the  far 
west. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Hurons  closed  the  brightest  period  of  Jesuit 
propagandism  in  North  America.  Henceforth  the  Jesuits  were 
more  prominently  identified  with  schemes  of  discovery  and  conquest. 

Maine  and  New  York  Invaded. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  1646.  twelve  years  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  great  Huron  mission,  and  three  years  before  its  destruc- 
tion, twenty-three  years  after  the  erection  of  Fort  Orange,  at  Albany, 
and  sixteen  years  after  the  founding  of  Boston,  two  missions  were 
simultaneously  projected  by  the  Canadian  Jesuits  within  the  north- 
ern limits  of  the  United  States— one  among  the  Abenakis,  in 
Maine,  and  the  other  among  the  Mohawks,  in  New  York.  The  mis- 
sionaries were  Fathers  Gabriel  Druellettes  and  Isaac  Jogues. 

The  Abenakis  belonged  to  the  great  Algonquin  race  and  resided 
in  five  communities;  two  in  Canada,  and  the  others  upon  the  Saco, 
the  Androscoggin  and  the  Kennebec  rivers.  They  have  been  char- 
acterized as  very  brave,  tenacious,  remarkably  faithful  to  covenants, 
and  possessing  stronger  family  attachments  than  other  Indians. 
The  French  very  early  and  permanently  attached  this  people  to 
themselves,  fostered  their  hostility  to  the  English,  and  made  them 
thorns  in  the  sides  of  the  New  England  colonists.  It  was  this  peo- 
ple, in  alliance  with  the  French  and  often  under  French  leaders, 
that  ravaged  the  northern  settlements  of  New  England  in  the 
colonial  period. 

Upon  the  banks  of  the  St,  Lawrence,  near  Quebec,  a  Jesuit 
mission  station  was  founded,  in  1637,  by  Noel  Brulart  de  Sillery,  a 
Knight  of  Malta,  who,  after  a  brilliant  career  at  the  Court  of  Louis 
XII.,  became  a  model  of  sanctity  and  devoted  himself  to  good 
works.  From  its  founder  it  received  its  name,  Sillery.  Here  were 
gathered  a  few  scattered  Algonquins  and  Montagnis,  who,  from  their 


JESUITS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  83 

love  for  the  faith,  gave  up  a  life  of  wandering,  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  spiritual  guides  cultivated  the  soil.  Among  the  noblest  of 
the  neophytes  in  this  papal  elysium  was  Charles  Meiaskwat,  who 
became  noted  for  extraordinary  purity  and  sanctity.  Hearing  of 
some  Abenakis  held  as  prisoners,  and  cruelly  tortured  by  a  party  of 
pagan  Algonquins,  he  hastened  to  their  rescue,  and  returned  with 
them  in  triumph  to  Sillery,  where  they  were  kindly  received,  care- 
fully nursed  by  the  nuns  of  the  hospital  and  instructed  in  the  faith. 
When  sufficiently  recovered,  one  of  them,  accompanied  by  Meiask- 
wat, departed  for  his  native  village  on  the  Kennebec.  They  visited 
extensively  among  their  people,  every-where  extolling  the  Christian 
doctrine  and  awakening  great  desire  to  know  it  more  fully.  One 
of  the  chiefs  accompanied  Charles  to  Quebec,  where  he  was  instructed 
and  baptized.  Subsequently  two  other  chiefs  came  to  Quebec  and 
asked  for  priests  to  instruct  their  people. 

"  Apart  from  the  saving  of  souls,"  says  Parkman,  "  there  were 
solid  reasons  for  acceding  to  their  request.  The  Abenakis  were 
near  the  colonies  of  New  England  ;  indeed,  the  Plymouth  Colony, 
under  its  charter,  claimed  jurisdiction  over  them  ;  and,  in  case  of 
rupture,  they  would  prove  serviceable  friends  or  dangerous  enemies 
to  New  France,"  Charlevoix  (I,  280)  also  gives  this  as  one  motive 
for  the  mission. 

When  the  temporary  peace  was  concluded  with  the  Iroquois,  in 
1646,  Father  Druellettes  was  sent  to  the  Kennebec  and  Father  Jogues 
to  the  Mohawks,  Accompanied  by  Noel  Nagobamat  and  a  party  of 
Indians,  Druellettes  pursued  the  route  by  which,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  years  later,  Arnold  led  his  soldiers  to  Quebec,  reached 
the  waters  of  the  Kennebec  and  descended  to  the  Abenakis  villages.  ■ 
He  devoted  himself  at  once  to  the  study  of  their  dialect,  visited  the 
sick,  baptized  the  dying,  and  imparted  such  instruction  as  he  could, 
with  his  limited  knowledge  of  their  language.  Descending  the  river 
from  Norridgewock,  he  reconnoitered  the  country  from  the  English 
trading-post  at  Augusta  to  the  ocean,  thence  along  the  coast  to 
the  Penobscot,  visiting  all  the  English  posts  on  the  way.  Being 
kindly  received,  he  returned  to  his  starting-point,  above  Augusta, 
where  a  chapel  was  erected  and  a  central  station  established. 
He  went  to  Quebec  in  May,  according  to  previous  agreement, 
much  to  the  grief  of  the  Indians.  In  the  summer  of  1650  Druel- 
lettes returned,  and  was  joyfully  received.  Amid  a  volley  of 
fire-arms  the  chief  embraced  the  missionary,  saying,  "  I  see  well 
that  the  Great  Spirit  who  rules  in  the  heavens  deigns  to  look  favor- 
ably on  us,  since  he  sends  us  back  our  patriarch."     Universal  joy 


64  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

prevailed,  a  banquet  was  spread  in  every  cabin,  and  he  was  forced 
to  visit  all. 

A  Jesuit  Priest  in  Boston. 

After  a  brief  period  of  labor  in  the  mission,  Druellettes  set  out 
for  Boston  on  an  embassy  from  the  Governor  of  Canada  to  the 
New  England  colonies.  "  His  journey,"  says  Parkman,  "  is  worthy 
of  notice,  since,  with  the  unimportant  exception  of  Jogues's  em- 
bassy to  the  Mohawks,  it  is  the  first  occasion  on  which  the  Canadian 
Jesuits  appear  in  a  character  distinctly  political.  Afterward,  when 
the  fervor  and  freshness  of  the  missions  had  passed  away,  they  fre- 
quently did  the  work  of  political  agents  among  the  Indians,  but 
the  Jesuit  of  the  earlier  period  was,  with  rare  exceptions,  a  mis- 
sionary only;  and,  though  he  was  expected  to  exert  a  powerful 
influence  in  gaining  subjects  and  allies  for  France,  he  was  to  do  so 
by  gathering  them  under  the  wings  of  the  Church." 

The  Iroquois  had  brought  Canada  to  an  extremity,  and  the  gov- 
ernor desired  military  aid  against  them,  proffering  as  a  compensa- 
tion a  reciprocity  of  trade,  known  to  be  much  desired  by  the  New 
England  colonies.  The  time  for  Druellettes'  visit  seemed  inauspi- 
cious ;  for,  only  three  years  before,  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
had  enacted  that  a  Jesuit  entering  the  colony  should  be  expelled, 
and,  if  he  returned,  hanged.  Nevertheless,  November  found  him 
coasting  along  Cape  Ann  to  Boston.  "Amid  the  homes  of  the 
Puritans,"  says  Shea,  '*  the  son  of  Loyola  was  well  received,  and 
at  Roxbury,  Eliot,  devoted  like  himself  to  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians,  invited  him  to  pass  the  winter  under  his  hospitable  roof; 
but  rest  was  not  a  part  of  a  Jesuit's  life.  His  Abenakis  called  him, 
and  by  February  he  was  back  among  them  and  engaged  in  his  mis- 
sionary toils."  Tarrying  a  few  months,  he  instructed  his  catechu- 
mens until  they  were  ready  for  baptism,  and  in  June  returned  to 
Quebec.  A  second  visit  was  made  to  Boston,  but  without  success. 
The  ambassador,  however,  on  each  journey,  tarried  awhile,  minister- 
ing to  the  Abenakis  as  before. 

Thus  was  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  planted  among  the  Indians 
in  Maine.  A  few  more  brief  visits  by  this  ambassador-priest,  and 
for  thirty  years  they  were  left  without  the  ministrations  of  the 
Church,  except  a  portion  of  the  neophytes  who  were  drawn  to  the 
mission  at  Sillery,  and  subsequently,  on  its  removal,  to  the  P'alls  of 
St.  Chaudiere,  where  they  continued  to  receive  instruction.  The 
scattering  of  the  fathers  among  the  dispersed  Hurons  on  the  lakes 
of  the  far  West,  the  death   of  some,   and  the  recall  of  others  to 


JESUIT  INTRIGUES.  53 

France,  had  greatly  reduced  the  supply  of  pastors.  Druellettes 
himself,  in  company  with  Dablon,  was  sent  upon  an  important  expe- 
dition to  Hudson's  Bay,  and  subsequently  with  the  celebrated  Mar- 
quette, one  of  his  pupils,  to  the  West,  where  he  labored  at  Sault  St. 
Mary's.  After  forty  years  of  toil  and  privation  among  the  Indians 
of  North  America,  he  died  at  Quebec,  in  1681,  aged  88  years. 

In  1687,  the  missions  among  the  Abenakis  were  re-established 
by  Fathers  James  and  Vincent  Bigot,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
American  Revolution,  thirteen  missionaries,  chiefly  Jesuits,  labored 
among  them  ;  but  few  details  of  their  labors,  however,  are  now 
available. 

We  have  now  come  to  a  new  period  in  the  history  of  these  mis- 
sions, when  we  find  them  disturbed  and  perverted  by  the  turmoils 
of  war  and  political  conquest.  In  this  new  phase,  the  neophytes 
bear  a  decidedly  militant  and  savage  part  and  the  Jesuits  lose  their 
distinctively  missionary  character  and  become  active  intriguers  for 
political  ends,  and  even  fomenters  of  bloody  strifes.  These  hostilities 
cover  three  periods— the  King  William's  war  (1689-1697),  the  Queen 
Anne's  war  (1700-17 13),  and  a  local  irritation,  more  or  less  inter- 
mittent, occasioned  by  the  imperfectly  defined  north-eastern  bound- 
ary, finally  settled  in  1727.  In  the  national  wars  the  colonists  par- 
ticipated. The  region  of  the  Abenakis  was  a  disputed  territory 
between  the  French  and  English ;  and  the  Indians  being  attached 
to  the  former  by  many  favors,  and  particularly  through  the  influence 
of  the  Jesuits,  were  kept  in  a  state  of  continual  hostility. 

Impartial  justice  concedes  jealousies,  irritations  and  encroach- 
ments on  both  sides,  in  these  unfortunate  and  destructive  contests; 
but  the  terrible  massacres  of  the  infant  settlements  of  Casco  Bay, 
Pemaquid,  Wells  and  York,  in  Maine ;  Oyster  River,  Salmon  Falls 
and  Dover,  N.  H.,  and  Haverhill,  Mass.,  by  these  Indians,  under 
the  inspiration  of  their  Jesuit  instructors,  can  never  be  expunged 
from  the  pages  of  New  England  history.  The  Roman  Catholic 
version  of  the  conduct  of  their  missionaries  by  no  means  exonerates 
them.  Mr.  J.  G.  Shea,  following  the  Jesuit  Charlevoix,  says:* 
"The  missionaries,  often  in  jeopardy,  remained  manfully  at  their 
posts,  inculcating  mercy  in  war,  as  well  as  every  other  Christian  vir- 
tue. Sometimes  they  accompanied  the  war  parties  as  chaplains,  at 
others  they  remained  with  the  women  and  children.  We  may  judge 
of  the  fervor  of  the  neophytes  by  the  fact  that  when  the  braves  of 
Panawaniske  set  out  to  attack  Fort  Pemaquid,  in  1689,  they  all 
approached  the  sacraments  with  their  wives  and  children,  that  the 

*  History  of  Catholic  Missions  Among  the  Indian  Tribes,  p.  143. 


86  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

latter  might  raise  pure  hands  to  heaven  while  they  were  in  deadly 
combat  with  the  enemies  of  their  race  and  faith.  During  the  whole 
period  of  the  expedition  a  perpetual  rosary  was  established,  not 
even  the  time  of  meals  interrupting  so  edifying  an  exercise." 

The  Penobscot. 

Sober  history  records  that  the  Jesuits  actively  participated 
in  schemes  for  territorial  conquest  and  occupation.  Bancroft  says 
that,  to  protect  Acadia,  "  The  Jesuits  Vincent  and  James  Bigot 
collected  a  village  of  Abenakis  on  the  Penobscot."  He  also  says, 
"  The  missionaries,  swaying  the  minds  of  the  Abenakis,  gave  the 
hope  of  savage  allies "  to  France,  in  attempting  to  extend  her 
territorial  line  to  the  Kennebec.  Again  he  says,  "  For  a  season, 
hostilities  in  Maine  were  suspended,  by  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
Abenakis ;  but  in  less  than  a  year,  solely  through  the  influence  of 
the  Jesuits,  they  were  again  in  the  field,  led  by  Villieu,  the  Fteneh 
commander  on  the  Penobscot ;  and  the  village  of  Oyster  River,  in 
New  Hampshire,  was  the  victim  of  their  fury.  Ninety-four  per- 
sons were  killed  or  carried  away,"  etc.  And  it  may  be  added  that 
when  the  powerful  "  Five  Nations"  of  New  York  made  a  treaty  of 
neutrality  with  the  French  and  English,  in  1701,  in  which  the 
Abenakis  of  Maine  joined  with  them,  the  Jesuits  prevailed  upon 
the  latter  to  break  their  compact,  and  the  first  notice  of  treach- 
ery was  a  fearful  massacre,  the  whole  country  from  Wells  to  Casco 
Bay,  in  Maine,  being  devastated  with  burning  and  butchery.  In 
Maine  and  New  Hampshire  the  war  was  marked  with  great  barbar- 
ities. Prowling  bands  of  savages  penetrated  even  into  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  people  were  massacred  or  carried  into  captivity. 

"  Nor  did  the  thought  occur,"  says  Bancroft,  "  that  such  inroads 
were  atrocious.  The  Jesuit  historian  of  France  relates,  with  pride, 
that  they  had  their  origin  in  the  counsels  and  influence  of  the 
missionaries,  Thury  and  Bigot ;  and,  extolling  the  hardihood  and 
the  success  of  the  foray,  he  passes  a  eulogy  on  the  daring  of  Taxus, 
the  bravest  of  the  Abenakis.  Such  is  self-love :  it  has  but  one  root, 
with  a  thousand  branches.  The  despot  believed  his  authority  from 
God,  and  his  own  personality  to  constitute  the  State  ;  the  mistresses 
of  kings  were,  without  scruple,  made  by  patent  the  mothers  of 
hereditary  legislators;  the  English  monopolist  had  no  self-reproach 
for  prohibiting  the  industry  of  the  colonists  ;  Louis  XIV.,  James  II. 
and  his  successors,  Queen  Anne,  Bolingbroke  and  Lady  Masham, 
thought  it  no  harm  to  derive  money  from  the  slave-trade ;  and,  in 


FATHER  RALE.  87 

the  pages  of  Charlevoix,  the  unavailing  cruelties  of  midnight  incen- 
diaries, the  murder  and  scalping  of  the  inhabitants  of  peaceful  vil- 
lages, and  the  captivity  of  helpless  women  and  children,  are  diffusely 
narrated  as  actions  that  were  brave  and  beautiful." 

Father  Sebastian  Rale. 

The  case  of  Sebastian  Rale,  the  Jesuit  missionary  at  Norridge- 
wock,  Me.,  from  1699  to  1724,  has  received  extended  notice  from 
Roman  Catholic  writers,  who  have  given  him  a  high  rank  in  their  an- 
nals,  characterizing  him  as  "  learned,  zealous,  laboring,  careful  of  the 
religious  progress  of  his  flock,  careless  of  his  own  comfort  and  life, 
and  desirous  even  of  martyrdom." 

Bancroft  has  represented  this  distinguished  Jesuit  in  a  very  favor- 
able light:  "Severely  ascetic,  using  no  wine,  and  little  food  except 
pounded  maize;  a  vigorous  observer  of  the  days  of  Lent,  he  built 
his  own  cabin,  tilled  his  own  garden,  drew  for  himself  wood  and 
water,  prepared  his  own  hominy,  and.distributing  all  that  he  received, 
gave  an  example  of  religious  poverty.  Himself  a  painter,  he  adorned 
the  humble  walls  of  his  church  with  pictures.  There  he  gave  instruc- 
tion almost  daily.  Following  his  pupils  to  their  wigwams,  he  tem- 
pered the  spirit  of  devotion  with  familiar  conversation  and  innocent 
gayety,  winning  the  mastery  over  their  souls  by  his  powers  of  per- 
suasion. .  .  . 

"  The  Government  of  Massachusetts  attempted,  in  turn,  to  estab- 
lish a  mission,  and  its  minister  made  a  mocking  of  purgatory  and  the 
invocation  of  saints,  of  the  cross,  and  of  the  rosary.  '  My  Chris- 
tians,' retorted  Rale,  '  believe  the  truths  of  the  Catholic  faith,  but 
are  not  skillful  disputants  ; '  and  he  prepared  a  defense  of  the  Roman 
Church.  Thus  Calvin  and  Loyola  met  in  the  woods  of  Maine.  But 
the  Protestant  minister,  unable  to  compete  with  the  Jesuit  for 
the  affections  of  the  Indians,  returned  to  Boston,  'while  the  friar 
remained,  the  incendiary  of  mischief.'  "* 

Some  of  Rale's  papers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Government  of 
Massachusetts,  from  which  it  appears  that  he  was  in  correspondence 
with  the  Governor  of  Canada,  by  whose  aid  he  hoped  to  exclude  the 
English  settlers  from  the  region  where  he  resided,  and  that  he  accom- 
panied an  expedition  of  the  Indians  against  the  colonies,  and  acted 
a  conspicuous  part  in  at  least  one  attack  upon  their  settlements. 
The  evidence  was  so  conclusive  that  the  Massachusetts  Government 
undertook  to  arrest  him,  and  at  last,  August  23,  1724,  the  Indian 

*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Centennial  Edition,  Vol.  II,  pp.  354,  47i- 


38  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

village  at  Norridgewock   was  attacked  and  destroyed,  and  Rale  fell 
in  the  battle.* 

The  cession  of  Canada  to  England,  in  1763,  militated  against 
these  missions,  and  for  a  few  years  before  the  American  Revolution 
they  were  without  a  priest ;  but  they  retained  their  attachment  to 
the  papal  faith.  In  the  Revolution  they  joined  with  the  colonists, 
and  took  a  noble  part  in  that  long  struggle,  Orono,  the  Penobscot 
chief,  holding  "a  commission,  which  he  ennobled  by  his  virtues  and 
bravery."  On  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  Abenakis  asked  Dr.  Car- 
roll, of  Baltimore,  for  a  missionary,  when  Father  Ciquard,  a  Sulpitian, 
was  sent  to  them  ;  and  as  a  tribe,  they  have  continued  to  this  day, 
steadfast  in  their  devotion  to  the  papacy. 

In  New  York. 

The  result  in  New  York  was  very  different.  The  deep-laid  plan 
of  the  Jesuits  at  Quebec  was  to  hem  in  the  English  settlements 
in  New  York  on  the  east,  and  separate  them  from  the  Protestants 
in  Nova  Scotia,  by  getting  the  control  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  Maine. 
The  second  part  of  their  plan  had  reference  to  the  west ;  to  cut 
off  New  England  from  the  Protestant  colonies  of  the  present  middle 
States  by  making  their  way  from  the  north,  down  by  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  Albany,  and  the  Hudson  River,  to  Manhattan  Island.  Having 
thus  divided  the  Protestant  colonies,  they  hoped  to  make  them  an 
easy  prey.  In  seeking  to  accomplish  this  last  part  of  the  programme 
they  desired  the  aid  of  the  Iroquois  Indians  of  New  York,  which 
they  hoped  to  secure  by  converting  them  to  the  papal  faith.  Had 
they  succeeded  in  gaining  as  complete  control  of  them,  as  they  did 
of  the  Maine  Indians  they  would  have  been  able  to  accomplish  the 
destruction  of  all  the  Protestant  colonies  on  this  continent,  and 
would  have  consigned  the  continent  to  the  papacy.  The  numbers 
and  power  of  the  Iroquois  would  have  been  sufficient  to  enable  the 
French  to  make  a  complete  conquest.  Besides,  in  that  case,  the 
Hurons  would  not  have  been  slaughtered,  but  would  have  been 
powerful  allies  in  the  movement. 

The  Iroquois. 

Under  the  Indian  name,  Hotinnoiisinouni,  the  complete  cabin,  and 
the  French  name  Iroquois,  was  comprised  a  confederacy  of  five 
distinct  Indian  nations — the  Mohawks,  the  Oneidas,  the  Cayugas, 
the  Senecas,  and  the  Onondagas — cantoned  from  the  mouth  of  the 

*  See  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections.    Second  Series,  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  250,  266. 


THE  IROQUOIS.  59 

Mohawk,  near  Albany,  along  a  series  of  beautiful  lakes,  bearing  the 
names  of  the  tribes,  as  far  as  the  Genesee  River.  They  were  noted 
for  large  and  vigorous  physical  development,  extraordinary  courage, 
and  unequaled  ferocity.  They  possessed  a  larger  brain  than  any 
other  tribe  except  the  Hurons,  a  kindred  body,  and  were  in  many 
respects  more  advanced  and  better  organized  than  any  other  Indians. 
Under  chiefs,  half  hereditary  and  half  elective,  and  a  government 
an  oligarchy  in  form  and  a  democracy  in  spirit,  ensconced  in  pali- 
saded villages,  surrounded  by  fertile  and  cultivated  fields,  faithfully 
maintaining  a  time-honored  league  of  fraternity,  and  achieving  a 
great  reputation  for  war  and  savagery,  before  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  they  had  subjugated  the  vast  region  from 
Quebec  to  Lake  Superior  above  the  lakes,  and  from  Albany  to  the 
Mississippi  below,  and  had  become  the  most  conspicuous  and 
dreaded  of  all  the  American  Indians  of  their  day.  They  have  left 
behind  no  evidence  of  any  tendency  to  emerge  from  their  wild 
hunter  life;  but  they  stand  upon  the  pages  of  history  as  the  stern 
conservators  of  barbarism,  in  the  arts  of  torture  and  cruelty 
matching  the  worst  of  their  kind. 

The  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  in  Canada, 
by  the  early  alliance  of  the  great  Champlain  with  those  tribes  and 
his  hostile  invasion  of  the  Mohawk  territory  in  1609,  the  Iroquois 
became  the  deadly  enemies  of  the  French.  At  a  restoration  of 
some  French  captains  unharmed,  in  1640,  a  collision  took  place  which 
gave  new  zest  to  their  hatred  ;  and  the  Mohawks  formally  pro- 
claimed that  henceforth  French  and  Huron  should  be  treated  alike, 
and  sent  out  their  fierce  war-bands  to  infest  all  the  water  communi- 
cations of  the  north.  The  subsequent  history  of  Canada  for  thirty 
years,  except  in  a  few  brief  intervals,  is  full  of  the  wars  of  the 
Iroquois,  destroying  the  best  missions  and  rendering  the  efforts  for 
their  establishment  among  the  "  Five  Nations  "  themselves  abortive. 

It  is  early  in  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  August,  1642.  Twelve 
Huron  canoes  are  slowly  moving  up  the  St.  Lawrence  at  a  point 
two  days  distant  from  Quebec.  The  lading  consists  of  supplies  for 
the  suffering  Huron  mission.  The  living  freight  is  chiefly  heathen 
Indians  who  are  returning  homeward.  A  few  catechumens  in  course 
of  instruction  for  baptism  are  in  the  party,  and  some  Huron  con- 
verts, among  whom  is  the  noted  Christian  chief,  Eustache  Ahatsistari. 
There  are  also  two  young  Frenchmen,  Rene  Goupil  and  Guillaume 
Couture,  donnes,  or  lay- brothers  of  the  mission.  Goupil,  once  a 
Jesuit  novitiate  in  Paris,  compelled  by  failing  health  to  forego  the 
rigorous  discipline  of  the  order,  but  skilled  in  surgery,  has  already 


60  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

identified  himself  with  the  service  of  the  Church.  Couture,  his 
companion,  a  man  of  intelligence  and  rigor,  is  no  less  devoted  to 
the  missionary  work 

Jogues. 

In  the  leading  canoe  sits  a  Jesuit  father,  in  his  black  gown,  whose 
oval  face  and  delicate  mold  of  features  bespeak  a  modest,  thought- 
ful, and  refined  nature.  Physically  slender,  constitutionally  timid, 
sensitively  conscientious,  and  profoundly  religious,  in  the  fiery  ordeal 
about  to  open  before  him  he  is  to  be  tested  to  the  utmost,  and  gain 
a  crown  of  martyrdom.  Born  in  1607,  of  a  highly  respectable  family 
in  Orleans,  France,  in  his  childhood  he  became  eminent  for  piety, 
and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  was  admitted  to  the  celebrated 
Jesuit  Novitiate  at  Rouen.  His  brilliant  course  of  study  made  him 
a  finished  scholar  and  gave  promise  of  a  successful  literary  career. 
But  he  earnestly  desired  a  foreign  mission,  and  talked  seriously  of 
Ethiopia  as  his  field  of  toil.  At  his  graduation,  however,  in  1636, 
he  was  sent  to  the  Canadian  wilderness.  Amid  the  rigors  and  priva- 
tions of  the  Huron  peninsula,  under  the  direction  of  the  eminent 
Brebeuf,  he  spent  five  years  of  devoted  service ;  and  then,  accom- 
panied by  Raymbault  and  a  few  Huron  converts,  he  went  forth  to 
plant  the  cross  in  fields  still  more  remote.  Passing  the  Manitoulins 
of  the  Georgian  Bay,  and  the  clustering  archipelagoes  of  Lake  Huron, 
they  reached  the  confines  of  Lake  Superior,  and  there,  at  the  Falls 
of  St.  Mary,  "  five  years,"  says  Bancroft,  "  before  the  New  England 
Eliot  had  addressed  the  tribe  of  Indians  that  dwelt  within  six  miles 
of  Boston  Harbor,"  he  preached  the  Gospel  to  two  thousand  Ojib- 
ways  and  Algonquins.  Worn  by  his  toils,  Raymbault  has  been  borne 
to  Quebec  to  die  of  consumption,  and  his  companion  is  now  retrac- 
ing his  course,  reserved  to  encounter  a  far  more  dreaded  foe.  Isaac 
Jogues,  the  first  to  carry  the  cross  into  Michigan,  is  also  to  be  the 
first  to  bear  it,  under  the  sorest  tortures,  through  the  villages  of  the 
Mohawks,  for  those  savage  red  men  are  about  to  "  gird  him  and  lead 
him  whither  he  would  not." 

The  twelve  canoes  have  reached  the  western  end  of  Lake  St. 
Peters,  where  the  St.  Lawrence  is  filled  with  numerous  islands. 
Su(3denly  from  me  rushes  ring  out  wild  war-whoops,  sharp  reports 
of  guns  and  whistling  bullets,  and  canoes  filled  with  savage  Mohawks 
push  out  from  concealment  and  bear  down  upon  them.  A  shameful 
panic  seizes  the  Hurons;  but,  rallying  a  little,  they  make  an  in- 
effectual defense,  and  fall  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies. 

The  seventy  Iroquois,  with  twenty  Hurons  and    three  French- 


AMONG  THE  MOHAWKS.  61 

men,  speedily  embark  upon  the  Richelieu  homeward ;  and  all  the 
way  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Mohawk  horrible  inflictions  of 
savage  cruelty  are  endured.  Sore  with  wounds,  and  suffering  from 
hunger  and  heat,  they  are  hurried  along.  By  day,  with  keenest 
relish,  their  savage  captors  re-open  their  wounds  and  pierce  their 
flesh  with  awls,  and  clouds  of  mosquitoes  torment  them  by  night. 
Several  times  they  meet  war  parties  of  Mohawks,  and  on  each  occa- 
sion they  are  compelled  to  run  the  fearful  Indian  gauntlet.  Jogues 
sinks  under  one  of  these  assaults.  The  chief  man  among  the  cap- 
tives, he  fares  the  worst.  He  is  dragged  to  a  scaffold,  and  again 
bruised  and  burned.  His  closing  wounds  gape  afresh,  his  remaining 
nails  are  torn  out  and  his  hands  are  mangled. 

The  water-course  finished,  the  mangled  prisoners  are  loaded  down 
and  forced  to  stagger  on,  half-starved,  subsisting  chiefly  upon  wild  ber- 
ries, until  they  reach  the  first  palisaded  town  of  the  Mohawks  on  the 
14th  of  August.  Another  gauntlet  ordeal  through  long  lines  of  fierce 
dusky  savages  here  awaits  them.  Couture  leads  and  Father  Jogues 
brings  up  the  rear.  A  heavy  stroke  from  the  stoutest  Indian  knocks 
Jogues  breathless  upon  the  ground;  but,  recovering  instantly,  he  stag- 
gers on  "  through  the  narrow  path  to  Paradise,"  as  he  afterward  called 
it.  New  tortures  await  them  upon  the  much-dreaded  Indian  scaffold. 
Goupil  streams  with  blood  ;  Jogues's  left  thumb  is  hacked  off  by  an 
Algonquin  slave  ;  Goupil's  right  thumb,  with  a  clam-shell  ;  and  none 
escape.  Nor  does  night  bring  relief.  Tied  to  the  ground,  with 
legs  and  arms  extended,  they  writhe  in  vain  to  escape  hot  coals 
placed  upon  them  by  Indian  children.  Through  three  Mohawk 
villages  these  tortures  are  endured,  Jogues  improving  every  oppor- 
tunity to  confess  the  neophytes  and  baptize  the  catechumens.  A 
difficulty  embarrasses  him — a  prisoner,  he  cannot  procure  water.  A 
passing  Indian  throws  him  a  stalk  of  maize.  It  is  morning  and  the 
broad  leaves  glisten  with  dew,  with  which  he  baptizes  two  ;  and, 
while  crossing  a  streamlet,  he  confers  the  sacrament  upon  the  third. 
Thus  begins  the  mission  on  the  Mohawk,  though  years  of  darkness 
and  savagery  elapse  before  its  establishment. 

In  one  of  the  villages  Jogues  is  hung  by  the  wrists  to  two  upright 
posts,  an  infliction  reminding  us  of  some  of  the  tortures  inflicted 
upon  Protestants  by  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  In  this  excruciating 
position  he  remains  until  upon  the  point  of  swooning,  when  a  pity- 
mg  Indian  cuts  the  cords  and  releases  him.  A  council  of  sachems 
decree  his  death,  but  another  sentiment  soon  prevails  and  he  is 
spared.  Devoted  to  servitude,  Jogues  performs  the  menial  offices 
of  a  squaw,  does  their  bidding  without  a  murmur,  patiently  bears 


62  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

abuse,  and  never  rebukes  except  when  they  laugh  at  his  devotions 
or  mock  his  God.  A  portion  of  his  leisure  is  devoted  to  the  spirit- 
ual comfort  of  the  Huron  neophytes,  imparting  counsel,  granting 
absolution,  and  baptizing  the  dying.  He  acquires  the  dialect  of  the 
tribe  and  gives  instruction  in  astronomy  and  theology. 

Gradually  his  liberty  is  enlarged,  and  he  quietly  roams  through 
the  fields  and  lofty  forests  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  telling  his  beads, 
repeating  passages  of  Scripture  and  chanting  psalms.  On  a  stately 
tree,  upon  an  elevated  knoll,  he  rudely  carves  a  huge  cross  and  pros- 
trates himself  in  prayer,  or  sits  in  deep  meditation,  assuaging  his 
grief  in  loving  contemplation  of  Him  who  was  "made  perfect 
through  suffering."  In  the  bark  of  the  trees  all  through  the  dense 
groves  he  carves  the  name  of  Jesus,  thus  consecrating  that  dark 
land  to  him.  A  living  martyr,  maimed,  mangled,  half-clothed,  and 
half-starved,  crouching  in  the  corners  of  rude  cabins,  or  bowing  in 
solitude  before  the  emblems  of  his  faith,  this  gentle,  cultivated 
man,  a  scion  of  a  noble  stock,  and  a  striking  symbol  of  self-forgetful 
sacrifice,  is  the  vanguard  of  his  nation's  banner  and  his  nation's  faith, 
upon  the  confines  of  a  vast,  revolting  heathenism — a  worthy  theme 
for  an  eloquent  pen. 

Hitherto  Jogues  has  not  thought  of  escape.  Meeting  the 
Dutch  settlers  on  the  Hudson,  they  advise  him  to  flee,  and  offer  aid. 
He  thanks  them  warmly,  but  to  their  astonishment  he  asks  for  a 
night  to  consider  and  to  counsel  with  God  in  prayer.  It  is  a  night 
of  deep  agitation,  fearful  lest  self-love  shall  beguile  him  from  duty. 
Should  he  remain  some  timely  drop  of  sacramental  water  applied 
by  his  hand  may  rescue  souls  from  torturing  devils  and  eternal 
flames.  The  indications,  however,  make  it  probable  that  his  relent- 
less captors  will  not  spare  him  much  longer.  He  reaches  his  decis- 
ion, and,  aided  by  his  Dutch  friends,  escapes  to  Albany,  to  Manhat- 
tan and  to  France,  after  a  captivity  of  fifteen  months. 

In  Paris  this  remarkable  man  became  a  center  of  curiosity.  He 
was  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  queen,  who  kissed  his  mutilated 
hands,  while  the  ladies  of  the  court  thronged  around  him  in  hom- 
age. Indifferent  to  their  honors,  Jogues  thought  only  of  returning 
to  his  work  of  converting  the  Indians.  There  was  one  impediment, 
however,  for  by  a  canon  of  the  Church  a  priest  with  any  deformity 
was  debarred  from  celebrating  mass;  but  the  pope,  by  a  special 
dispensation,  restored  the  privilege,  saying,  "  It  were  unjust  that  a 
martyr  of  Christ  should  not  drink  the  blood  of  Christ."  The  fol- 
lowing year  Jogues  was  again  in  Canada. 

In  the  meantime  the  Iroquois  have  filled  all  Canada  with  alarm. 


ANOTHER  JESUIT  IN  NEW  YORK.  63 

The  fire-arms  with  which  the  Dutch  had  supplied  them,  added  to 
their  numbers,  their  courage,  and  their  united  councils,  gave  them 
an  advantage  over  all  other  tribes  which  they  well  understood,  and 
inspired  them  with  an  unparalleled  audacity.  They  boasted  that 
they  would  wipe  out  the  Hurons,  the  Algonquins  and  the  French 
from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

"At  Quebec,  Three  Rivers.  Montreal  and  in  the  little  fort  of  Richelieu,  that  is 
to  say,  in  all  Canada,"  says  Parkman,  "  no  man  could  hunt,  fish,  till  the  fields,  or 
cut  a  tree  in  the  forest,  without  peril  to  his  scalp.  The  Iroquois  were  every-where 
and  nowhere.  A  yell,  a  volley  of  bullets,  a  rush  of  screeching  savages,  and  all 
was  over.  .  .  .  While  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French  were  wasting  away  beneath 
this  atrocious  warfare,  the  French  themselves,  and  especially  the  traveling  Jesuits, 
had  their  full  share  of  the  infliction.  In  truth,  the  puny  and  sickly  colony  seemed 
in  the  gasps  of  dissolution.  The  beginning  of  spring,  particularly,  was  a  season 
of  terror  and  suspense;  for,  with  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice,  sure  as  destiny  came 
the  Iroquois.  As  soon  as  a  canoe  could  float  they  were  on  the  war-path,  and 
with  the  cry  of  the  returning  wild  fowl  mingled  the  yell  of  these  human  tigers. 
They  did  not  always  wait  for  the  breaking  ice,  but  set  forth  on  foot,  and  when  they 
came  to  open  water  made  canoes  and  embarked.  Well  might  Father  Vimont  call 
the  Iroquois  '  the  scourge  of  this  infant  Church.'  They  burned,  hacked,  and 
devoured  the  neophytes;  exterminated  whole  villages  at  once,  destroyed  the  nations 
whom  the  fathers  hoped  to  convert,  and  ruined  that  sure  ally  of  the  missions,  the 
fur  trade.  Not  the  most  hideous  nightmare  of  a  fevered  brain  could  transcend  in 
horror  the  real  and  waking  perils  with  which  they  beset  the  paths  of  these  intrepid 
priests." 

About  five  months  have  elapsed  since  Father  Jogues  escaped 
from  the  Mohawks.  It  is  early  in  April,  and  the  needs  of  the  Huron 
mission  are  very  pressing,  for  no  succor  had  reached  them  for  three 
years.  Starting  early  with  supplies,  a  Huron  flotilla  is  pushing  its 
way  westward  through  the  perils  of  floating  ice,  hoping  to  pass  from 
the  St.  Lawrence  into  the  safer  waters  of  the  more  distant  Ottawa 
before  the  Iroquois  shall  have  struck  the  northern  war-paths.  Father 
Joseph  Bressani,  six  young  Huron  converts  and  a  French  boy  con- 
stitute the  party.  Reaching  the  fatal  spot  where  Father  Jogues  was 
seized,  twenty-seven  Iroquois  suddenly  issue  from  a  covert,  attack 
and  seize  them.  Thanking  the  sun  for  their  victory  they  plunder 
the  canoes,  cut  up,  roast  and  devour  a  slain  Huron,  and  start  for  the 
Mohawk  region.  Passing  over  Lake  Champlain,  Bressani  is  driven 
barefoot  over  the  rough  and  rocky  road  that  Jogues,  traveled  before 
him.  He  is  beaten,  mangled,  mutilated,  scourged  by  whole  villages, 
runs  fearful  guantlets,  has  his  hands  split  open  and  his  fingers  hacked 
off;  is  hung  by  his  feet  with  a  chain  ;  is  burned,  pricked,  gashed,  and 
endures  the  most  excruciating  torments — only  a  little  less  refined, 
however,  than  those  of  the  papal  inquisitions.    "  Yet  some  mysterious 


64  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

awe,"  says  Bancroft,  "  protected  his  life,  and  he,  too,  was  at  last 
humanely  rescued  by  the  Dutch." 

A  year  after  the  capture  of  Father  Bressani,  the  French,  still 
anxious  to  secure  possession  of  the  Iroquois  country,  seek  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  the  Five  Nations.  A  meeting  is  held  at  Three  Rivers, 
in  1645,  at  which  Couture,  the  lay-Jesuit  captured  with  Father 
Jogues,  in  the  dress  of  an  Iroquois,  is  present,  exerting  great  influ- 
ence with  his  adopted  Indian  friends.  Jogues  and  Bressani,  who 
remained  only  a  short  time  in  Europe,  are  also  in  the  council.  All 
agree  to  smooth  the  forest  path  and  hide  the  tomahawk.  The  Iro- 
quois say,  "  Let  the  sun  shine  on  all  the  land  between  us."  The 
Algonquins  join  in  the  agreement.  "  There  is  peace  "  says  Park- 
man,  "  in  the  dark  and  blood-stained  wilderness.  The  lynx,  the 
panther  and  the  wolf,  have  made  a  covenant  of  love  ;  but  who  will 
be  their  surety  ?  " 

The  Iroquois  ambassadors  acted,  without  doubt,  in  sincerity, 
but  the  wayward,  capricious,  and  ungoverned  nature  of  the  Indian 
parties  to  the  treaty,  and  the  fact  that  the  Mohawks  alone  had 
represented  the  Confederacy,  made  it  desirable  that  further  steps 
should  be  taken  to  ratify  the  covenant.  Couture  had  returned  to 
winter  among  the  Mohawks,  that  he  might  exert  his  influence  to 
hold  them  to  their  pledges;  but  an  agent  of  more  acknowledged 
weight,  one,  too,  who  knows  their  language  and  character  well,  must 
be  sent.  All  things  pointed  to  Father  Jogues  as  the  man,  and  it 
was  proposed  that  the  errand  should  be  "  half  political  and  half 
reh'gious ;  for  not  only  was  he  to  be  a  bearer  of  gifts,  wampum 
belts  and  messages  from  the  governor,  but  he  was  also  to  found  a 
new  mission,  christened  in  advance  with  a  prophetic  name.  The 
Mission  of  the  Martyrs ^  * 

"For  two  years  past  Jogues  has  been  at  Montreal,  and  it  is  here 
that  he  receives  the  order  of  his  superior  to  proceed  to  the  Mohawk 
towns.  At  first  nature  asserts  itself,  and  he  recoils  involuntarily  at 
the  thought  of  the  horrors  of  which  his  scarred  body  and  mutilated 
hands  are  a  living  memento.  It  is  a  transient  weakness,  and  he 
prepares  to  depart  with  more  than  willingness,  giving  thanks  to 
Heaven  that  he  has  been  found  worthy  to  suffer  and  die  for  the 
saving  of  souls  and  the  greater  glory  of  God."  * 

In  company  with  Sieur  Bourdon,  the  governor's  engineer,  Jogues 
departs.  They  are  hospitably  received  ;  the  peace  is  ratified,  and 
they  return  to  Quebec  through  a  tranquil  wilderness. 

But  the  Mohawks  have  requested  a  missionary,  asking  particularly 

*  Packman's  History  of  the  Jesuits  in  North  America,  p.  298. 


THE  IROQ  UOIS  MISSION  FR USTRA  TED.  65 

for  Jogues  himself.  In  anticipation  of  that  result,  on  his  visit  he 
left  behind  his  trunk  containing  the  sacred  vessels.  But  indications 
of  the  bad  faith  of  the  Iroquois  already  appear,  making  the  question 
of  his  return  a  very  serious  one.  His  superior  holds  a  council. 
Political  as  well  as  religious  considerations  enter  into  the  question, 
for  France  looks  to  the  conquest  of  the  territory  of  New  York,  and 
the  Church  must  prepare  the  way.  After  full  deliberation  Jogues 
receives  orders  to  repair  to  that  dangerous  post.  "  I  shall  go,  but 
shall  never  return,"  are  his  prophetic  farewell  words.  On  the  24th 
of  August,  1646,  five  days  before  Druellett's  departure  for  the 
Abenakis  mission,  with  dark  forebodings,  Jogues  sets  out  for  the 
dreaded  Mohawk  country,  accompanied  by  a  young  lay-brother, 
T.alande,  and  several  Huron  converts.  On  their  way  they  meet 
Indians  who  warn  them  of  a  change  of  feeling  in  the  Mohawk  towns, 
and  the  Hurons,  alarmed,  refused  to  advance  further;  but  Jogues, 
naturally  the  most  timid  man  in  the  company,  and  the  devoted 
Lalande,  proceed  on  their  way.  Arriving  among  the  Mohawks  they 
find  the  rumors  true.  They  are  immediately  seized,  stripped,  and 
treated  as  prisoners.  A  pestilence  had  ravaged  the  cabins,  and 
caterpillars  had  devoured  the  crops  of  the  canton,  which,  in  their 
superstition,  the  Indians  attribute  to  the  mysterious  trunk  Jogues 
left  behind,  and  no  protestations  or  explanations  will  avail.  He  is 
condemned  as  an  enchanter,  notwithstanding  some  remonstrated 
and  stood  firm  for  the  Frenchmen.  A  savage  crowd  assembles, 
beating  them  with  sticks  and  fists.  *•  You  shall  die  to-morrow,  but 
you  shall  not  be  burned,"  they  cry;  "you  shall  die  by  our  hatchets." 
In  vain  does  Father  Jogues  plead  that  he  is  not  an  enemy.  Deaf 
to  all  reason,  they  commence  the  work  of  butchery.  Cutting  thin 
strips  of  flesh  from  his  arms  and  back,  they  say,  "  Let  us  see  if  this 
white  flesh  is  that  of  an  Otki."  "  I  am  but  a  man  like  yourselves," 
replies  the  fearless  confessor,  "  though  I  fear  not  death  nor  your 
tortures."  Tranquil  in  spirit  he  approaches  the  cabin  where  the 
death  festival  is  held,  and  in  passing  through  the  door,  receives  the 
death-blow. 

Thus  died  Isaac  Jogues.  Among  the  sons  of  Loyola  no  purer 
or  more  illustrious  example  of  virtue  and  sublime  devotion  has  been 
seen.  The  founder  of  the  Mohawk  mission,  his  sufferings,  rather 
than  his  labors,  give  him  the  most  prominent  place  in  its  annals. 

Such  were  the  New  York  Indians  whom  the  Jesuits  at  Quebec 
sought  to  convert  to  the  papacy  and  make  subservient  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  their    schemes ;  but  these  powerful  tribes  proved 

to  be  the  bulwarks  raised  up  by  Providence,  and  stationed  all  along 
5 


66  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES, 

that  long  line  of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  the  protection  of  Prot- 
estant colonies  against  the  machinations  of  the  papacy.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  sketch  the  attempts  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  to  found  missions  among  this  people.  It  would  fur- 
nish many  thrilling  pages,  example's  of  heroic  adventure,  sublime 
endurance,  and  lofty  devotion,  but  all  in  vain.  The  failure  frustrated 
a  gigantic  political  scheme  of  territorial  extension,  and  saved  the 
continent  to  Protestantism. 


Section  ;?.— The  English  in  Maryland. 

As  early  as  1570,  the  attention  of  the  Jesuits  in  Florida  was 
called  to  the  region  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  eight  priests  were  sent  to 
found  a  mission  there ;  but  they  encountered  the  implacable  hatred 
of  the  natives,  and  all  soon  perished  by  violence.  More  than  sixty 
years  passed  before  the  attempt  was  renewed.  In  the  meantime, 
Roman  Catholic  missions  and  settlements  had  been  founded  in  the 
south,  from  Florida  to  the  Pacific,  and  in  the  north,  from  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence  to  Lake  Huron.  Hitherto  no  colony  of  English 
Roman  Catholics  had  been  undertaken  ;  but  the  way  was  pre- 
paring. 

The  Jesuits,  intent  upon  securing  the  continent  to  the  papacy, 
seem  to  have  determined  to  insert  a  wedge  between  the  Protestant 
colonies  in  Virginia  and  those  of  New  York  and  New  England. 
If  successful  it  would  ultimately  secure  to  them  the  great  Atlantic 
coast  region,  which  had  fallen  out  of  the  hands  of  the  papal  nations. 
With  a  Catholic  colony  in  the  center,  and  the  steadily  encroach- 
ing lines  of  the  Spanish  Jesuits  in  the  south  and  the  French 
Jesuits  in  the  north,  and  the  cherished  antagonism  of  the  Indians 
against  the  English,  they  shrewdly  calculated  to  gain  the  desired 
end.  But  if  such  a  colony  were  planted  it  is  evident  that  it  must 
be  composed  of  English  papists,  for  England  was  in  possession  of 
the  coast  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Florida.  What  subtle  hand  shall 
direct  the  scheme?     Let  us  see. 

Father  Andrew  White  was  born  in  London  in  1579,  and  edu- 
cated at  Douai,  in  a  college  instituted  to  train  priests  for  England. 
On. receiving  orders  he  was  sent  to  London  to  exercise  his  ministry 
in  secrecy,  as  the  penal  laws  then  made  necessary.  This  he  was  not 
long  allowed  to  do,  but  with  forty-six  others  was  sentenced  to 
perpetual  banishment.  Forced  to  retire  to  the  continent,  he 
resolved    to    enter  the  Society  of  Jesus,   and,  at  the   close   of  his 


JESUITS  IN  MARYLAND.  67 

novitiate,  returned  to  England.  After  ten  years  in  London  he  was 
called  to  a  professor's  chair  in  the  Jesuit  college  near  Seville.  But 
in  a  few  years  this  eminent  Jesuit  returned  again  to  England,  and 
became  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  adviser  of  Lord  Baltimore. 

Sir  George  Calvert,  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council  of  James  L, 
r.bjured  Anglicanism  and  relinquished  his  positions  at  court.  His 
sovereign,  intent  upon  retaining  his  services,  made  him  a  peer  of 
Ireland,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore.  He  solicited  and 
obtained  a  grant  of  territory  on  the  coast  of  America,  with  a 
charter  allowing  freedom  of  worship  to  Roman  Catholics.  On  the 
death  of  Lord  Baltimore,  his  oldest  son  Cecil  proving  incompetent 
to  execute  his  plan,  it  was  committed  to  another  son,  Leonard. 

Accompanied  by  Father  Andrew  White,  Father  John  Altham, 
and  two  lay  brothers,  the  expedition  sailed  from  England  Nov. 
22d,  1633,  with  St.  Ignatius  as  their  chosen  patron.  On  the 
3d  of  March,  the  day  of  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  they 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake.  Landing  on  Blackstone 
Island,  they  offered  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  raised  the  cross  as  a 
trophy  to  Christ,  and  chanted  on  bended  knees  the  litany  of  the 
cross. 

From  the  friendly  Yoacomico  and  his  tribe,  a  site  was  purchased 
for  the  city  of  St.  Mary's,  and  a  wigwam  for  a  chapel.  Missions 
were  established  among  the  Indians,  the  Conestogues  being  the 
dominant  tribe.  Father  White  prepared  a  grammar,  dictionary,  and 
catechism  in  the  Indian  dialect.  Many  diflficulties  were  encountered  ; 
some  priests  died;  but  others  arrived  in  1635  and  1636.  Missions 
were  established  at  Mettapany,  on  Kent  Island  and  Kittamaquindi. 
Chilomacon,  the  chief,  received  Father  White  cordially,  and 
installed  him  in  his  own  lodge,  where  the  missionary  taught  the 
dogmas  of  the  Church.  The  chief  and  his  braves  were  deeply 
impressed,  and  renounced  polygamy. 

In  a  general  council,  the  chief  and  his  family  abandoned  their 
ancient  superstitions,  accepted  Christ,  and  received  baptism.  Indian 
wars  sometimes  interrupted,  but  the  mission  went  on,  and  new 
missionaries  came  from  England.  Under  a  wise  administration 
the  dreary  wilderness  was  converted  into  a  prosperous  colony. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  they  suffered  from  the  opposition 
of  the  Virginia  planters,  which  cast  a  gloom  over  their  history. 
The  civil  war  in  England,  the  defeat  of  the  papal  party,  and  the 
enactment  of  severe  laws  against  them,  produced  not  a  little  disquie- 
tude and  commotion  in  the  Maryland  Colony. 

In  1644,  Clayborne,  the  evil  genius,  raised  a  rebellion,  expelled 


68  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  governor,  and  the  next  year  sent  off  the  priests  prisoners  to 
England.  After  an  absence  of  three  years  they  returned.  But  a 
new  storm  soon  arose ;  the  priests  were  under  the  ban  of  condem- 
nation, and  could  officiate  only  in  secret.  The  Indian  missions  in 
Maryland  were  then  closed  forever. 

Freedom  of  Religion. 

From  the  beginning,  the  Maryland  Colony  was  characterized  by  a 
broader  and  more  liberal  religious  policy  than  any  other,  until  the 
settlement  of  Pennsylvania,  about  fifty  years  later.  Lord  Balti- 
more and  his  associates  have  been  highly  praised  for  the  constitu- 
tional guarantees  in  form  of  religious  liberty.  It  is  probable,  how- 
ever, that  the  conditions  of  the  grant  to  the  original  proprietors  re- 
quired the  toleration  of  all  those  religious  bodies  which  were  allowed 
by  the  crown  at  home.  An  eminent  Roman  Catholic  writer,  De 
Courcey,*  has  taken  this  view.  But,  to  whatever  the  toleration  of 
the  Protestants  by  the  Catholic  colony  of  Maryland  is  due,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  the  just  verdict  of  impartial  history,  that,  "  under  the 
enlightened  policy  of  Lord  Baltimore,  the  colony  steadily  advanced 
in  prosperity,  increasing  both  in  comfort  and  in  numbers.  Roman 
Catholics  and  Protestants  alike  found  protection  and  security,  and 
lived  in  harmony."  f 

Toward  the  close  of  that  century,  the  Catholics  fell  into  a 
minority,  and,  in  1704,  bishops  and  priests  were  prohibited  by  law 
from  saying  mass  and  exercising  other  spiritual  functions,  except  in 
private  houses.  They  also  suffered  from  other  oppressive  enact- 
ments. No  churches  were  allowed  to  be  built,  and,  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  their  priests  numbered  only  twenty.  X 


Section  5.— The  French  on  the  Qreat  Lakes  and  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Upon  the  rugged  picturesque  peninsula  interlocked  by  Lake 
Superior  and  Lake  Michigan,  a  region  varied  by  undulations,  table- 
lands, and  mountains,  rigorous  in  climate,  rich  in  minerals  and  furs, 
and  abounding  in  streams,' rapids  and  water-falls,  two  great  aboriginal 
races  met.      The   fierce  Dahcotas  or  Sioux,  called  by  the  Jesuits 

*  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Henry  De  Courcey.  New  York. 
Edward  Dunigan  &  Bro.,  1857,  p.  30. 

t  History  0/  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland.  By  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks, 
D.D.,  New  York.     1839.     By  John  S.  Taylor,  p  30. 

X  See  a  fuller  statement  in  the  chapter  on  the  Church  and  State  in  the  Colonies — Intolerance 
in  Maryland. 


BEYOND  MACKINAW.  60 

"the  Iroquois  of  the  West,"  traversing  the  vast  wilds  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  had  pushed  forward  their  Winnebago  tribe  and 
established  their  eastern  outpost  on  the  Green  Bay  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan ;  and  the  Algonquins,  roaming  through  all  the  region  above 
Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Ontario  as  far  east  as  Nova  Scotia,  were  repre- 
sented in  their  western  outpost  by  the  Ottawas  and  the  Chippeways, 
on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  In  this  wild  paradise  of 
hunters,  dwelt  the  Ojibways,  the  Menominees,  the  Foxes,  and  the 
Kikapoos.  The  Ottawas,  or  traders,  the  most  numerous  and  enter- 
prising of  all,  became  known  to  the  French  by  their  fur-trading 
with  the  Hurons.  At  this  point  also  the  Illinois  and  other  prairie 
tribes  met  in  their  annual  fishing  excursions.  Such  was  the  com- 
mercial importance  of  this  locality,  and  its  value  also  for  political 
and  missionary  purposes. 

Jean  Nichollet. 

Almost  a  century  after  De  Soto's  famous  ill-fated  expedition 
into  the  lower  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  a  French  explorer,  sent  out 
as  an  ambassador  to  the  western  tribes,  reached  the  banks  of  the 
Wisconsin.  Jean  Nichollet,  a  Roman  Catholic  layman,  had  been 
twenty  years  in  Canada,  was  familiar  with  all  the  Algonquin  tribes, 
and  had  spent  eight  years  among  the  Nipissings,  north-east  of  the  land 
of  the  Hurons.  Here  he  became  an  Indian  in  his  habits,  and  heard 
wonderful  stories  of  a  remarkable  people  in  the  far  West,  whom  he 
conjectured  might  be  the  Chinese,  said  to  come  to  trade  with  tribes 
beyond  the  great  lakes.  The  curiosity  of  this  hardy  pioneer  was 
excited,  and  he  longed  to  penetrate  that  fabulous  region. 

He  first  returned  to  civilization,  took  the  sacraments  of  the 
Church,  and  was  commissioned  to  negotiate  a  peace  between  the 
Winnebagos  and  the  Hurons.  Years  spent  in  Algonquin  cabins 
had  fitted  him  to  travel  in  safety  those  wild  regions,  and  in  1639, 
having  reached  the  land  of  the  Hurons,  he  started  upon  a  voyage  of 
three  hundred  leagues  into  the  still  more  distant  wilderness.  Filled 
with  visions  of  Mandarin  grandeur,  he  had  provided  himself  with 
"  a  robe  of  Chinese  damask,  embroidered  with  birds  and  flowers." 
Approaching  the  Winnebago  town,  he  sent  an  Indian  messenger 
"to  announce  his  coming,  put  on  his  robe  of  damask,  and  advanced 
to  meet  the  expectant  crowd  with  a  pistol  in  each  hand.  The 
squaws  and  children  fled,  screaming  that  it  is  a  inanito  or  spirit 
armed  with  thunder  and  lightning;  but  the  chiefs  and  warriors 
regaled  him  with  so  bountiful  a  hospitality  that  a  hundred  and 
twenty  beavers  were  devoured  at  a  single  feast."     Passing  westward. 


70  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

he  ascended  the  Fox  River,  crossed  to  the  Wisconsin,  and  floated 
for  some  distance  toward  the  Mississippi,  without,  however,  fully 
understanding  the  character  of  that  river.  He  returned  to  Queb^KJ. 
This  was  the  boldest  exploit  of  the  hardiest  pioneer  in  the  annals' 
of  New  France.  -/ 

In  1641,  at  the  request  of  the  Chippeways  visiting  the  Hurons,' 
Fathers  Jogues  and  Raymbault,  eager  to  extend  the  conquests  of 
their  faith,  launched  their  canoes  and  started  for  the  home  of  this  tribe 
at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior.  For  seventeen  days,  over  the  crystal 
waters  of  those  great  inland  seas,  fringed  with  picturesque  scenery 
and  gemmed  with  beautiful  islands,  those  zealous  envoys  of  France 
and  the  cross  pursued  their  toilsome  way.  At  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary, 
a  point  nearly  equidistant  by  traveled  route  from  Quebec,  on  the 
east,  and  Santa  Fe,  the  nearest  Catholic  mission,  on  the  west ;  amid 
joyful  greetings,  they  proclaimed  the  faith  to  two  thousand  Ottawas 
and  Chippeways  ;  and,  from  this  remote  outlook  of  the  Church,  gazed 
with  awe  upon  the  magnificent  savage  solitudes  stretching  in  un- 
measured distances  around  them.  They  were  urged  to  remain,  but, 
obedient  to  the  instructions  of  their  superior,  they  returned,  Raym- 
bault, worn  and  emaciated  by  disease,  to  die  at  Quebec,  and  Jogues 
to  suffer  horrid  tortures  and  martyrdom  in  the  dark  land  of  the 
treacherous  Mohawks. 

Some  years  passed.  The  importance  of  the  Lake  Superior  re- 
gion for  both  commercial  and  missionary  purposes  was  fully  esti- 
mated. Missionaries  were  sent  forth,  but  they  were  destroyed  by 
the  savage  Iroquois.  For  several  years  these  powerful,  bloodthirsty 
warriors  were  every-where  above  the  lakes,  from  Quebec  to  Michi- 
gan, and  travel  was  dangerous.  The  Jesuits  waited  for  two  things 
— tranquillity  in  the  wilderness  and  a  fitting  man. 

Claudius  Allouez. 

In  1665,  Claudius  Allouez  embarked  for  the  upper  lakes,  and 
spent  twenty-five  years  among  the  Indians  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
and  Illinois.  Rowing  along  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Superior, 
with  its  alternating  scenery  of  forests,  fertile  plains,  reed-covered 
marshes,  stupendous  piles  of  drifting  sands,  towering  cliffs  of"  pict- 
ured sandstone,"  and  "erect  columns,  covered  with  fantastic  elitab- 
latures,"  he  celebrated  the  mass  and  consecrated  those  rugrcred  wilds 

00 

to  Christ  and  his  king. 

He  erected  an  Indian  Church,  amid  many  struggles  with  super- 
stitition  and  vice.  The  natives  revered  the  lakes,  the  rapids,  the 
beetling  cliffs,  and  even  the  metals,  as  gods,  and  talked  indefinitely 


FRENCH  POWER  EXTENDING.  71 

of  .**  the  great  Messipi,"  as  a  wild  chimera,  but  an  object  of  adora- 
tion. Some  faithful  ones  consoled  him  with  their  constancy  and 
fervor.  A  choir  of  Chippeways  chanted  the  Pater  and  the  Ave ; 
and  from  many  a  tribe  the  wandering  hunters  came  to  listen  and  to 
wonder.  For  more  than  twenty  different  tribes — the  Hurons,  scat- 
tered and  disconsolate ;  the  Ottawas  and  Chippeways,  from  the 
fishing  regions ;  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  from  the  country  of  the  beaver 
and  deer;  the  Sioux,  from  the  great  buffalo  plains  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  the  Pottawattomics,  from  the  deep  unexplored  recesses  of 
lower  Michigan ;  and  the  Illinois,  from  the  broad  fertile  prairies  by 
"  the  Great  River  " — he  lighted  the  torch  of  faith.  From  them  he 
learned  the  story  of  the  "  Messipi,"  and  longed  to  gaze  upon  the 
great  father  of  waters  and  traverse  its  immense  tributary  valley. 

AUouez  was  deeply  impressed  with  his  surroundings.  The  well- 
authenticated  narratives  of  the  mammoth  rivers,  the  broad  alluvial 
prairies,  the  gigantic  forests,  the  rich  mineral  deposits,  the  countless 
herds  of  wild  animals,  the  innumerable  bands  of  pagan  Indians,  the 
entrancing  beauty  of  the  scenery,  and  the  magnificent  vastness  of 
the  new  mission  region  excited  in  his  mind  the  most  romantic  con- 
ceptions of  the  grand,  the  sublime,  and  the  infinite,  aroused  his 
deepest  sympathies  for  humanity,  arid  stimulated  to  the  formation  of 
political,  social  and  religious  schemes,  commensurate  with  the  vast 
possibilities  of  this  great  continental  center,  the  key  of  the  richest 
heritage  of  North  America.  Filled  with  such  enthusiastic  concep- 
tions, he  returned  to  Quebec,  reporting  the  facts  of  the  situation. 
Re-enforcements  were  sent  to  this  region — Fathers  Nicholas,  Mar- 
quette, Dablon,  and  later,  Druellettes  and  Andre. 

France  in  the  Heart  of  the  Continent. 

•In  1670,  Talon,  the  governor  of  the  Canadas,  determined  to 
formally  extend  the  power  of  France  into  the  depths  of  the  western 
wilderness,  and  sent  Daumont  de  St.  Lusson  and  fifteen  men  to 
take  possession  of  it  for  his  king.  Messages  were  sent  to  all  the 
great  western  tribes  to  meet  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary.  In  the  spring 
of  167 1  representatives  of  fourteen  tribes  arrived,  and  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  14th  of  June,  on  the  top  of  a  hill  designated,  a  crowd  of 
Indians  stood  or  crouched  or  reclined  at  length,  with  eyes  and  ears 
intent,  as  a  large  cross  was  erected,  and  the  Frenchmen  sang  the 
Vexilla  Regis.  St.  Lusson,  with  a  loud  voice,  "  In  the  name  of  the 
most  high,  mighty,  and  redoubted  monarch,  Louis  XIV.,  king  of 
France  and  Navarre,"  took  possession  of  the  place,  and  all  the 
"  rivers,  lakes,  and  streams  contiguous  and   adjacent  thereto,  both 


72  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

those  which  have  been  discovered  and  those  which  may  be  discovered 
hereafter,  in  all  their  length  and  breadth,  bounded  on  the  one  sido 
by  the  seas  of  the  North  and  of  the  West,  and  on  the  other  by  th(> 
South  Sea,"  etc. 

Thus  was  the  standard  of  France  planted  in  the  heart  of  the 
American  Continent,  in  the  midst  of  its  ancient  races.  "  Yet,"  says 
Bancroft,  "this  daring  ambition  of  the  servants  of  a  military  mon- 
arch was  destined  to  leave  no  abiding  monument ;  this  echo  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  to  pass  away." 

In  this  field  the  Jesuits  began  to  appear  in  a  character  some- 
what different.  "  The  epoch  of  saints  and  martyrs,"  says  Parkman, 
"  was  passing  away ;  and  henceforth  we  find  the  Canadian  Jesuit 
less  and  less  an  apostle,  and  more  and  more  an  explorer,  a  man  of 
science,  and  a  politician." 

The  Mississippi  Valley. 

The  next  move  was  the  boldest  of  all.  The  Jesuits  seized  the 
great  arteries  of  the  North  American  Continent. 

The  hardy  NichoUet,  adventurer  and  ambassador,  and  the 
sagacious  Allouez,  pioneer  and  priest,  had  opened  the  pathway  of 
France  and  the  papacy  as  far  as  Lake  Winnebago,  and  even  to  the 
banks  of  the  Wisconsin  ;  and  the  Congress  of  the  great  western 
valley  tribes  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary  had  prepared  the  way  for  more 
extensive  exploration,  commerce,  and  civilization.  In  the  vast  and 
vague  domain  on  that  important  occasion  by  solemn  announcement 
claimed  for  France,  the  grandest  object  was  the  Mississippi, 
indefinitely  shadowed  forth  in  the  weird  stories  of  the  red  men  as  a 
mysterious  stream,  rising  far  in  the  north,  and  flowing  southward, 
they  knew  not  whither.  To  explore  it,  and  establish  a  post  on  the 
southern  waters,  hemming  in  the  English  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  was 
the  bold  policy  of  France.  This  great  region  was  an  unknown 
world.  Roving  tribes  had  vaguely  described  it;  but  who  shall 
penetrate  its  wild  solitudes? 

Father  Marquette. 

James  Marquette,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  entered  the  Order  of 
the  Jesuits,  and,  after  twelve  years  of  study  and  teaching,  came  to 
Canada,  and  labored  in  the  missions  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary  and  at 
Mackinaw.  He  was  described  as  gentle  and  self-forgetful,  of 
superior  linguistic  abilities,  and  of  no  mean  tact  in  diplomacy.  His 
name  stands  high  on  the  entablature  of  Jesuit  missions  as  a  pioneer 
and  explorer.  The  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  commanded 


THE  BOLDEST  ADVENTURE.  73 

his  absorbing  devotion.  It  was  mentioned  in  all  his  letters ;  and, 
like  a  subtle  element  of  romance,  it  imaged  to  his  mind  the  Virgin 
in  forms  of  transcendent  loveliness,  inspiring  him  in  the  harsh 
realities  of  his  daily  life,  and  stimulating  him  to  chivalrous  achieve- 
ments. From  this  sublime  passion  was  born  an  ardent  desire  for 
discovery,  that  he  might  consecrate  new  domains  to  his  celestial 
mistress.  '  Early  visiting  the  lands  of  the  treacherous  Foxes,  success- 
fully conducting  valuable  negotiations  with  the  implacable  Sioux, 
and  studying  the  mixed  dialects  of  the  Illinois  more  fully  than  any 
other  Jesuit  father,  he  had  learned  the  story  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  prepared  himself  to  communicate  with  the  numerous  tribes 

upon  its  banks. 

Louis  Johet. 

Louis  Joliet,  son  of  a  wagon-maker  in  Quebec,  educated  by  the 
Jesuits  for  the  priesthood  but,  declining  the  clerical  vocation, 
became  a  fur-trader,  explored  the  copper  mines  of  Lake  Superior, 
and  was  commissioned  with  Marquette  to  discover  the  Mississippi. 

Passing  up  the  lakes  to  Mackinaw,  Joliet  found  Marquette 
eagerly  anticipating  the  journey.  With  five  companions,  and  a 
a  simple  outfit  of  two  birch  canoes,  smoked  meat,  and  Indian  corn, 
on  the  17th  of  May  they  began  their  voyage  "  under  the  protection 
of  the  Holy  Virgin  Immaculate,"  to  whom,  in  advance,  they  con- 
secrated their  discoveries.  Paddling  along  the  west  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan  they  reached  the  Menominee,  and  ascended  the  stream  to 
an  Indian  village,  where  they  announced  their  intentions.  The 
boldness  of  the  project  astonished  even  the  wild  men,  who 
endeavored  to  restrain  the  adventurers  by  stories  of  ferocious 
tribes  along  the  great  river,  of  frightful  monsters  in  the  stream,  and 
a  fierce  demon  in  its  far-off  waters,  whose  terrific  roar  could  be 
heard  at  a  great  distance.  Disregarding  these  appeals  to  their  fears, 
they  pushed  on.  Green  Bay,  Lake  Winnebago,  and  Fox  River, 
with  its  rapids,  quiet  meanderings,  and  wild  rice  marshes,  were 
successively  passed,  until  they  reached  the  celebrated  portage. 

The  Mystic  Center  of  the  Continent. 
Here  in  this  mystic  centre  of  the  great  continent,  where  the 
flowing  waters  divide— to  the  St.  Lawrence,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  the^Gulf  of  Mexico,  on  the  other— they  carried  their  canoes  upon 
their  shoulders  for  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  launched  them  upon  the 
Wisconsin.  Dismissing  their  guides,  the  adventurers  were  solely  in 
the  hands  of  Providence.  Down  the  tranquil  stream,  by  islands, 
bluffs,  forests,   marshes,   and    prairies—"  the    parks  and    pleasure- 


74  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

grounds  of  a  prodigal  nature" — they  glided,  bivouacing  at  night  on 
the  shores  under  their  inverted  canoes. 

The  17th  of  June  was  a  memorable  day  in  their  career.  Looking 
expectantly  ahead,  what  is  it  that  greets  their  gaze?  At  the  foot 
of  lofty  heights  thickly  wrapped  in  forests  a  wide  and  rapid  curient 
courses  athwart  their  way. 

The  Mississippi  River  Discovered. 

What  can  be  the  name  of  this  great  stream  ?  Is  it  indeed  the 
Mississippi,  the  object  of  their  search?  It  is.  We  see  them,  for  a 
few  moments,  gazing  at  the  mysterious  river,  their  souls  filling  with 
delight,  and  then,  under  an  impulse  of  inexpressible  joy,  urging 
their  light  barks  into  its  calm,  strong  waters.  In  fulfillment  of  an 
oft-repeated  vow  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  Marquette  gives  to  the  stream 
the  name  of"  Conception  River."  But  no  papal  saint  was  destined 
to  be  the  patroness  of  the  Father  of  Waters;  and  the  Indian  name 
has  ever  prevailed. 

Down  this  magnificent  stream  Marquette  and  Joliet  floated, 
rapturously  contemplating  its  mysterious  possibilities;  passing 
broad  sand-bars,  enlivened  by  sporting  waterfowl,  islands  tufted  with 
massive  thickets,  natural  parks  and  fertile  prairies  clothed  with  rich 
summer  verdure,  and  deep  solitudes  locked  in  the  embrace  of 
primeval  slumbers.  They  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  the 
fantastic  rocks  of  "  The  Ruined  Castles,"  the  boiling,  surging,  muddy 
torrent  of  the  Missouri,  and  the  beautiful  Ohio,  until  they  reached 
the  Arkansas.  Convinced  by  conversations  with  the  natives  that 
the  Mississippi  emptied  not,  as  they  had  supposed,  into  the  Gulf  of 
California,  but  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  fearing  that  some 
fatality  might  befall  them,  and  the  results  of  their  discoveries  be 
lost,  they  resolved  to  return  to  Canada  and  report  what  they  had 
seen.  They  began  their  homeward  voyage,  on  the  17th  of  July, 
taking  a  shorter  route,  by  the  Illinois  River  to  Lake  Michigan. 

La  Salle's  Explorations. 

In  prodigious  contrast  with  the  gentle,  single-hearted,  unpre- 
tending Marquette,  stands  the  bold,  self-reliant,  invincible  La  Salle — 
the  one  a  beautiful  e.xample  of  mediaeval  saintship,  and  an  unques- 
tioning imitator  of  Loyola  and  Xavier,  and  the  other,  a  man  of 
ideas  and  progress,  with  "the  energies  of  modern  practical  enter- 
prise." Educated  by  the  Jesuits,  and  a  candidate  for  their  Society, 
he  soon   withdrew  from   them,  his   strong  personality,  that  could 


D' IBERVILLE.  78 

obey  no  initiative  but  its  own,  revolting  from  their  relentless  iron 
system,  which  made  every  member  the  passive  instrument  of 
another's  will.  Parting  on  friendly  terms,  he  sailed  for  Montreal 
and  devoted  himself  to  a  life  of  adventure.  After  some  years  of 
wild  vicissitudes,  we  find  him  projecting  a  voyage  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  that  he  may  claim  and  colonize  those  marvelous 
regions  for  his  king,  He  was  formally  commissioned  for  the 
enterprise. 

Four  years  of  reverses  and  struggles  followed,  taxing  to  the 
utmost  his  adamantine  fortitude.  At  last,  he  embarked  upon  the 
great  river,  followed  its  winding  channel,  descended  its  turbid  eddies, 
received  the  welcome  of  wandering  tribes  along  its  banks,  until  its 
waters  grew  bitter,  the  roar  of  the  sea-surf  was  heard,  and  the  broad 
Gulf  of  Mexico  opened  upon  his  vision.  The  goal  of  his  eagle 
imagination  was  reached,  and  on  the  9th  of  April,  1682,  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  by  solemn  proclamation,  was  formally  added  to 
the  domains  of  Louis  XIV.,  King  of  France  and  Navarre. 

La  Salle  returned  by  the  river,  reached  Quebec,  and  hastened  to 
France  to  report  his  discovery.  Witli  a  fleet  of  four  vessels  and 
two  hundred  and  eighty  persons  he  sailed  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  ill-fated  expedition  was  overwhelmed  with 
disasters  on  the  coast  of  Texas,  and  the  iron-hearted  discoverer, 
while  trying  to  make  his  way  across  the  country  to  Quebec,  was 
fatally  shot  by  a  traitorous  comrade.  For  force  of  will,  vast  con- 
ceptions, and  quick  adaptation  to  untried  circumstances,  this  daring 
adventurer  had  no  superior  among  Frenchmen.  He  was  the  father 
of  colonization  in  the  great  valley  of  the  West. 

Louisiana  Founded. 

A  new  era  in  the  history  of  these  missions  was  ushered  in  by 
the  establishment  of  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
honor  of  the  achievements  belongs  to  an  illustrious  Canadian. 

Born  in  the  midst  of  the  papal  fervors  at  Montreal,  Lemoine 
DTberville,  early  in  life,  became  a  zealous  champion  of  the  old 
Regime  in  Canada,  and  an  active  promoter  of  the  vast  schemes  for 
:he  extension  of  French  dominion  in  America.  A  volunteer  in  the 
midnight  attack  on  Schenectady,  the  captor  of  Pemmaquid,  the 
commander  of  an  expedition  which  wrested  Fort  Nelson  and  the 
Indian  trade  of  those  regions  from  the  English,  the  successful 
invader  of  the  English  possessions  in  Newfoundland,  and  a  second 
time,  in  spite  of  icebergs  and  shipwreck,  a  victor  in  naval  contests, 


76  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

on  the  gloomy  waters  of  the  Hudson  Bay,  he  was  esteemed  the 
most  skillful  naval  officer  in  the  service  of  France,  and  the  most 
suitable  person  to  undertake  the  colonizing  of  the  lower  Mississippi. 
On  the  17th  of  October,  1698,  he  sailed  from  France  with  four 
vessels  and  2(X)  colonists,  and,  after  various  delays,  on  the  2d  of 
March,  guided  by  floating  trees  and  turbid  waters,  he  entered  the 
mouth  of  the  great  river.  At  the  head  of  Biloxi  Bay  he  erected  a 
fort,  as  a  testimony  of  French  jurisdiction  from  Pensacola  to  the 
Rio  Del  Norte,  and  left  his  two  brothers  in  command.  He  returned 
to  France  for  re-enforcements,  and  in  the  year  1700  established  a 
colony  about  thirty-eight  miles  below  the  present  city  of  New 
Orleans. 

In  the  year  1700  Tonti  came  down  from  Arkansas,  under  whose 
guidance  the  D'Iberville  brothers  ascended  the  river,  made  peace 
with  the  tribes  on  its  banks,  and  established  a  post  at  Natchez, 
Montigny,  a  man  of  vast  designs  and  boundless  zeal,  newly, 
invested  as  vicar-general  of  the  missions  in  the  Mississippi  Valley 
under  the  direction  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  came  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  with  greetings  for*their  brethren  on  the  Gulf.  Western 
Louisiana  was  explored,  and  the  valley  of  the  Red  River  far 
toward  the  confines  of  New  Mexico.  Jesuit  fathers  accompanied 
Louisiana  colonists,  and  their  missions  among  the  Taenas,  the  Ton- 
icas,  the  Natchez,  the  Arkansas,  and  the  Oumas  were  coeval  with  the 
settlement.  Zeal,  however,  did  not  command  success.  Like  other 
missions,  some  of  these  were  baptized  with  blood,  and,  in  the  first 
thirty  years,  five  missionaries  fell  by  violence. 

Jesuit  Missions. 

Jesuit  missions  followed  closely  in  the  path  of  exploration,  in 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana.  The  germ 
of  the  Louisiana  Colony,  securely  planted  in  the  year  1700,  gradually 
rose  in  importance.  Illinois  became  subject  to  it,  and  its  missions 
were  subject  to  the  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  at  New  Orleans,  and 
those  north-east  of  Illinois  to  the  Superior  at  Quebec.  Thus 
established  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
the  two  extremities  of  this  French-American  domain,  the  next  part 
of  the  scheme  was  to  fill  the  intervening  solitudes  with  missions, 
forts,  and  settlements.  They  were  distributed  with  admirable  skill, 
guarding  the  lakes,  streams,  and  thoroughfares  of  the  wilderness. 
But  they  lacked  elements  of  permanence.  "  Agriculture  was 
neglected  for  the  more  congenial  pursuit  of  the  fur  trade,  and  the 


FRENCH  TERRITORY  CEDED   TO  ENGLAND.  11 

restless,  roving  Canadians,  scattered  abroad  on  their  wild  vocation, 
allied  themselves  to  Indian  women,  and  filled  the  woods  with  a 
mongrel  race  of  bush-rangers."*  The  Jesuits  were  every-where 
present ;  many  Indian  tribes  were  converted  to  the  papal  faith,  and, 
in  process  of  time,  their  dusky  neophytes  descended  the  river  to 
New  Orleans,  reciting  beads,  and  chanting  prayers  and  hymns. 
Two  Illinois  chiefs,  Chicago  and  Mamantonenza,  went  to  France. 

As  the  people  multiplied  the  soil  received  more  attention, 
and,  about  1746,  six  hundred  barrels  of  flour,  besides  hides,  tallow, 
wax,  and  honey,  were  shipped  from  the  Wabash  country  alone  to 
New  Orleans  annually.  The  condition  of  morals  was  low,  as 
might  be  expected  from  the  strange  mixture  of  the  population : 
fur-traders,  a  hare-brained,  reckless  class  ;  vagabond  Indians  and 
easy-tempered  Creoles,  a  debauched  and  drunken  rabble.  Such 
was  the  condition  of  these  early  communities,  after  many  years  of 
Jesuit  influence.  The  intrepidity  and  enterprise  of  the  Jesuits  have 
drawn  forth  our  encomiums.but  the  moral  results  were  meager  and  full 
of  blemishes.  Copious  lists  of  conversions  were  reported,  but  they 
were  reckoned  by  the  number  of  baptisms,  and  La  Clercq  observes, 
•*an  Indian  would  be  baptized  ten  times  a  day  for  a  pint  of  brandy 
or  a  pound  of  tobacco."  Crucifixes  and  medals  were  beautiful 
trinkets  which  pleased  his  fancy,  but  his  heart  was  as  thoroughly 
unchanged  as  when  he  wore  a  "  necklace  of  the  dried  fingers  of  his 
enemies." 

But ."  the  lilies  of  France  "  grew  where  the  cross  declined.  The 
Jesuits  reported  the  movements  of  Indian  tribes,  won  them  to 
French  allegiance,  and  fostered  their  hatred  of  the  English.  A 
single  Jesuit  missionary  was  sometimes  counted  by  the  government 
as  "  equal  to  ten  regiments." 

Notwithstanding  the  unparalleled  facilities  and  resources  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  these  settlements  possessed  in  themselves  no 
impulse  of  growth,  so  thriftless  were  the  populations.  In  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  the  missions  were  stagnant,  if  not  de- 
clining. The  inconstancy  of  the  French  Government  at  home,  and 
the  mismanagement  in  Louisiana  affected  the  whole  valley.  With 
these  things  came  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  from  1755  to  1763,  the 
defeat  of  France,  and  the  surrender  of  all  her  territory  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  including  all  the  Canadas,  to  England,  and  west  of  the 
river,  to  Spain.  The  wars  of  the  Revol  ution  and  of  Pontiac  followed. 
Thus  in  rapid  succession  the  flags  of  France,  England  and  the 
United  States  floated  over  the  Valley  of  the  West. 

*  Parkman. 


78  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  4.— Resumd  of   Papal  MoYements. 

In  Florida. — We  have  before  noticed  *  that,  early  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  villages  of  converts  directed  by  Franciscans  existed 
along  the  Apalachicola,  Flint  and  other  rivers.  But  the  English 
colonies  planted  in  the  Carolinas  rapidly  extended  their  bounds. 
Conflict  arose  with  their  Spanish  neighbors  and  also  with  the  Indians, 
resulting  disastrously  to  the  missions.  Indian  wars  followed,  and 
when  Charlevoix  visited  this  region,  in  1722,  many  of  the  missions 
had  been  abandoned,  and  the  influence  of  the  others  had  seriously 
waned. 

'*  From  this  period,  few  details  of  the  missions  have  reached  us, 
down  to  the  time  when  Spain  ceded  Florida  to  England  by  the 
treaty  of  Paris  (1763).  This  was  the  death-blow  of  the  missions. 
The  Franciscans,  with  most  of  the  Spanish  settlers,  left  the  colony; 
the  Indians,  who  occupied  two  towns  under  the  walls  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, were  expelled  from  the  grounds  cultivated  by  their  toil  for 
years,  and  deprived  of  the  church  which  they  had  themselves 
erected.  All  was  given  by  the  governor  to  the  newly-established 
English  Church.  In  ten  years  no  native  was  left  near  the  city.  The 
Indians  thus  driven  out  became  wanderers,  and  received  the  name 
Seminoles,  which  has  that  meaning.  By  degrees  all  traces  of  their 
former  civilization  and  Christianity  disappeared,  and  they  have  since 
been  known  only  by  their  bitter  hatred  of  the  successors  of  the 
Spaniards."  f 

When  the  Spaniards  left  Florida,  the  English  found  little  to  pos- 
sess but  the  country.  "  The  whole  number  of  its  inhabitants,"  says 
Bancroft, :{:  "  men,  women,  children  and  servants,  was  three  thousand  ; 
and  of  these  the  men  were  nearly  all  in  the  pay  of  the  Catholic 
king.  The  possession  of  it  had  cost  him  nearly  two  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  dollars  annually;  and  now,  as  a  compensation  for 
Havana,  he  made  over  to  England  the  territory  which  occasioned 
this  fruitless  expense.  Most  of  the  people,  receiving  from  the 
Spanish  treasury  indemnity  for  their  losses,  migrated  to  Cuba,  taking 
with  them  the  bones  of  their  saints  and  the  ashes  of  their  dis- 
tinguished dead,  leaving  at  St.  Augustine  their  houses  of  stone, 
and  even  the  graves  without  occupants." 

Texas. — The  missions  in  Texas  during  the  earlier  period  were 
not  successful.     In  1688,  fourteen  Franciscan  priests  and  seven  lay- 


*  See  Chapter  I  of  Colonial  Era. 

+  Shea's  History  of  Roman  Catholic  Missions  Among  the  Indians,  p.  75. 

X  Bancroft's  History  0/  the  United  States,  Centennial  Edition.    Vol.  Ill,  p.  403. 


THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  79 

brothers,  with  fifty  soldiers  under  Don  Domingo  Teran,  entered  this 
region  and  founded  eight  missions.  Two  fathers,  a  lay-brother, 
several  families  of  civilized  Indians  from  Mexico,  a  supply  of  stock 
and  agricultural  implements,  and  a  small  guard  of  soldiers  as  a  pro- 
tection, were  assigned  to  each  mission.  One  father  attended  exclu- 
sively to  spiritual  affairs,  and  the  other  taught  agriculture  and  the 
various  arts  of  life.  Indians  joining  the  colony  were  instructed, 
and  their  labor  went  to  the  common  stock,  from  which  they  drew 
food,  clothing,  etc.  When  capable  of  self-direction,  fields  were  allot- 
ted to  them  and  houses  erected.  If  single,  they  were  urged  to  select 
wives  from  the  Christian  women.  Each  mission  thus  grew  to  a  vil- 
lage, Spaniards  and  Indians  intermarrying.  Reverses  soon  came — 
crops  failed,  cattle  died,  the  soldiers  became  offensive,  and  the  field 
was  abandoned.  The  missions  were  re-established  in  1717,  but 
abandoned  again  in  two  years.  Between  1721  and  1746,  missions 
were  established  in  the  center  of  Texas  and  extended  northward  to 
the  borders  of  New  Mexico.  These  missions  continued  until  within 
the  present  century,  when  the  country  was  unsettled  by  the  Anglo- 
American  colonization,  the  revolt  of  Texas,  etc. 

New  Mexico, — We  have  previously  noticed  that,  in  1608,  eight 
thousand  Indians  in  New  Mexico  had  received  the  papal  faith,  and 
in  1626  the  twenty-seventh  Roman  Catholic  mission  was  founded  in 
that  country.  Villasenor,  in  1748,  gave  a  flattering  picture  of  the 
state  of  this  country.  The  Indians  were  clothed  with  materials 
woven  by  women,  and  industry  was  the  prevailing  habit,  rewarded 
with  peace  and  plenty.  Religious  edifices  of  a  high  order,  "  even 
rivaling  those  of  Europe,"  had  been  erected,  and  the  people  were 
not  much  inferior  to  their  Spanish  neighbors.  Twenty-two  mis- 
sions averaged  one  hundred  families  each.  The  political  changes 
which  more  recently  occurred  have  not  seriously  affected  the 
condition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Since  the  cession  of 
the  country  to  the  United  States,  New  Mexico  has  been  made  a 
vicarate  apostolic,  and  finally  a  bishopric,  by  the  erection  of  the  see 
of  Santa  Fe. 

The  first  California  missions  were  founded  on  the  peninsula,  from 
which  point,  at  a  later  period,  they  were  extended  into  the  more 
northern  portion.  The  Jesuits  and  the  Franciscans  shared  in  the 
former,  but  the  Franciscans  alone  achieved  the  latter.  Father 
Juniper  Serra,  an  Italian  Franciscan,  the  apostle  of  the  missions 
in  Upper  California,  was  early  trained  in  the  missions  of  Mexico. 
With  the  assistance  of  eleven  brothers  of  his  order,  on  the  i6th  of 
July,  1769,  he  founded  the  mission  of  San  Diego,  in  a  long,  narrow 


80  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

valley,  formed  by  chains  of  parallel  hills  embosoming  a  delightful  prai- 
rie. Favorable  omens  encouraged  the  missionaries,  and  buildings 
were  erected  ;  but  just  as  they  were  congratulating  themselves  upon 
the  prospects  they  were  attacked  by  the  Indians  and  six  persons 
were  killed,  among  whom  was  Father  Viscaino.  Amicable  relations 
were  soon  restored  and  the  mission  continued.  The  establishment 
of  another  mission  at  San  Carlos,  in  1770,  occasioned  great  joy  and 
the  ringing  of  bells  in  the  City  of  Mexico.  Thirty  new  auxiliaries 
were  immediately  sent  to  the  missions,  the  Dominicans  also  asking 
permission  to  enter  the  promising  field.  Proceeding  to  a  beautiful 
site  on  the  River  San  Antonio,  in  the  bosom  of  Sierra  Santa  Lucia, 
where  a  towering  caflada  encircles  the  stream,  on  the  14th  of  July, 
1771,  Father  Serra  founded  the  mission  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua, 
in  the  wide  territory  of  the  Telames.  The  missions  of  San  Gabriel 
and  San  Luis  Obispo  were  soon  after  planted. 

A  bloody  Indian  massacre  occurred  in  1775,  and  the  mission  of 
San  Diego  was  the  scene.  A  thousand  Indians  attacked  and  pil- 
laged the  mission,  and  many  fell,  among  whom  was  Father  Louis 
Jayme,  whose  body  was  terribly  hacked  and  mangled.  "  Thank 
God !  the  field  is  watered  !  "  exclaimed  the  intrepid  Serra,  as  he 
proceeded,  though  broken  in  health,  to  inspire  his  co-laborers. 
After  a  short  delay  San  Diego  rose  from  its  ruins.  The  mission 
of  San  Francisco  was  founded  June  27,  1776,  at  the  time  when  the 
Continental  Congress  was  discussing  the  great  question  of  American 
Independence.  Other  missions  were  commenced  at  Santa  Barbara, 
Santa  Cruz,  San  Jose,  San  Miguel,  etc.,  etc.,  and  the  Indian  con- 
verts were  soon  numbered  by  thousands. 

The  Indian  missions  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  North  were 
numerous.  Missions  among  the  Hurons  began  in  1615,  among  the 
Iroquois  and  Ottaways  in  1642  ;  the  Winnebagos,  at  Green  Bay, 
in  1660;  the  Chippeways  in  1661  ;  the  Sioux,  west  of  Lake  Superior, 
in  1661 ;  the  Miamis  in  1680.  Sault  St.  Mary,  Mackinaw  and  Green 
Bay  were  mission  centers  for  many  years.  Father  Gravier,  a  dis- 
tinguished Jesuit,  was  superior  of  the  missions  in  Illinois  from  1687 
to  1706. 

Early  Papal  Missionaries  to  the  Indians.* 


Number  of 

Number  of 

Indian  Tribes. 

Missionaries. 

Period  of  Service. 

Indian  Tribes. 

Missionaries. 

Period  of  Service. 

Abenakis.  . . 

...       22 

1613  to  1796 

Ottaway. . . . 

...       30 

1642  to  1781 

Hurons 

...       ^0 

1615  to  1650 
1642  to  1832 

Illinois  . . . 

W 

1673  to  1757 
1699  to  1748 

Iroquois 

.  ..       40 

Louisiana.. . 

...       16 

*  For  a  full  list  of  these  missionaries,  with  names,  dates,  etc.,  see  History  of  Catholic  Mis- 
sions Among  the  Indians  of  North  America^  by  J.  Gilmary  Shea.  1857.  New  York  :  Edward 
Dunigan  &  Bro.,  pp.  499-502. 


HOSTILITY  AGAINST  THE  JESUITS.  81 

Results. 

Of  the  thirty-three  missionaries  who  had  entered  the  Illinois  coun- 
try from  the  visit  of  Marquette,  in  1673,  to  1750,  only  three  or  four 
remained  at  the  latter  date. 

At  this  time,  also,  a  deep  hostility  was  rising  in  Europe  against 
the  Jesuits,  and  the  order  was  formally  expelled  from  France,  Naples 
and  Spain  in  1763.  The  French  Court  confiscated  all  their  property, 
and  the  royal  officers  in  New  Orleans,  without  waiting  for  the  king's 
decree,  dispersed  the  Jesuits  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  con- 
fiscated their  property,  appraised  at  $186,000,  prior  to  February,  1764. 
Nine  years  later,  this  celebrated  order  was  formally  suppressed  by 

the  pope. 

At  the  close  of  the  French  war,  more  than  eighty  years  had 
elapsed,  of  exclusive  French  and  papal  sway,  since  La  Salle  estab- 
lished his  first  military  post  on  the  Mississippi;  but  the  population 
of  this  new  and  attractive  region  was  very  inconsiderable.  Accord- 
ing to  Fraser,  as  quoted  by  Bancroft,*  there  were  in  Illinois,  in  1765, 
of  white  men  able  to  bear  arms,  700  :  of  white  women,  500;  of  their 
children,  850;  of  negroes  of  both  sexes,  900.  One  hundred  and 
ten  French  families  were  at  Vincennes  and  along  the  banks  of  the 
Wabash.  At  St.  Genevieve  there  were  "  at  least  five  and  twenty 
families,"  and  at  St.  Louis  "about  twice  that  number."  New 
Orleans,  according  to  the  census  of  1769,  had  a  population  of  nearly 
thirty-two  hundred,  and  Detroit  was  a  village  of  little  more  than 
one  hundred  houses. 

Prior  to  1771,  Irish  Catholics  had  not  settled  much  in  America, 
only  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  Those  settling  elsewhere  gen- 
erally gave  up  their  religion.  A  considerable  number  of  German 
Catholics  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  but  their  priests  were  few  in  num- 
ber. "  It  is  asserted  that  more  than  half  of  the  regular  troops 
furnished  by  Pennsylvania  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  or,  as 
they  are  now  called,  'the  Pennsylvania  lines,'  were  Irish  Catholics; 
from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that,  though  the  Church  had  suffered 
enormous  losses,  ...  it  still  presented,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
an  imposing  mass,  composed  in  a  great  measure  of  Irish,  of  whom, 
perhaps,  a  third  were  born  in  Ireland."  f  The  number  of  Catholic 
priests  in  the  United  States  when  the  Revolution  commenced  was 
twenty-six. 


*  History  0/ the  United  states,  Cenl^nmaX 'EdMion.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  S"- 

t  Letter  to  the  Lyons  Propaganda,  by   Dr.   England,   Catholic  Bishop  of  Charleston,  S.  C. 
See  Am.  Quart.  Reg.,  1841,  p.  141. 
6 


32 


CHRJSTTANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CHURCH  AND   STATE 


Sec.  I.  Diverse  Colonial  Constitutions. 
"     2.  Points  of  Agreement. 
"     3.  Religious  Limitations. 


Sec.  4.  Religious  Legislation. 
"  5.  Religious  Intolerance. 
"     6.  General  Considerations. 


IN  the  Hebrew  theocracy  the  Church  and  the  State  were  in- 
timately blended,  the  latter  subject  to  the  former.  Ancient 
paganism  was  a  part  of  the  State  and  dependent  upon  it.  In  both 
religion  had  no  separate  existence.  But  Christ  proclaimed  his 
Church  a  spiritual  kingdom,  "  not  of  this  world,"  nor  dependent  on 
the  civil  power,  that  it  might  be  kept  free  from  worldly  limita- 
tions and  contaminations.  In  the  decline  of  spiritual  Christianity, 
after  the  apostolic  age,  religion  became  corrupted  with  paganism 
and  sought  alliance  with  the  State.  When  the  empire  decayed,  the 
Church  advanced  her  influence  by  new  assumptions  of  power,  or- 
ganized herself  with  hierarchical  orders  and  prerogatives,  and  seized 
the  scepter  of  supreme  dominion.  For  a  thousand  years  she  wielded 
a  more  than  imperial  power. 

The  great  European  monarchies  which  sprang  up  in  the  fifteenth 
century  were  allies  and  vassals  of  the  papal  Church.  The  Reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century  became  an  established  fact  over  nearly 
half  of  Europe,  but  it  brought  no  deliverance  to  the  Church  from 
its  unnatural  alliance  with  the  secular  power.  The  reformers,  not- 
withstanding all  their  sufferings  from  papal  persecution,  had  no  such 
conception  of  religious  freedom  as  has  since  been  entertained. 
Hence,  when  they  separated  themselves  from  Rome,  they  allied 
themselves  with  the  civil  powers,  and  availed  themselves  of  the  civil 
arm  for  the  punishment  of  heresy  and  the  prevention  of  dissent. 
The  same  tendency  was  every-where  visible,  among  the  Lutherans 
in  Germany,  the  Episcopalians  in  England,  and  the  Presbyterians 
in  Scotland  and  Geneva.  The  early  religious  emigrants  to  this 
country  came  with  these  ideas,  a  part  of  the  common  heritage  of 
the  times.  The  mutual  recognition  and  support  of  the  Church  and 
State  were  supposed  to  be  a  necessity,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether 


THE  VOLUNTARY  SYSTEM.  83 

the  English  Government  would  have  granted  colonial  charters  on 
any  other  conditions. 

Among  the  English  colonists  there  were  two  classes — high 
churchmen,  who  were  admirers  of  prelacy,  and  Puritans,  who  fled 
from  its  oppressions — both  members  of  the  Established  Church  of 
England  ;  the  former  settling  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States, 
and  the  latter  in  New  England.*  Both  of  these  classes  agreed  in 
seeking  for  the  Church  the  aid  of  the  State,  but  with  marked  dif- 
ferences in  their  methods;  the  one  monarchical,  perpetuating  the 
English  Church  in  connection  with  the  English  Government,  and 
the  other  democratic,  organizing  independent  churches  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  equality  of  the  individual  members,  and  in  vital  union 
with  the  local  civil  power,  but  disowning  ecclesiastical  responsibility 
to  English  authority.  The  civil  power  and  patronage,  in  some  form, 
were  every-where  felt  to  be  a  necessity. 

In  the  present  century  the  question  of  "  Establishment  "  or 
"  Disestablishment  "  has  enlisted  the  best  thought  of  Christendom, 
and  prompted  careful,  anxious  and  profound  inquiries.  European 
statesmen  and  divines  are  deeply  pondering  the  problem  whether 
religion  is  dependent  for  its  prestige,  success,  and  permanency  upon 
the  civil  power;  or  whether,  if  left  to  itself  and  to  purely  voluntary 
agencies,  it  will  be  able  to  make  its  influence  felt  in  purifying  and 
elevating  society,  producing  peaceable  and  orderly  citizens,  and 
maintain  itself  against  elements  of  weakness  from  within  and  oppo- 
sition from  without. 

In  the  history  of  the  American  churches  this  problem  seems 
destined  to  find  a  solution;  for  here  Christianity  has  existed  under 
the  necessary  conditions,  and  in  forms  somewhat  experimental.f  It 
has  already  been  subjected  to  a  twofold  test  under  diverse  condi- 
tions— in  the  colonial  and  in  the  national  eras.  In  the  latter  the 
churches  have  sustained  only  voluntary  relations,  amid  which  their 
progress  will  be  unfolded  in  the  principal  part  of  this  volume.  In 
the  former  they  were  united  with  the  civil  authority  in  all  the  older 
and  larger  colonies.     This  will  first  receive  attention. 

What  was  the  ecclesiastico-civil  situation  in  the  early  colonies  of 
the  United  States? 

The  civil  condition  must  first  be  understood.  The  peculiarities 
of  the  colonial  governments,  their  points  of  difference  and  agree- 
ment, the  religious  limitations  of  their  constitutions,  and  the  legis- 
lation upon  religious  matters  must  be  carefully  considered.     It  will 

*  The  Pilgrims,  or  Separatists,  were  another  class.     See  pp.  28,  29. 
t  See  last  chapter  in  this  volume. 


84  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

then  be  possible  to  appreciate  the  religious  progress  of  the  earlier 
times,  the  changes  which  took  place  after  the  Revolution,  when  the 
relations  of  the  churches  to  the  States  were  dissolved,  and  the  new 
conditions  of  purely  voluntary  support  amid  which  Christianity  has 
since  existed. 

» 

Section  J.— The  Early  Colonial  Constitutions. 

The  thirteen  English  colonies  in  North  America  by  whose  in- 
habitants the  American  Revolution  was  achieved  existed  prior  to 
that  time  as  separate  communities,  with  domestic  governments,  pe- 
culiar to  themselves,  derived  from  the  crown  of  England.  In  re- 
spect to  their  civil  polity  the  colonial  organizations  have  been 
classed  as  Provincial,  Proprietary,  and  Charter  governments. 

Provincial  or  Royal  Governments.  To  this  class  belonged  Vir- 
ginia, New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia. 
In  these  the  organic  constitutions  were  simply  "  the  respective  com- 
missions issued  by  the  crown  to  the  governors,"  and  the  instruc- 
tions which  accompanied  them.  By  his  commission  the  governor 
was  the  appointee  and  representative  of  the  crown,  to  which  he  was 
responsible.  The  crown  also  appointed  a  council,  which  to  some 
extent  shared  in  the  executive  duties  with  the  governor,  and  also 
constituted  the  upper  house  of  the  provincial  legislature.  The 
lower  house  consisted  of  representatives  of  the  freeholders  of  the 
province.  These  bodies  had  power  to  make  local  laws  not  repug- 
nant to  the  laws  of  England. 

Proprietary  Governments.  To  this  class  the  provinces  of  Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  belonged,  in  which  "  the  subordi- 
nate powers  of  legislature  and  government  were  granted  to  certain 
individuals  called  the  proprietaries,  who  appointed  the  governor  and 
authorized  him  to  summon  legislative  assemblies."  *  These  pro- 
prietary governments  exercised  all  the  prerogatives  which  in  the 
provincial  governments  belonged  to  the  crown.  Only  one  limita- 
tion was  stipulated — that  the  ends  for  which  the  grant  was  made 
by  the  crown  should  be  observed  in  the  local  legislation,  and  that 
**  nothing  should  be  done  or  attempted  which  might  derogate  from 
the  sovereignty  of  the  mother  country."  In  Maryland  the  laws  en- 
acted were  not  subjected  to  the  supervision  of  the  crown,  but  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  they  were.f 


*  History  of  the  Origin,  Formation,  and  Adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
By  Georg:e  Ticknor  Curtis.     New  York  :  Harper  «&  Brothers.     1854.     Vol.  I.  p.  5. 

t  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  0/  the  United  States,  with  a  Preliminary  Review.  By 
Joseph  Story,  LL.D.     Abridged  edition.     Boston  :  Hilliard,  Gray  &  Co.     iSjj.     Pp.  68,  69. 


EARLY  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES.  88 

Charter  Governments.  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
and  Connecticut  were  the  only  colonies  of  this  class,  and  each  had 
some  peculiarities  of  its  own. 

The  Plymouth  Colony  landed  without  any  charter.  "  A  large 
patent  "  had  been  granted  by  the  London  "  Company;  "  but,  "  be- 
ing taken  in  the  name  of  one  who  failed  to  accompany  the  expedi- 
tion, the  patent  was  never  of  the  least  service."*  The  Pilgrims, 
therefore,  prior  to  their  landing,  drew  up  and  signed  "  an  original 
compact,"  in  which  they  acknowledged  the.nselves  subjects  of  the 
crown  of  England,  and  combined  themselves  into  "  a  civil  body 
politic,"  "  to  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  con- 
stitutions, and  offices  from  time  to  time  as  shall  be  thought  most 
meet  and  convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the  colony,"  to  which 
all  promised  "  due  submission  and  obedience."  It  was  the  essence 
of  a  pure  democracy.  After  several  ineffectual  attempts,  in  1629  a 
patent  was  obtained  under  the  original  charter  of  1620.  This  charter 
furnished  them  "  with  the  color  of  a  delegated  sovereignty."  f 

The  first  charter  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  "  provided  only  for 
a  civil  corporation  within  the  realm,  and  did  not  justify  the  assump- 
tion of  the  extensive,  exclusive  legislative  and  judicial  powers  which 
were  afterward  exercised  upon  the  removal  of  the  charter  to  Amer- 
ica." ij:  The  same  thing  was  true  of  the  Plymouth  Colony.  These 
charters  were  both  lost  in  the  Revolution  of  1688.  The  new  charter 
of  William  and  Mary,  in  1691,  combined  these  two  colonies  and  also 
the  province  of  Maine  under  one  jurisdiction.  It  was  upon  a  broad 
foundation,  and  not  a  mere  corporation  "  empowered  to  appoint  by- 
laws," but  "  in  the  strictest  sense  a  charter  for  general  political  gov- 
ernment ;  a  constitution  for  a  State  with  sovereign  powers  and  pre- 
rogatives." It  was  "  dependent,  indeed,  and  subject  to,  the  realm  of 
England ; "  but  still  it  possessed  within  its  own  territorial  limits 
"the  general  powers  of  legislation  and  taxation."  The  governor 
was  appointed  by  the  crown,  but  the  council  was  annually  chosen  by 
the  assembly,  and  the  assembly  by  the  people. 

"In  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  the  charter  governments 
were  organized  altogether  upon  popular  and  democratic  principles, 
the  governor,  council  and  assembly  being  annually  chosen  by  the 
freemen  of  the  colony."  § 


*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States.     Vol.  I,  p.  305. 

t  Story  on  the  Constitution.     Edition  of  Hilliard  &  Gray.     Boston  1833.     P.  17. 
X  Ibid,  pp.  69,  70. 

§  For  a  fuller  statement  of  the  character  of  the  early  colonial  governments  see  Commentaries 
on  the  Constitution  0/ the  United  States.     By  Hon.  Joseph  Story,  LL.D. 


•86  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  ;?.— Points  of  Agreement. 

Notwithstanding  the  diversities  of  the  colonial  constitutions,  they 
:all  agreed  in  several  particulars. 

1.  AH  the  colonists  enjoyed  the  rights  and  privileges  of  British 
horn  subjects  and  the  benefits  of  the  common  laws  of  England. 
All  the  early  colonial  legislatures  passed  declaratory  acts  acknowledg- 
ing and  confirming  these  immunities,  thus  securing  a  real  and  effective 
rw/rt^«<z  r^ar/a  of  their  liberties,  and  firmly  establishing  the  trial  by 
jury,  in  all  civil  and  criminal  cases. 

2.  Practically,  however,  it  seems  to  have  been  left  to  the  colonial 
judicatures  to  determine  what  portions  of  the  common  law  were 
applicable  to  the  colonies,  and  hence  a  considerable  difference  of 
interpretation  and  administration  prevailed  in  the  different  sections. 

3.  Appeals  from  the  highest  colonial  courts  were  adjudicated  by 
"the  king  in  council."  In  most  of  the  colonial  constitutions  this 
right  was  secured  by  express  reservation. 

4.  There  was  one  fundamental  limitation  upon  all  the  legislation 
of  the  colonies,  stipulating  that  no  laws  should  be  enacted  repug- 
nant to  those  of  England.  A  considerable  latitude,  however,  was 
sometimes  allowed  in  the  exposition  of  this  clause. 

5.  Though  the  colonies  had  a  common  origin,  owed  a  common 
allegiance,  and  the  inhabitants  of  each  were  British  subjects,  yet 
they  had  "no  direct  political  connection  with  each  other;  each  was 
independent  of  all  the  others  ;  each,  in  a  limited  sense,  was  sovereign 
within  its  own  territory.  There  was  neither  alliance  nor  con- 
federacy between  them." 

6.  And  yet  they  were  not  wholly  alien  from  each  other,  for  they 
were  all  subjects  of  a  common  sovereignty,  and,  for  many  purposes, 
one  people.  Every  colonist  had  a  right,  as  a  British  subject,  to 
inhabit  any  other  colony,  and  to  inherit  or  hold  property  in 
them  all. 

7.  But,  as  colonists,  they  were  excluded  from  all  connection  with 
foreign  powers.  They  were  known  only  as  dependencies;  and  they 
followed  the  fate  of  the  parent  country,  both  in  peace  and  war, 
with  no  power  of  diplomacy.  No  treaty  or  league  between  them- 
selves could  possess  any  obligatory  force  without  the  assent  of  the 
crown,  and  whenever  their  mutual  wants  led  them  to  associate  for 
the  purposes  of  common  defense  these  confederacies  were  of  a 
temporary  character,  and  were  allowed  as  an  indulgence  rather  than 
as  a  right. 

8.  Every-where  in   the  colonies  the  attributes  of  sovereignty, 


VARIOUS  RESTRICTIONS.  87 

perpetuity,  and  responsibility  were  recognized  as  inhering  in  the 
political  capacity  of  the  king.  He  was  the  head  of  the  Church, 
the  fountain  of  authority  and  justice,  the  generalissimo  of  the 
forces,  entitled  to  share  in  the  legislation,  to  enter  a  nolle  prosequi 
in  civil  prosecutions,  to  pardon  crimes,  to  release  forfeitures,  to  pre- 
sent benefices,  to  appoint  governors,  to  grant  commissions,  and 
perform  any  other  acts  not  expressly  yielded  or  renounced  in  the 
colonial  constitutions. 


Section  5.— The  Religions  Limitations. 

Under  the  Provincial  Governments. 

Virginia.  The  original  charter  was  vested  in  a  commercial 
corporation,  located  in  London,  which,  with  the  aid  of  a  subordinate 
council,  in  the  colony,  governed  the  emigrants  by  royal  authority. 
"  Religion  was  specially  enjoined  to  be  established  according  to  the 
doctrines  and  rites  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  no  emigrant 
might  withdraw  his  allegiance  from  King  James  or  avow  dissent 
from  the  royal  creed."*  After  the  fall  of  the  London  Company, 
under  the  new  charter,  granted  in  1624,  the  governors  were  required 
to  uphold  public  worship  according  to  the  form  and  discipline  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  to  "  avoid  all  factions  and  needless 
novelties." 

In  New  Hampshire  liberty  of  conscience  was  allowed  to  all 
Protestants,  but  "  those  of  the  Church  of  England  were  to  be 
specially  encouraged." 

New  York.  The  Dutch,  who  first  settled  this  State,  set  up 
the  Reformed  religion,  according  to  the  acts  of  the  Synod  of  Dort, 
and  the  colonial  clergy  were  commissioned  by  the  Classis  of  Am- 
sterdam ;  but  no  formal  constitutional  restriction  was  enacted  until 
1640,  when  the  West  India  Company,  which  then  controlled  the 
colony,  decreed  that  "no  other  religion  shall  be  publicly  admitted," 
"  except  the  Reformed  Church."  f 

In  New  Jersey  liberty  of  conscience  was  allowed  to  all  persons 
except  papists. 

In  the  Carolinas  an  express  clause  in  the  charter  opened  the 
way  for  religious  freedom. 

Georgia  was  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted  Protestants  of  Europe 
of  every  name. 

*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States.     Vol.  I,  p.  123. 

+  Documents  of  Colonial  History  of  New  York.     "  Holland,"  I,  p.  123. 


88  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Under  the  Proprietary  Governments. 

In  Maryland  no  religion  tolerated  by  the  crown  at  home  could 
be  excluded. 

In  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  liberty  of  conscience  and  of 
worship,  and  eligibility  to  public  office  were  granted  to  all  persons 
professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Under  the  Chartered  Constitutions. 

The  case  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  was  peculiar.  The  Pilgrims 
were  Independents,  and  previous  to  their  departure  from  England 
they  petitioned  the  king  for  liberty  of  religion,  to  be  confirmed 
under  the  king's  broad  seal.  "' Who  shall  make  your  ministers  ?  ' 
was  asked  of  them  ;  and  they  answered,  '  The  power  of  making  them 
is  in  the  Church ;  ordination  requires  no  bishops ; '  and  their 
avowal  of  their  principles  threatened  to  spoil  all.  .  .  .  While  the 
negotiations  were  pending,  a  royal  declaration  constrained  the 
Puritans  of  Lancaster  to  conform  or  leave  the  kingdom ;  and 
nothing  more  could  be  obtained  for  the  wilds  of  America  than 
an  informal  promise  of  neglect.  On  this  the  community  relied,  being 
advised  not  to  entangle  themselves  with  bishops."  *  With  this 
implied  guaranty  they  founded  the  colony  at  Plymouth,  in  1620, 
without  a  formal  charter,  as  has  been  previously  mentioned.  They 
had  security  for  their  own  religious  freedom,  but  were  not  bound  by 
any  chartered  stipulations  to  others.  The  charter  which  was 
formally  granted  in   1629  made  no  change  in  their  religious  status. 

The  charter  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  simply  conferred  the 
rights  of  English  subjects,  without  any  enlargement  of  religious 
liberty.  The  patentees  being  Churchmen  at  the  time  of  their  de- 
parture from  England,  this  fact  was  supposed  to  be,  in  itself,  a 
sufficient  guaranty;  and  they  were  left  unrestricted. 

In  Maine  the  early  charter  expressed  "  the  will  and  pleasure  of 
the  crown  that  the  religion  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  pro- 
fessed, and  its  ecclesiastical  government  be  established,  in  the 
province."  In  1691  a  new  charter  was  granted,  by  which  the 
three  colonies  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  Maine 
were  united  under  one  colonial  government,  and  "  liberty  of 
conscience  in  the  worship  of  God  to  all  Christians  except  papists  " 
was  decreed. 

In  Connecticut  the  original  charter  was  silent  in  regard  t<^ 
religious  rights  and  liberty. 

*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States.     Vol.  I,  p.  305. 


RELIGIOUS  LEGISLATION.  89 

The  charter  oi  Rhode  Island,  which  was  not  obtained  until  1663, 
decreed  that  "  no  person,  within  the  said  colony,  should  be  in  any 
wise  molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question  for 
any  difference  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion,  which  did  not 
actually  disturb  the  civil  peace  of  said  colony ;  but  that  all  and 
every  person  and  persons  might,  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times 
thereafter,  freely  and  fully  have  and  enjoy  his  and  their  own  judg- 
ments and  consciences  in  matters  of  religious  concernments." 


Section  4.— Early  Religious  Legislation. 

This  phase  of  the  subject  opens  a  broad  field  from  which  ex- 
amples will  be  given.  The  religious  legislation  of  Virginia,  Mas- 
sachusetts, New  York,  and  Maryland,  will  be  the  most  fully 
sketched,  and  only  brief  references  will  be  made  to  the  other 
colonies. 

Virginia. 

This  State  was  colonized  by  the  admirers  of  English  prelacy, 
and  it  has  been  already  noticed  that  its  charter  established  the 
religion  of  the  Church  of  England.  "  Thus  the  two  bulwarks  of 
English  loyalty — an  aristocracy  and  a  hierarchy — were  set  up  on 
the  soil  of  Virginia."*  From  the  arrival  of  Lord  Delaware,  in  1610, 
a  new  administration  was  introduced,  under  a  new  charter  granted 
the  previous  year,  according  to  which  officers  were  selected  and 
sent  out  by  the  London  Company.  Such  was  the  dread  of  popery 
that  it  was  stipulated  that  no  person  should  enter  the  province  of 
Virginia  *  but  such  as  had  first  taken  the  oath  of  supremacy. 
Henceforth  specific  instructions  were  sent  to  the  colony  from  the 
mother  country,  often  extending  to  religious  matters.  On  the 
failure  of  his  health.  Lord  Delaware  returned  to  England,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Dale  was  sent  to  Virginia. 

The  arrival  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  as  governor,  in  161 1,  "  marks 
the  period  at  which  penal  laws  were  first  introduced  to  aid  the 
colonists  in  keeping  a  good  conscience."  The  governor  was  furnished 
with  a  bodyt  of  "  Lawes,  diuine,  morall,  and  martiall,"  for  the 
colony.:}: 

*  Bancroft. 

tStith's  Virginia,  p.  122.     Burk's  Virginia,  Vol.  I,  p.  165. 
X  Two  specimens  0/  these  laws  are  here  given  : 

VI.   "  Euerie  man  and  woman  duly  twice  a  day,  vpon  the  first  towling  of  the  bell,  shall  vpoa 
the  working  dales  repaire  vnto  the  Church  to  heare  diuine  service,  vpon  paine  of  losing  his  or  her 


90  CHRISTIANITY  JN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

They  were  chiefly  translated  from  the  martial  laws  of  the  "  Low 
Countries,  and  were  entirely  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of  English 
liberty.  In  this  singular  code  of  bloody  enactments,  tlie  Church  was 
provided  for ;  but  it  is  due  both  to  the  governors  and  the  governed 
to  state,  that  on  the  one  hand  there  was  as  little  disposition  to  en- 
force as  on  the  other  to  submit  to,  the  penalties  of  the  code."  * 

In  1618,  Captain  Argall,  the  deputy  governor,  in  revising  the  code 
provided  that  "  every  person  should  go  to  church,  Sundays  and 
holy  days,  or  lie  neck  and  heels  that  night,  and  be  a  slave  to  the 
colony  the  following  week ;  for  the  second  offense,  he  should  be  a 
slave  for  a  month ;  and,  for  the  third,  a  year  and  a  day."  f  The 
tyranny  of  Argall  led  to  a  remonstrance  to  the  London  Company, 
and  the  following  year  a  new  governor  appeared,  bringing  a  new 
charter.  It  provided  that  the  clergy  should  have  in  each  borough  a 
glebe,  to  consist  of  one  hundred  acres,  and  should  receive  from  the 
profits  of  each  parish  a  standing  revenue,  to  be  worth  at  least  two 
hundred  pounds.  Thenceforth  also,  a  colonial  legislature  assembled, 
consisting  of  "  two  burgesses  chosen  for  every  town,  hundred,  and 
plantation."     Among  the  first  laws  of  this   body  was  one   for  the 

daye's  allowance  for  the  first  omission  ;  for  the  second,  to  be  whipt ;  and  for  the  third,  to  be  con- 
demned to  the  gallies  for  six  months.  Likewise,  no  man  or  woman  shall  dare  to  violate  or 
breake  the  Sabbath  by  any  gaming,  publiqueor  private,  abroad  or  at  home,  but  duly  sanctify  and 
observe  the  same,  both  himselfe  and  his  familie,  by  preparing  themselves  at  home  by  private 
praise,  that  they  may  be  the  better  fitted  for  the  publique,  according  to  the  c-ommandments  of 
God  and  the  orders  of  our  Church  ;  as  also,  euerie  man  and  woman  shall  repaire  in  the  morning 
to  the  diuine  service,  and  sermones  preached  vjxjn  the  Sabbath  dale,  and  in  the  afternoon  to 
diuine  service  and  catechising,  vpon  paine  for  the  first  fault  to  lose  their  provision  and  allowance 
for  the  whole  weeke  following  ;  for  the  second,  to  lose  the  said  allowance,  and  also  to  be  whipt ; 
and  for  the  third,  to  suffer  death." 

XXXIII.  "There  is  not  one  man  nor  woman  in  this  colonic  now  present,  or  hereafter  to 
arrive,  but  shall  give  up  an  account  of  his  and  their  faith  and  religion,  and  repaire  vnto  the 
minister  that  by  his  conference  with  them  he  may  vnderstand  and  gather  whether  heretofore 
they  have  been  sufficiently  instructed  and  catechised  in  the  principles  and  grounds  of  religion; 
whose  weakness  and  ignorance  herein,  the  minister  finding  and  advising  them  in  all  love  and 
charitie  to  repaire  often  vnto  him  to  receive  therein  a  greater  measure  of  knowledge;  if  they 
shall  refuse  so  to  repaire  vnto  him,  and  he  the  minister  give  notice  thereof  vnto  the  governor,  or 
that  chiefe  officer  of  that  towne  or  fort  wherein  he  or  she,  the  parties  so  offending  shall  remaine, 
the  governor  shall  cause  the  offender,  for  the  first  time  of  refusal,  to  be  whipt ;  for  the  second 
time  he  shall  be  whipt  twice,  and  to  acknowledge  his  fault  vpon  the  Sabbath  daie  in  the  assembly 
of  the  congregation  ;  and  for  the  third  time,  to  be  whipt  every  day  vntil  he  hath  made  the  same 
acknowledgement,  and  ask  forgiveness  of  the  same,  and  shall  repaire  vnto  the  minister  to  be 
further  instructed  as  aforesaid  ;  and  vpon  the  Sabbath,  when  the  minister  shall  catechise  and  of 
him  demand  any  question  concerning  his  faith  and  knowledge,  he  shall  not  refuse  to  mcike 
answer  vpon  the  same  perill." 

"  For  the  colony  in  Virgineia  Brittannia  :  Lawes,  Diuine,  morall,  and  martiall,  etc."  Lon- 
don, 1612.     Collected  and  published  by  Wm.  Strachey. 

See  also  Uawks^s  History  0/  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  pp.  25,  27. 

*  History  0/  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia.  By  Rer.  F.  L.  Hawks,  D.D.  Harper 
&  Brothers,  New  York,  1836,  p.  24.     Also,  L  Buck's  Appendip,  304. 

tStith's  Virginia,  145;  Burk's  Virginia,  195. 


CONFORMITY  IN    VIRGINIA.  91 

church.  In  1621-22  it  was  enacted  that  each  clergyman  should  receive 
from  his  parishioners  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  and  sixteen 
barrels  of  com,  no  person  paying  more  than  ten  pounds  of  tobacco 
and  one  bushel  of  corn.  Every  male  who  had  reached  the  age  of 
sixteen  years  was  liable  to  this  tax.  * 

Again,  in  1624,  there  was  special  legislation  with  reference  to  the 
Churcli,  by  the  colonial  assembly  convened  by  Sir  Francis  Wyatt. 
Of  the   thirty-five  laws  passed,  the  first  seven   laws  were  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Church  and  the  clergy.     They  provided  that,  in  every 
plantation,  "  a  house  or  room"  should  be  set  apart  for  the  worship 
of  God,  and  also  a  place  for  burial ;  that  absence  from  church  for 
one  Sabbath,  without  a   good    excuse,  should   be  punished    by  a 
fine  of  a  pound  of  tobacco,  and,  for  a  month,  fifty  pounds ;    that 
all  persons  should  yield  conformity  to  the  canons  of   the  Church 
of  England,  upon  pain  of  censure  ;  that   the  22d    of  March    (the 
day  of  the  great  Indian  massacre  in   1622),  should  be  solemnized 
and  kept  holy,  and  that  all   other  holy  days  should  be  observed  ; 
that  no  minister  should  be  absent  from  his  cure  above  two  months 
in  the  whole  year,  upon  penalty  of  forfeiting  half  his  salary,  and,  if 
absent   four   months,  his    whole    salary    and    cure;  that   whoever 
should  disparage  a  minister,  without  sufficient  proof  to  justify  his 
reports,  should  pay  five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,   and  ask  the 
minister's  forgiveness  publicly  in  the  congregation  ;  that    no  man 
should  dispose  of  any  of  his  tobacco   before   paying  the  minister, 
upon  forfeiture  of  double  his  part  toward  the  salary,  and  that  one 
man  in  every  plantation  should  be  appointed  to  collect  the  minister  s 
salary  out  of  the  first  and  best  tobacco  and  corn.f     This  was  the 
last  legislation  that  affected  the  Church,  under  the  jurisdiction   of 
the  London   Company.      The  same  year  the  king  arbitrarily  re- 
sumed the  charter,  and  henceforth,  for  the  next  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  the  government  was  provincial  in  its  character. 

In  1629  an  act  was  passed,  enjoining,  under  severe  penalties,  a 
strict  conformity  to  the  canons  of  the  Established  Church;  and  in 
164^  another,  declaring  that  "  no  minister  should  be  permitted  to 
officiate  in  the  country  but  such  as  should  produce  to  the  governor 
a  testimonial  that  he  had  received  his  ordination  from  some  bishop 
in  England,"  and  should  pledge  "  conformity  to  the  Church  ot 
England,"  and  that  any  other  person  pretending  to  minister  should 
be  compelled  to  depart  from  the  country.  The  civil  code  of  this 
period  was  very  severe   in   its   penalties.     A  woman  convicted^f 

»  Hawks's  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  p.  35- 
t  Hening's  Virginia  Statutes  at  Large,  122  ;  Stith,  319. 


92  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

scolding  was  ordered  to  be  ducked  three  times  from  a  vessel  lying 
in  James  River;  a  man  guilty  of  slandering  a  minister  was  required 
to  pay  a  fine  of  five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  to  ask  the 
pardon  of  the  minister  before  the  congregation.  In  the  year  1633 
a  citizen  of  Hungar  parish,  for  the  offense  of  slandering  Rev.  Mr. 
Cotton,  was  ordered  by  the  Court  to  make  a  pair  of  stocks,  and 
sit  in  them  several  Sabbath  days,  during  divine  service,  and  then 
ask  Mr.  Cotton's  forgiveness.  In  the  year  1643  the  Court  ordered 
that  Richard  Buckland,  who  had  written  a  slanderous  song  on 
Ann  Smith,  should  stand,  during  the  "  Lessons "  at  the  church 
door  with  a  paper  on  his  hat,  on  which  should  be  written  ^'  Inimicus 
IJbelliis"  and  that  he  should  ask  forgiveness  of  God,  and  also  of 
Ann  Smith.  In  1664  Mary  Powell  was  ordered  to  receive  twenty 
lashes  on  her  bare  shoulders,  and  be  banished  from  the  country, 
on  account  of  slander.  Quakers  quietly  worshiping  God,  but  not 
according  to  the  methods  of  the  Established  Church,  were  convicted 
of  blasphemy  and  banished  from  the  country.'* 

In  1664  the  condition  of  the  Church  in  Virginia  was  very  unfavora- 
ble, and  an  extended  representation  of  its  affairs  was  made  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  and  the  king  by  the  governor,  SirWm.  Berkeley, 
in  his  visit  to  England  that  year.  In  reply  he  received  "  a  body  of 
instructions,"  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  colonial  legislation  for 
the  Church,  after  his  return,  in  1662.  These  acts  provided  for 
the  erection  of  church  edifices,  the  arrangement  of  parishes,  the 
supply  of  Bibles,  prayer-books,  and  other  church  requisites, 
regulated  the  compensation  of  the  clergy,  the  frequency  of  public 
services  and  the  sacraments,  the  appointments  of  vestrymen,  and 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 

In  1689,  Rev.  James  Blair,  D.D.,  was  appointed  by  the  king  and 
his  council,  and  duly  commissioned  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  a 
commissary  "  to  supply  the  office  and  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  in 
the  outlying  places  of  the  diocese."  Virginia  was  his  special  field 
of  labor,  and  his  functions  were  restricted  to  the  inspection  of 
churches,  the  delivering  of  charges,  and,  in  some  instances,  the 
administration  of  discipline. 

In  the  year  1705,  additional  statutes  were  enacted  for  the  sup- 
pression of  vice  and  the  punishment  of  blasphemy.  They  provided 
that  the  denial  of  God,  or  the  Trinity,  or  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
religion,  or  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  for  the  first  offense,  should 
be  punished   by  the   forfeiture   of  all  official  positions  within  the 

*  Old  Churches,  Ministers,  and  Families  of  Virginia.       By   Rev.  Bishop   Wm.  Meade, 
Philadelphia.     J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  1857,  vol.  I,  pp.  254,  5. 


DISSENT  INCREASING.  93 

province;  for  the  second,  disqualification  from  being  guardian, 
administrator,  grantee,  legatee,  devisee,  etc.;  and  that  the  offender 
should  also  suffer  three  years'  imprisonment.  Stringent  statutes 
were  also  enacted  to  promote  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day.  Any 
person  who  should  be  absent  from  the  parish  church  for  one  month, 
or  be  present  at  any  disorderly  meeting,  gaming,  or  tippling,  or 
make  any  journey,  or  travel  on  the  road,  except  to  and  from  church 
(cases  of  necessity  and  mercy  excepted),  should  be  fined,  and,  on 
failure  to  pay  the  fine,  should  be  whipped.  * 

The  legislature  of  the  colony,  in  1727,  fixed  the  annual  salary  of 
the  clergy  at  sixteen  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  ordered  that 
not  less  than  two  hundred  acres  of  land  should  be  purchased  and 
appropriated,  as  a  glebe,  in  each  parish,  with  comfortable  buildings. 
Passing  by  other  similar  legislation,  in  which  the  mutual  relations 
of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  bodies  are  exhibited,  the  close  of  the 
colonial  period  is  reached,  when  a  great  revolution  took  place.  Dur- 
ing several  years  a  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  Established  Church 
had  been  augmenting,  and  finally  it  fully  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  legislature  of  1776,  in  which,  after  a  desperate  contest,  an  act 
was  passed  repealing  all  laws  implying  criminality  for  differences  of 
opinion  in  matters  of  religion,  neglect  of  attendance  upon  church 
services  and  laws  restricting  the  mode  of  worship.  Dissenters  were 
also,  by  law,  exempted  from  paying  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  Arrears  of  salaries  due  the  clergy,  and  glebes 
already  purchased,  with  church  edifices,  books,  etc.,  were  secured 
to  them.  This  was  the  second  statute  enacted  by  the  first  repub- 
lican legislature  of  Virginia,  f  At  this  time,  about  two  thirds  J  of 
the  people  of  the  State  had  become  dissenters,  or  at  least  were  not 
connected  with  the  Established  Church. 

Maryland. 

The  early  history  of  this  celebrated  colony  was  characterized  by 
great  liberality,  which  made  it  a  marked  exception  in  those  days. 
The  Legislative  Assembly,  in  1645,  adopted  a  strong  statutory 
declaration  in  favor  of  religious  liberty,  for  which  that  colony  has 
received  many  high  encomiums.  §     Its  language  is  strikingly  in  con- 

»  T.ott's  Laws  of  Virginia  No.  46;    3-   Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  358. 

t  Hawk^'s  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  p.  143- 

:  Benedict's  History  of  the  Baptists.     New  York.  Lewis  Clby,  etc.,  1848,  p.  6s3. 

$  It  should  not.  however,  be  overlooked  that  this  virtue  was  not  a  purely  voluntary  thing.  Ihe 
home  government,  to  which  all  the  colonies  were  amenable,  was  intensely  P^^^^^^*' ^"jj^^j 
a  condition  of  the  grant  that  all  religions  must  be  allowed  which  were  tolerated  by  Uie  crown  at 


94  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

trast  with  the  spirit  of  the  early  colonies  of  Virginia,  New  England 
and  New  York,  and  especially  with  that  shown  in  the  history  of  the 
Papal  Church.  It  declared  that  "  the  enforcement  of  the  conscience 
has  been  an  unlawful  and  dangerous  prerogative  ;  "  that  no  person 
professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  should  be  molested  in  respect 
to  his  religion,  or  in  the  free  exercise  thereof;  that  persons  molest- 
ing any  others  in  respect  to  their  religious  tenets  should  be  heavily 
fined,  but  that  persons  speaking  reproachfully  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
or  guilty  of  blasphemy,  should  be  punished,  the  latter  with  death. 
Such  a  statute  is  the  more  remarkable  because  a  great  variety  of 
religious  classes,  although,  probably,  not  formed  into  churches,  were 
already  in  the  colony,  at  this  early  period,  as  may  be  inferred  from 
the  terms  used  in  this  celebrated  document ;  namely,  "  Heretic, 
Schismatic.  Idolater,  Puritan,  Independent,  Presbyterian,  Popish 
priest,  Jesuit,  Jesuited  Papist,  Lutheran,  Calvinist,  Anabaptist, 
Brownist,  Antinomian,  Barronist,  Roundhead  and  Separatist." 

To  whatever  the  toleration  of  the  Protestants  by  the  Catholics 
of  Maryland  may  be  attributed,  it  is,  nevertheless,  the  just  verdict 
of  impartial  history  that,  "  under  the  enlightened  policy  of  Lord 
Baltimore  the  colony  steadily  advanced  in  prosperity,  increasing 
both  in  comfort  and  in  numbers.  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants 
alike  found  protection  and  security,  and  lived  in  harmony."  * 

Under  the  administration  of  Governor  Fendall,  in  1658,  the  Quak- 
ers were  persecuted,  and  four  years  before,  when  Cromwell's  commis- 
sioners took  possession  of  the  colony,  attempts  to  worship,  by  Cath- 
olics and  Episcopalians,  were  suppressed.  Before  the  close  of  the 
century  there  were   repeated    changes  f    in  the  civil   condition    of 


home.  In  fact,  the  Maryland  Colony  was  a  Protestant  measure  affording  an  asylum  for  Roman 
Catholics  at  a  time  when  they  were  suffering  severe  persecution. 

De  Courcey,  an  eminent  Roman  Catholic  writer,  has  frankly  dissented  fr^m  the  encomiums 
which  have  been  pronounced  upon  this  papal  colony  on  account  of  toleration.  He  says,  "  When 
a  State  has  the  happiness  of  possessing  unity  of  religion,  and  that  religion  the  truth,  we  cannot 
conceive  how  the  government  can  facilitate  the  division  0/ creeds.  Lord  Baltimore  had  seen 
too  well  how  the  English  Catholics,  were  crushed  by  the  Protestants,  as  soon  as  they  were  the 
strongest  and  most  numerous;  he  should  then  have  foreseen  that  it  would  have  been  so  in  Mary- 
land, so  that  the  English  Catholics,  instead  of  finding  liberty  in  America,  only  changed  their 
bondage.  Instead,  then,  of  admiring  the  liberality  of  Lord  Baltimore,  we  prefer  to  believe 
that  he  obtained  his  charter  from  Charles  I.  only  on  the  formal  condition  of  admitting 
Protestants  on  an  equal  footing  with  Catholics  ' ' 

See  The  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Henry  De  Courcey.  Translated  and 
enlarged  by  John  Gilmary  Shea     New  York.     Edward  Duni-an   &   Bro.,  1857,  p.  30. 

*  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland.  By  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks, 
D.D.     New  York.    John  S.  Tyler,  1839,  p.  30. 

+  There  were  several  embarrassments.  Dunng  the  middle  of  the  first  century  a  civil  war  was 
in  progress  in  England,  and  the  supreme  power  was  first  in  the  king,  then  in  Cromwell  and  Par- 
liament, then  in  the  king  again,  which  changes  affected  the  civil  condition  of  the  colony.     Con- 


CATHOLIC  TRAINING  PROHIBITED.  ©3 

England,  which  often  proved  unfavorable  to  the  Maryland  Catholics. 
As  one  of  the  effects  of  the  English  Revolution  in  1688  a  wide- 
spread abhorrence  of  popery  prevailed,  extending  to  all  the  colonies. 
In  the  meantime  other  sects  were  increasing  in  numbers  more  rap- 
idly, especially  the  Episcopalians.  When  the  proprietary  govern- 
ment was  closed  up,  in  that  province,  in  1692,  and  the  colony  was 
brought  directly  under  the  officers  of  the  crown,  the  Church  of 
England  was  established  by  the  colonial  legislature,  and  a  tax  was 
imposed  by  law  for  its  support.*  The  law  of  1692  provided  that  the 
Church  of  England  should  enjoy  all  her  rights,  liberties  and  fran- 
chises wholly  inviolable,  that  the  several  counties  should  be  laid  out 
into  parishes,  that  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  clergy  should  be 
levied,  and  that  the  vestries  should  be  bodies  corporate,  f  The  ten 
counties  were  divided  into  thirty-six  parishes.  The  number  of  the 
clergy  at  that  time  was  sixteen,  and  the  population  twenty-five 
thousand.  :|:  The  Episcopal  Church  remained  under  this  regimen 
until  the  American  Revolution,  favored  with  the  patronage  of  the 
civil  power.  Other  sects  were  tolerated,  except  the  papists,  who 
were  absolutely  forbidden  to  assemble  for  worship. 

Catholic  school-masters  were  followed  up  by  the  officers  of  the 
law,  and  Catholic  parents  were  prohibited  from  educating  their  chil- 
dren in  the  faith  of  their  ancestors.  But  the  learned  and  zealous 
Jesuit  missionaries  in  the  province  had  established  at  Bohemia,  a 
remote  and  secluded  spot  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  a  grammar  school, 
where,  without  observation  or  molestation,  the  Catholic  youth  of 
the  province  received  a  preparatory  training  for  the  European  col- 
leges. Here  the  youthful  Carroll,  with  his  illustrious  cousin,  Charles 
Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  and  his  relative,  Robert  Brent,  entered  on 
their  preparatory  studies.  § 

In  South  Carolina,  the  first  proprietaries  protected  all  the  sects. 
In  1704,  the  colonial  oligarchy,  who  were  churchmen,  by  political 
chicanery  obtained  a  majority  of  one  in  the  Legislature- -notwith- 

tentions  arose,  and  the  Catholics  and  proprietors  at  one  time  arrayed  themselves  against  the  rul- 
ing powers  in  England.  Civil  war  was  thus  transferred  to  the  colony,  »n  which  the  governor 
and  the  Catholics  were  defeated.  Hence,  in  1654,  when  Cromwell  assumed  the  protectorate,  the 
Catholics  having  arrayed  themselves  against  the  trovernment.  a  new  assembly  was  convened,  and 
an  act  was  passed  by  which  persons  who  held  to  popery  or  prelacy  were  restramed  from  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion.     Other  changes  followed  under  subsequent  sovereigns. 

*History  0/ the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Henry  De  Courcey.  Enlarged  by 
John  Gilmary  Shea.     New  York,  1857-     Edward  Dunigan  &  Bro.,  p.  33.  ^   .     ^  ,  ^,        , 

t  Bacon's  Lawso/  Maryland,  1692,  Ch.  H.  Also  Hawks'.s  History  0/ the  Episcopal  Church 
in  Maryland,  pp.  T'l  72- 

X  Griffith's  Sketches  of  Maryland,  p.  36. 

§  Lives  of  tlie  Deceased  Catholic  Bishops,  vol.  I,  p.  34- 


06  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

standing  two  thirds  of  the  inhabitants  were  not  Episcopalians — dis- 
franchised all  but  themselves,  and  gave  the  Church  of  England  the 
exclusive  monopoly  of  political  power.  The  dissenters  appealed  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  in  England  ;  the  acts  complained  of  were 
annulled  by  the  crown,  and  were  repealed  by  the  Colonial  Assembly 
two  years  afterward.  From  that  time  until  the  American  Revolu- 
tion dissenters  were  tolerated,  and  allowed  a  share  in  civil  matters, 
but  the  Church  of  England  remained  the  established  Church  of  the 
province.  * 

At  the  commencement  of  the  last  century  almost  all  denomina- 
tions existed  in  North  Carolina,  Quakers,  Lutherans,  Presbvterians, 
Independents,  etc.,  constituting  the  majority  of  the  people.  But 
the  proprietaries  forced  a  church  establishment  upon  this  province 
in  1704,  claiming  that  the  majority  were  only  "  Quakers,  Atheists, 
Deists  and  other  evil-disposed  persons."  From  that  time,  churches 
vvere  erected  at  public  expense,  and  other  provisions  for  an  Estab- 
lishment, such  as  parishes  and  clergy,  were  made.  But  the  Episcopal 
Church  never  became  very  strong  in  that  province. 

East  and  West  New  Jersey  united  into  one  province,  and  placed 
under  the  administration  of  the  crown  in  1702,  had  its  future  gov- 
ernment laid  down  in  the  commission  and  instructions  to  Lord 
Cornbury  ;  toleration  being  allowed  to  all  but  papists,  and  special 
"  favor"  invoked  for  the  Church  of  England— that  Church  being  so 
far  established  there  seventy-three  years  before  the  American  Rev- 
olution. In  Penfisyhania  there  never  was  any  union  of  Church  and 
State,  nor  any  attempt  to  bring  it  about.  Delaware  was  separated 
from  Pennsylvania  in  1691,  and,  from  that  time,  had  its  own  gov- 
ernors under  the  immediate  control  of  the  crown.  But  in  Dela- 
ware, as  well  as  in  New  Jersey  and  in  Georgia,  the  colony  of  the 
good  Cavalier,  James  Oglethorpe,  who  loved  "  the  king  and  the 
Church,"  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  an  Establishment. 
The  "favor"  shown  to  the  Episcopal  Church  secured  a  mainten- 
ance for  a  small  number  of  ministers  only,  and  that  more  for  the 
benefit  and  gratification  of  the  officers  connected  with  the  govern- 
ment, and  their  families,  than  with  the  view  of  reaching  the  people, 
who  preferred  other  modes  of  worship. 

New  York. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  was 
established  in  this  colony  by  the  first  settlers,  and  that  in  1640  it 

♦  Bancroft's  History  0/  the  United  States.     Vol.  Ill,  pp.  18.  19. 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP  IN  NEW  YORK.  97 

was  confirmed  by  the  decree  of  the  West  India  Company.  In  1664, 
the  City  of  New  York  was  taken  by  the  EngHsh,  who  stipulated 
that  the  Dutch  should  enjoy  entire  liberty  of  conscience  and  wor- 
ship, while,  at  the  same  time,  the  new  government  established  the 
Church  of  England  in  every  parish  of  the  colony.  But  a  public 
pledge  was  given  that  "  no  person  should  be  molested,  fined  or 
imprisoned,  for  differing  in  judgment  in  matters  of  religion,  who 
professed  Christianity."  * 

At  the  Quarter  Millennial  Anniversary  of  the  Reformed  Prot- 
estant Dutch  Church  of  New  York  City  Rev.  Dr.  Dix  said : 

New  Amsterdam  was  taken  ;  it  became  New  York,  and  the  Church  of  England 
was  planted  where  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  had  been  the  supreme  and  only 
ecclesiastical  authority.  But  observe  how  scrupulously  the  rights  of  your  fore- 
fathers were  respected.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  history  ;  never  did  conquerors 
treat  the  conquered  with  such  deference  and  consideration.  As  lar  as  possible,  the 
old  customs  were  preserved ;  private  rights,  contracts,  inheritances,  were  scru- 
pulously regarded  ;  and,  as  for  the  Reformed  Dutcii  Church,  it  seems  to  have  been 
treated  as  a  sacred  thing.  It  was  more  than  protected  ;  it  was  actually  established 
by  law,  by  an  English  governor,  under  English  auspices.  This  was,  perhaps,  no 
more  than  a  fair  return  for  the  good  deeds  done  by  your  people.  When  your  turn 
came  to  I)e  under  the  yoke,  it  was  said  to  you  in  substance :  "  You  shall  still  be 
free;  not  one  of  your  old  customs  shall  be  changed,  until  you  change  them  your- 
selves; by  us  you  shall  not  he  meddled  with  ;  keep  your  places  of  worship,  your 
flocks,  and  all  you  have,  in  peace."  And  so,  to  their  old  church  of  St.  Nicholas, 
inside  the  fort,  did  your  people  continue  to  wend  their  way  in  absolute  security, 
though  English  sentries  were  at  the  gates  ;  and  within  the  walls  over  which  the 
standard  of  England  waved  did  the  good  Dutch  dominie  speak  his  mind  as  freely 
as  ever  to  his  spiritual  children  ;  nor  was  it  until  they  had  finished  their  devotions 
and  withdrawn,  that  the  English  chaplain  ventured  within  the  same  house  of  wor- 
ship to  read  his  office  from  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

Subsequently  (1686)  t  an  effort  was  made  to  put  the  province 
under  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury; and,  three  years  after,  it  was  embraced  within  the  diocese  of 
the  Bishop  of  London,  without  whose  approval  no  clergyman  could 
be  inducted  into  any  parish.  About  this  time,  taxes  were  levied 
upon  all  the  inhabitants  for  the  support  of  the  Episcopal  clergy, 
although  liberty  o.  conscience   was    granted   to  all  persons  except 

*  A''.  Y.  Historical  Society's  Collections,  I,  p.  332. 

+  In  1686,  Governor  Douffan,  of  the  Colony  of  New  York,  was  instructed  as  follows:  "You 
are  to  take  especial  care  that  God  Almighty  be  devoutly  served  throughout  the  government,  the 
Book  0/ Common  Prayer,  a.%'\\.  is  now  established,  read  every  Sunday  and  Holy  Day,  and  the 
blessed  sacraments  administered  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England.  .  .  .  Our  will 
and  pleasure  is,  that  no  minister  be  preferred  by  you  to  any  ecclesiastical  benefice  in  our  province 
without  a  certificate  from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  of  his  being  conformable  to  the  doc- 
trine and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  of  a  good  life  and  conversation.'' 


98  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

papists.  Under  the  governorship  of  Col.  Benjamin  Fletcher  (1693), 
the  Church  of  England  made  considerable  progress  toward  eccle- 
siastical distinction.  It  was  recognized  and  sustained  by  the  gov- 
ernment, while  the  Reformed  Church  was  still  allowed.  Dissent 
was  not,  however,  encouraged.  In  1706,  a  petition  was  presented 
to  the  government  "  to  exempt  Protestants  from  any  taxation  for 
the  support  of  ministers  of  churches  to  which  they  did  not  belong;** 
but  it  was  rejected,  and  down  to  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
Presbyterians,  Lutherans,  etc.,  were  compelled  to  support  the  Epis- 
copal Church.* 

New  England. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Plymouth  Colony,  at  the  time  of  their 
landing,  were  without  a  formal  charter ;  but  in  the  cabin  of  the 
Mayflower  they  drew  up  a  form  of  civil  government  which  was  "  the 
germ  of  the  republican  institutions  of  the  United  States."  "  Standing 
around  the  table  in  the  ship's  cabin,  they  organized  themselves  into 
a  Commonwealth,  and  pledged  themselves  to  make  just  and  equal 

*  The  following  additi  nal  items  will  be  of  interest :  "  The  letter  of  the  Bishop  of  London  to 
the  king  in  council,  in  February  1759,  as  found  In  the  Colonial  Documents^  Vol.  VII,  page 360, 
is  full  of  valuable  facts  :  '  In  1696,  the  king  directed  that  the  president,  council  and  ministers, 
should  provide  that  the  live  word  and  service  of  God  should  be  preached,  planted  and  used, 
according  to  the  rites  and  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England.  .  .  .  The  Church  of  England 
being  established  in  America,  the  Independents  and  other  Dissenters  who  went  to  settle  in  New 
England  could  only  have  toleration,  and,  in  fact,  they  had  no  more,  as  appears  by  their  several 
charters,  and  more  particularly  by  the  Rhode  Island  charter,  granted  in  the  fourteenth  year  of 
Charles  II.  Thus  stands  the  ri^^ht  of  the  Church  of  England  in  America.  And,  in  fact,  at 
least  one  half  of  the  plantations  are  of  the  Established  Church,  and  have  built  churches  and 
ministers'  houses,  and  have  by-laws  of  their  respective  assemblies,  confirmed  by  the  crown,  pro- 
viding maintenance  for  the  Church  of  England  clergy.'  In  September,  1693,  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly passed  an  act  for  settling  a  ministry  and  raising  a  maintenance  for  them,  and  for  enforcing 
collections  by  taxation  for  this  purpose.  This  act  received  the  king's  assent  in  council  on  May  11, 
1697.  It  is  very  evident  that  many  of  the  colonists  were  dissatisfied  with  the  operations  of  this 
law,  for  in  1695  the  Colonial  Assembly  of  New  York  resolved  that  the  wardens  and  vestrymen 
had  power  to  call  a  dissenting  minister  under  the  act  of  1693. 

"  Notwithstanding  Governor  Fletcher  rebuked  the  assembly  for  such  an  assumption,  a  bill 
was  passed  in  1699  for  settling  a  ministry  of  Dissenters.  The  Earl  of  Bellomont  maintained 
that  such  a  measure  was  in  conflict  with  his  instructions  and  he  rejected  it.  As  freeholders  elected 
the  wardens,  who  chose  the  ministers,  it  is  evident  that  those  in  sympathy  with  Dissenters  were 
largely  chosen.  At  Jamaica,  in  1702,  a  dissenting  minister,  Mr.  Hubbard,  was  called  by  the  war- 
dens and  vestr)-men.  In  1704,  Lord  Cornbury  put  into  possession  of  this  church  a  minister  of 
the  Church  of  England,  by  his  warrant  alone.  After  his  death  his  widow  put  into  possession  a 
dissenting  minister  who  had  married  her  daughter.  Litigation  followed,  but  the  Presbyterians 
were  never  dispossessed  of  the  church  or  property.  As  illustrations  of  the  sentiments  which  pre- 
vailed at  that  day  even  in  New  York,  the  following  facts  are  pertinent  :  '  In  1706,  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced to  exempt  the  Protestants  of  the  counties  of  New  York,  VVestchester,  Queens  and  Rich- 
mond, from  any  taxation  for  the  support  of  ministers  of  churches  to  which  they  did  not  belong. 
The  bill  was  rejected.  In  1769.  attempts  were  made  by  the  assembly  to  secure  an  act  for  allowing 
churches  of  Reformed  Protestants  to  the  northward  of  the  counties  of  Dutchess  and  Ulster,  to 
take  and  hold  real  estate  to  the  value  of  j^'ioo  per  annum,  given  to  them  for  the  support  of  the 
Gospel  and  the  uses  of  schools.     The  council  refused  its  assent.'  " 


THE  PL  Y MOUTH  COLONISTS.  99 

laws  for  the  general  good,  and  promised  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
majority,  and  the  officers  whom  they  should  elect.  There  were 
forty-one  men  in  all,  representing  different  conditions  of  life. 
Every  one  of  these  signed  this  compact,  and  they  elected  one  of 
their  number  to  be  their  governor.  This  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  first  example  of  a  written  constitution  based  upon  the  equal 
rights  of  men  as  members  of  the  State.  These  men  recognized  one 
another  as  equals  before  the  law  ;  and,  as  the  foundation  of  govern- 
ment, they  laid  down  the  broad  principle  that  laws  should  be  framed 
for  "  the  general  good,"  and  should  be  just  and  equal  toward 
all  alike." 

"  As  the  Plymouth  colonists  were  all  of  one  faith,  and  were,  in 
fact,  members  of  one  church,  they  naturally  made  provision  for  the 
support  of  religion  from  the  public  treasury;  and,  as  the  colony 
extended,  they  ordered  that  churches  should  be  built  and  main- 
tained in  every  town  at  the  public  cost.  At  a  later  period,  when 
the  peace  and  safety  of  so  small  a  Commonwealth  were  threatened 
by  innovations,  they  passed  laws  compelling  attendance  upon  public 
worship,  and  forbidding  churches  to  separate  from  those  already  set 
up  and  approved,  unless  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the 
government  should  first  be  obtained.  Theirs  was  not  strictly  an 
established  church,  but  the  pretext  for  such  restrictions  upon  the 
very  liberty  which  they  came  to  establish  was  the  preservation  of  a 
homogeneous  colony,  and  of  a  pure  and  independent  church.  They 
required  also  that  a  "  freeman,"  or  voter  in  the  town  meetings, 
should  be  of  good  personal  character  and  '  orthodox  in  the  funda- 
mentals of  reliction.*  Such  regulations  show  that  these  colonists 
were  not  wholly  emancipated  from  the  notions  and  customs  of  their 
times,  nor  quite  equal  to  the  occasion  of  proclaiming  religious 
liberty  to  all  men.i-  Nevertheless,  the  Plymouth  colonists  made  a 
great  step  forward,  and  were  never  betrayed  into  gross  intolerance. 
Though  even  this  most  notable  colony — the  mother  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty — was  still  hampered  by  the  notion  that  the  State 
should  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  religion,  and  should  punish 
blasphemy,  profaneness.  Sabbath-breaking,  and  heresy  as  crimes, 
yet  it  did  not,  like  later  Puritan  colonies  of  New  England,  go  to 
the  oppressive  extreme  of  restricting  civil  offices  and  privileges  to 
members  of  the  church." 

'*  The  original  Pilgrims  were  more  just  and  liberal  than  their 
immediate  successors.  In  the  second  generation,  the  prosperity  of 
the  colony  tempted  mere  commercial  adventurers  to  join  it,  and 
these  brought  with  them  elements  of  discord,   disorder,  vice,  and 


lOO  CHRIST! jyi TV  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

irreligion,  that  seemed  to  call  for  severe  measures  of  proscription. 
Yet  harsh  laws,  passed  in  an  emergency  of  public  danger, 
were  repealed  as  soon  as  the  excitement  had  .Subsided,  and  Ply- 
mouth was,  in  the  main,  a  model  of  a  well-regulated  colony."* 

"  For  eighteen  years  all  laws  were  enacted  in  a  general  assembly 
of  all  the  colonists.  The  governor,  chosen  annually,  was  but 
president  of  a  council  in  which  he  had  a  double  vote.  It  consisted, 
first  of  one,  then  of  five,  and  finally  of  seven  counsellors,  called 
assistants.  So  little  were  political  honors  coveted  at  New  Plymouth 
that  it  became  necessary  to  inflict  a  fine  upon  such  as,  being  chosen, 
declined  to  serve  as  governor  or  assistant.  None,  however,  were 
obliged  to  serve  for  two  years  in  succession. 

"The  constitution  of  the  Church  was  equally  democratic.  For 
the  first  eight  years  there  was  no  pastor,  unless  Robinson,  still 
in  Holland,  might  be  considered  in  that  light.  Lyford,  sent  out  by 
the  London  partners,  was  refused  and  expelled.  Brewster,  the 
ruling  elder,  and  such  private  members  as  had  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
officiated  as  exhorters.  On  Sunday  afternoons,  a  question  was  pro- 
pounded, upon  which  all  spoke  who  had  any  thing  to  say.  Even 
after  they  adopted  the  plan  of  a  pastor,  no  minister  stayed  long  at 
Plymouth."  f 

It  has  been  noticed  that  the  colonies  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  Connecticut,  were  left  almost  entirely  without  consti- 
tutional restrictions  in  regard  to  religious  matters,  and  hence  were 
at  liberty  to  frame  their  own  ecclesiastical  institutions  and  politico- 
religious  regulations. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  Plymouth 
settlers,  all  the  first  New  England  colonists,  up  to  their  leaving 
England,  were  Puritan  members  of  the  Church  of  England;:}:  but 
when  they  settled  in  their  new  homes  they  all  proceeded  to  found 
their  churches  on  the  "Independent  "  plan,  confining  every  church 
within  the  limits  of  a  single  congregation,  and  making  its  govern- 

*  Church  and  State.  By  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson,  D.D.  Boston.  James  R.  Osgood  &  Co., 
1873-  pp.  54-57- 

t  Hildreth's  History  0/  the  United  States.     New  York  :  Harper  &  Bros.,  1849,  vol.  I,  p.  175. 

X  The  emigrants  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  belonged  to  the  Low  Church  party,  and 
their  ministers,  Higginson,  Hooicer,  and  Cott'>n,  although  regularly  ordained  clergymen  of  the 
Established  Church,  shared  so  largely  in  the  growing  revolt  against  prelacy  that  they  were  ready 
to  improve  the  earliest  opportunity  to  cast  off  their  bonds.  Bancroft  says  :  "  Considering  the 
subject  from  the  historical  point  of  view,  it  must  be  observed  thai  tlieestablishment  of  Episcopacy 
iu  New  England,  as  the  religion  of  the  State,  was  impossible,  since  the  character  of  the  times 
was  a  guaranty  that  the  immense  majority  of  emigrants  would  prove  its  uncompromising 
opponents.  Episcopacy  had  no  motive  to  emigrate  ;  it  was  Puritanism  almost  alone  that  came 
over,  and  freedom  of  Puritan  worship  was  necessarily  the  purpose  and  the  result  of  the  colony." 
Vol.  I.,  p.  344. 


^HE  BALLO T  FOR  CHURCH  MEMBERS  ONL  Y.  r  0 1 

merit  a  pure  democfacy.  The  membership  of  the  Church  was  made 
up  of  persons  who  sought  admission,  made  a  confession  of  their 
faith  and  experience,  and  signed  a  "covenant."  The  entire  power 
of  admitting  and  excluding  members,  and  the  decision  of  all  con- 
troversies, was  with  the  brotherhood,  by  whom  the  officers  were 
elected.  Such,  in  brief,  was  the  idea  of  the  Church  in  the  colonies  of 
Plymouth,  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  Connecticut.  How  was  the 
State  constituted  ? 

It  must  be  premised  that,  with  these  colonists,  religion  was  the 
stock  upon  which  every  thing  must  be  ingrafted.  They  emigrated 
for  religious  ends.  Every  thing,  therefore,  must  be  shaped  by 
religion  and  subordinate  to  it.  The  State  became  an  outgrowth 
from  the  Church,  its  offspring  and  handmaid.  In  all  affairs,  civij 
and  ecclesiastical,  the  Church  took  the  precedence,  and  gave 
character  to  the  civil  administration;  the  State  was  only  the  Church 
acting  in  secular  and  civil  affairs. 

Predicating  their  action  upon  this  principle,  the  ballot  was 
limited  to  members  of  the  Church.  This  law,  adopted  in  163 1, 
discloses  their  strong  religious  feelings — "To  the  end  that  the  body 
of  the  commons  may  be  preserved  of  honest  and  good  men,  it  is 
ordered  and  agreed  that,  for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be 
admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this  body  politic  but  such  as  are  mem- 
bers of  some  of  the  churches  within  the  limits  of  the  same."  *  This 
principle  was  incorporated  into  the  colonial  laws  of  Massachusetts, 
Maine,  and  Connecticut.  A  desire  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  State 
led  to  the  adoption  of  this  restriction  upon  the  character  of  the 
men  who  should  choose  their  rulers,  make  their  laws,  and  manage 
the  affairs  of  the  colony.  It  was  not  to  benefit  or  aggrandize 
the  little  organizations  which  constituted  these  churches,  but  to 
secure  good  and  honest  citizens  to  administer  the  civil  government. 
Nor  was  this  practice  of  the  Puritan  Commonwealth  altogether 
strange  and  exceptiofial  in  that  age.  Throughout  Christendom, 
neither  Jews,  Turks,  pagans,  infidels,  nor  excommunicated  persons 
could  enjoy  the  full  privileges  of  citizenship.  They  must  be  in 
communion  with  the  churches  established  by  law.  It  was  the 
universal  prerogative  of  the  Church  to  confer  the  civil  franchise. 
Until  recently  this  test  has  existed  in  England.  But  in  New 
England^  the  principle  worked  differently  from  anywhere  else,  for 
the  churches  admitted  to  their  fellowship  only  those  who,  according 
to  their  spiritual  standard,  were  regenerated  persons,  the   evidence 

*  Bancroft's  i'Z/.r/t'ry  0/  the  United  States.     Vol.  I,  p.  360.    .Also  Massachusetts  Colonial 
Records,  1631.     Vol.  I,  p.  87. 


102  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  which  was  required  to  be  recited  before  the  church,  including  ^n 
internal  assurance  of  a  change  of  heart  and  a  lively  sense  of  justi- 
fication, as  one  of  God's  elect.  Such  was  the  basis  on  which  the 
civil  constitution  was  established.  It  became  the  primary  object  of 
civil  legislation  to  provide  for  the  support  of  public  worship. 
Towns  of  convenient  size  were  laid  out  as  "  parishes,"  and  the 
people  were  ordered  by  law,  through  the  proper  authorities  of  their 
respective  towns,  to  levy  taxes  for  the  erection  and  suitable  repair 
of "  meeting-houses,"  for  the  maintenance  of  a  minister,  and  all 
other  necessary  expenses  connected  with  public  worship.  The  town 
voted  with  the  Church  in  the  call  of  the  minister.  The  town  and  the 
parish  in  New  England  were  united  by  a  vital  ligament  which 
closely  blended  the  civil  and  the  religious  life.  The  key  principle 
was  that  government,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  is  constituted  and 
administered  upon  the  Bible  as  the  source  of  knowledge  and 
authority,  with  no  kingly  nor  episcopal  supremacy.  The  discipline 
of  the  Church  in  the  early  days  was  prompt,  vigilant,  judicial,  and 
carried  out  with  a  strong  public  authority.  And  it  took  cognizance, 
too,  of  offenses  which  since  then  have  been  more  wisely  referred  to 
other  tribunals. 

In  the  early  period  there  were  usually  two  ministers  to  each 
church,  one  denominated  a  "  teacher,"  or  "elder,"  and  a  "pastor;" 
but  this  distinction  did  not  long  continue,  for  by  degrees  they  soon 
came  to  support  one  minister.  There  were  "  ruling  elders"  selected 
from  among  the  laymen,  who  were  active  promoters  of  good  order 
and  doctrine,  and  deacons,  who  managed  the  finances.  These  two 
offices  were  subsequently  blended  in  one  under  the  latter  title. 

"  According  to  the  system  established  in  Massachusetts,  the 
Church  and  State  were  most  intimately  blended.  The  magistrates 
and  general  court,  aided  by  the  advice  of  the  elders,  claimed  and 
exercised  a  supreme  control  in  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  matters  ; 
while,  even  in  matters  purely  temporal,  the 'elders  were  consulted 
on  all  important  questions.  The  support  of  the  elders,  the  first 
thing  considered  in  the  first  court  of  assistants  held  in  Massa- 
chusetts, had  been  secured  by  a  vote  to  build  houses  for  them,  and 
to  provide  them  a  maintenance  at  the  public  expense.  This 
burden  was  indeed  spontaneously  assumed  by  such  of  the  planta- 
tions as  had  ministers."  * 

The  northern  colony  in  Connecticut,  consisting  of  three  towns, 
held  a  convention  of  all  the  freemen  and  adopted  a  written  con- 
stitution,   based   on    that    of   Massachusetts,    but    different  in  one 

*  Hildreth's ///j/c?/,^  of  the  United  Stales.     Vol.  I,  p.  191. 


NOT  A  "THEOCRACY."  103 

important  particular.  As  at  Plymouth,  residents  of  an  acceptable 
character  might  be  admitted  freemen,  though  not  church  members, 
but  the  governor  must  belong  to  the  Church.  The  first  general 
court  (1638)  enacted  a  body  of  laws,  deficiencies  in  which  were 
to  be  supplied  by  the  "  Word  of  God."  The  New  Haven  Colony 
effected  an  organization  in  1639,  They  limited  the  right  of  par- 
ticipation in  the  government  to  church  members,  and  adopted  the 
Scriptures  as  the  law  of  the  land.  The  Church  was  organized  with 
great  care.  After  prayers  and  a  sermon,  twelve  persons  were 
elected  by  the  body  of  the  colonists,  with  power,  after  the  trial  of 
each  other,  to  designate  seven  of  their  own  number  as  pillars.  These 
seven  were  to  admit  such  additional  church  members  as  they  saw 
fit.  The  Church  being  organized,  and  a  body  of  freemen  provided, 
the  governor  was  chosen.  In  1667,  these  two  Connecticut  colonies 
were  consolidated,  but  they  retained  essentially  the  same  character. 

The  government  of  the  early  Puritan  colonies  has  been  repeat- 
edly characterized  as  a  "Theocracy."  Bancroft,  Hildreth,  a  large 
number  of  other  writers,  and  more  recently  Rev.  Dr.  J.  P.  Thomp- 
son,* have  thus  denominated  it,  but  exceptions  have  been  taken  to 
this  view  by  some  of  the  ablest  New  England  divines,  although  they 
say  that  "  it  is  difficult  to  combat  a  theory  so  deeply  rooted."  A 
writer  t  in  the  Congregational  Quarterly  says:  "This  state  of  affairs 
did  not  make  a*  theocracy,'  as  is  sometimes  inconsiderately,  nay,  fool- 
ishly supposed.  If  Massachusetts  was  then  a  •  theocracy,'  every  Chris- 
tian church  and  every  Christian  family,  and  every  mercantile  establish- 
ment conducted  on  Christian  principles,  is  now  a  theocracy;  for  in 
neither  case  was  anything  done  beyond  this :  to  live  according  to  the 
mind  and  will  of  God,  as  signified  to  us  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  In 
neither  case  is  any  direct  or  immediate  revelation  from  God  enjoyed 
or  expected,  as  in  the  theocracy  of  old." 

The  founders  of  these  colonies  were  devout  and  religious  men, 
intent  upon  escaping  persecution  for  non-conformity ;  they  also 
desired  to  establish  a  body  politic  in  which  the  habit  of  thought 
and  course  of  legislation  should  favor  that  sobriety  and  good  order 
in    the    community  which  grow  out  of  a  prevalence   of  religious 

*  Church  and  State.  Published  by  James  R.  Osgood  &  Co.,  Boston,  1873,  pp.  46,  57,  etc. 
See  critical  review  of  this  book  by  the  editors  of  the  Congregational  Quarterly,  Oct.,  1873,  pp. 
588,  590. 

t  Rev.  John  A.  Vinton.  See  July  number,  1873,  p.  408.  In  a  foot-note,  Mr.  Vinton  adds — 
*' the  word  'Theocracy'  is  defined  by  Webster:  'Government  of  a  State  by  the  immediate 
direction  of  God  ;  or,  the  State  thus  governed.  Of  this  species  the  Israelites  furnish  an  illustrious 
example.  The  theocracy  lasted  till  the  time  of  SauL'  Worcester's  definition  is  '  A  government 
directed  by  God.'     The  etymology  of  the  word  should  be  sufficient." 


I04  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

culture ;  and  they  sought  to  accomplish  their  ends  through  the 
instrumentality  of  civil  government.  Hence  they  organized  the  civil 
body  as  they  did. 

In  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  in  1638,  a  law  was  enacted 
subjecting  to  assessment  and  distress  all  who  did  not  voluntarily 
contribute  according  to  their  ability  to  all  town  charges,  "  as  well 
for  upholding  the  ordinances  of  the  churches  as  otherwise,"  and 
another,  exposing  excommunicated  persons  to  fine,  imprisonment, 
and  banishment.  The  revised  code  of  1641  conferred  upon  the 
magistrates  and  general  court — themselves  the  representatives  of  a 
constituency  of  church  members — the  right  of  superintending  the 
churches,  and  to  deal  with  church  members  "  in  a  civil  way  "  without 
waiting  for  the  action  of  their  particular  churches.  It  provided 
that  no  church  censure  should  degrade  or  depose  any  civil  officer, 
and  that  no  proscription  or  custom  may  prevail  to  establish  any 
thing  "  morally  sinful  by  the  law  of  God."  It  limited  the  hospital- 
ities of  the  colony  to  people  of  other  nations  professing  "  the  true 
Christian  religion."  The  punishment  of  death  was  inflicted  for 
idolatry,  witchcraft,  blasphemy,  and  nine  other  offenses.  The 
code  concludes  with  a  declaration  of  "  the  liberties  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  has  given  to  the  churches."  But  the  strict  union 
between  Church  and  State,  and  the  despotic  authority  assumed  by 
the  aggregate  of  the  church  members,  as  represented  by  the 
magistrates  and  deputies,  reduced  the  liberties  of  the  individual 
churches  within  very  narrow  limits.  Almost  every  clause  in  this 
section  is  burdened  with  a  qualification  which  destroys  its  force. 
"  Every  church  has  free  liberty  of  election  and  ordination  of  all 
their  officers,  provided  they  be  able,  pious,  and  orthodox."  "  We 
allow  private  meetings  for  edification  in  religion  among  Christians 
of  all  sorts  of  people,  so  it  be  without  just  offense  for  number, 
time,  place,  and  other  circumstances."  "  The  polity  of  Massa- 
chusetts conferred,  in  fact,  unlimited  powers  in  matters  of  religion, 
as  in  every  thing  else,  upon  the  majority  of  church  members,  as 
represented  by  the  magistrates  and  General  Court.  Those  in  the 
minority,  whether  churches  or  individuals,  had  no  rights,  and  no 
alternative  but  silence  and  submission  or  withdrawal  from  the 
colony."* 

In  1644,  a  law  was  enacted  inflicting  banishment  upon  all  such 
as,  after  "due  time  and  means  of  conviction,  continue  obstinate" 
in  opposing  infant  baptism.  The  following  year  a  petition  was 
presented  to  the  general  court  asking  for  a  reconsideration  of  the 

*  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States.     Vol.  I,  p.  279. 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  PLATFORM.  lOS 

law  against  the  Baptists.  "A  portion  of  the  court  were  inclined  to 
listen  to  this  petition,  but  the  elders  went  first  to  the  deputies  and 
then  to  the  magistrates,  and,  representing  what  advantage  it  would 
give  the  Baptists,  whose  notions  were  fast  spreading,  they  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  peremptory  note  that  the  laws  complained  of  should 
neither  be  altered  nor  explained.  The  Commissioners  for  the 
United  Colonies  aided  their  support,  advising  at  the  next  meeting 
the  suppression  of  the  influx  of  error,  '  under  a  deceitful  color  of 
liberty  of  conscience.'  "  * 

In  1646,  a  petition  was  presented  by  Messrs.  Maverick,  Dr. 
Child,  and  five  others,  praying  for  the  rights  of  English  subjects, 
and  complaining  of  tbe  exclusion  of  all  but  church  members  from 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  privileges.  Those  who  signed  it  were  accused 
of  a  very  "  linsie-wolsie  disposition,  some  for  prelacy,  some  for 
presbytery,  and  some  for  plebsbytery."  Dr.  Child  was  summoned 
before  the  court ;  he  and  his  associates  were  fined  from  $50  to  $250 
each,  and  were  exhorted  to  be  quiet,  to  study  to  mind  their  own 
business,  and  to  "  recollect  the  sin  of  Korah,  in  resisting  Moses 
and  Aaron." 

A  similar  effort  in  behalf  of  religious  liberty  had  been  made  in 
the  Plymouth  Colony,  about  the  same  time,  by  Vassall  and  others. 
One  of  the  magistrates  had  made  a  proposal  for  general  toleration, 
and  two  others  had  supported  him.  "You  would  have  admired," 
wrote  Winslow  to  Winthrop,  "  to  see  how  sweet  this  carrion  relisheth 
in  the  palate  of  most  of  the  deputies."  "  But  Governor  Prince, 
sustained  by  a  majority  of  the  magistrates,  refused  to  put  it  to  the 
vote,  as  being  that,  indeed,  which  would  eat  out  the  power  of 
godliness."  t 

The  intimate  relations  of  the  Church  and  State  in  New  England 
will  be  still  further  seen  from  the  action  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies,  who  recommended  the  drawing  up  of  a  common 
confession  of  faith  and  a  common  scheme  of  discipline  for  the  New 
England  churches.  The  general  court  subsequently  proposed  a 
synod  for  that  purpose.  After  some  delays,  the  synod  assembled  in 
Cambridge,  in  1648,  and  framed  a  confession  of-  faith  almost 
identical,  except  in  the  matter  of  church  government,  with  that  of 
the  famous  Westminster  Assembly.  The  latter  declared  for 
Presbyterianism,  claiming  for  the  Church,  under  "  King  James,"  a 
divine  authority  independent  of  the  State.  But  the  Cambridge 
platform  of  New  England  Churches  recognized  the  intimate  union 

*Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  Stales.     Vol.  I,  pp.  310,  311. 
tHildreth's  History  0/ the  United  Stales.     Vol.  I,  p.  319. 


106  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  Church  and  State,  as  they  had  been  organized  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony,  limiting  political  power  to  church  members. 

Two  early  governors  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  Winthrop 
and  Dudley,  who  had  been  deeply  devoted  to  the  peculiar  politico- 
ecclesiastical  policy*  which  had  been  adopted,  survived  the  synod 
but  a  short  time.     Winthrop  died  in  1649,  and  Dudley  in  1652. 

In  1649,  the  code  of  laws  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  was  com- 
piled and  published  under  the  direction  of  a  commission  consisting 
of  two  magistrates,  two  ministers,  and  two  able  persons  from 
among  the  people  in  each  county.  In  this  code  were  several 
enactments,  borrowed  from  the  Jewish  code  and  others,  sustaining 
the  fundamental  doctrines  upon  which  the  policy  of  the  colony 
was  founded.  The  following  language  appears  in  the  code : 
"  Although  no  human  power  be  lord  over  the  faith  and 
consciences  of  men,  yet  because  such  as  bring  in  damnable 
heresies,  tending  to  the  subversion  of  the  Christian  faith  and 
destruction  of  the  souls  of  men,  ought  duly  to  be  restrained 
from  such  notorious  impieties,"  therefore,  "  any  Christian  within 
this  jurisdiction,  who  shall  go  about  to  subvert  or  destroy  the 
Christian  faith  and  religion  by  broaching  and  maintaining  any 
damnable  heresies,  as  denying  the  immortality  of  the  soul  or 
resurrection  of  the  body,  or  any  sin  to  be  repented  of  in  the 
regenerate,  or  any  evil  done  by  the  outward  man  to  be  accounted 
sin,  or  denying  that  Christ  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  our  sins,  .  .  . 
or  shall  openly  condemn  or  oppose  the  baptizing  of  infants,"etc.,  etc., 
were  liable  to  banishment.  Jesuits  were  forbidden  to  enter  the 
colony,  and  their  second  coming  was  punishable  with  death. 

A  code  for  Connecticut,  adopted  the  following  year,  followed 
closely  that  of  Massachusetts.  In  1651,  the  town  of  Maiden,  having 
settled  a  minister  without  consultation  with  neighboring  churches, 
was  subjected  to  a  fine.  "  The  offense  thus  punished  without  any 
law  for  it — a  practice  in  those  times  too  common  in  Massachusetts — 
a  law  was  afterward  enacted  making  it  essential  to  the  settling  of 
a  minister  to  have  the  consent  both  of  a  council  of  the  neighboring 
churches  and  of  *  some  of  the  magistrates  '  also.f  '  " 

*  The  following  lines,  found  in  the  pocket  of  Dudley  after  his  death,  express  the  sentiment 
<r    Atsc  men  : — 

"  Let  men  of  God,  in  courts  and  churches  watch 
O'er  such  as  do  a  toleration  hatch. 
Lest  that  ill  egg  bring  forth  a  cocatrice. 
To  p>oison  all  with  heresy  and  vice. 
If  men  be  left,  and  otherwise  combine. 
My  epitaph  s — '  I  died  no  libertine  I '  " 
*^=Wreth.     Vol.1,  p.  381. 


LA  IVS  AGAINST  QUAKERS.  107 

In  1654,  it  was  enacted  that  every  town  should  support  a 
minister,  the  burden  to  be  laid  "  upon  the  whole  society  jointly, 
whether  in  church  order  or  not."  It  was  also  enacted  that  none 
should  be  allowed  to  sit  as  deputies  in  the  general  court  who  did 
not  hold  to  the  creed  of  the  established  churches  of  the  colony. 
In  1656,  a  special  law  was  enacted  against  Quakers,  which  denounced 
them  as  "a  cursed  sect  of  heretics  lately  risen  in  the  world."  To 
bring  a  "  known  Quaker"  into  the  colony  was  made  punishable 
with  a  fine  of  ;^IOO,  besides  bonds  to  carry  him  back  again,  or,  in 
default  thereof,  imprisonment.  The  Quaker  himself  was  to  be 
whipped  twenty  stripes,  sent  to  the  house  of  correction,  and  kept 
at  hard  labor  until  transported.  The  importation  or  possession  of 
Quaker  books  was  strictly  prohibited,  and  all  such  books  were  to 
be  burned  by  the  nearest  magistrate.  Any  one  who  should  dare 
to  defend  Quaker  opinions  was  subjected  to  a  fine,  and  for  the 
third  offense  was  liable  to  be  banished.  The  following  year  the 
fines  were  increased  :  for  an  hour's  entertainment  of  a  "  known 
Quaker  "  a  fine  of  forty  shillings  was  specified  ;  male  Quakers  were 
compelled  to  lose  one  ear  on  the  first  conviction,  and  on  the 
second  the  other,  and  on  the  third  both  males  and  females  were 
to  have  their  tongues  bored  through  with  a  hot  iron.  Similar 
laws  were  adopted  in  the  Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven 
colonies,  by  the  recommendation  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies.  In  1658,  the  Massachusetts  Colony  made  the 
second  visit  of  a  Quaker  punishable  with  death. 

Charles  II.  was  restored  to  his  father's  throne  in  1660.  Ne- 
gotiations soon  took  place  in  reference  to  points  at  issue  between 
the  king  and  the  colony,  in  which  the  king  demanded  the  repeal 
of  all  laws  inconsistent  with  his  due  authority,  a  complete  toler- 
ation for  the  Church  of  England,  the  repeal  of  the  law  which 
restricted  the  tenure  of  office  and  the  privilege  of  voting  to  members 
of  the  churches,  and  the  admission  of  all  persons  of  honest  lives  to 
the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  advocates  of  toleration,  heretofore  suppressed  with  great 
severity,  were  encouraged  by  these  demands  of  the  king,  and  raised 
their  heads  again.  During  the  next  thirty  years,  the  State  was 
divided  into  three  parties,  which  arose  upon  the  issues  springing  out 
of  the  question  of  toleration.  One  party  represented  and  defended 
the  old  system  ;  another  advocated  a  limited  toleration ;  and 
another  still  wholly  rejected  all  the  so-called  "  theocratic  ideas," 
as  untenable  and  even  undesirable.  Internal  causes,  too,  had 
somewhat    relaxed     the  existing    system.      Among    the    baptized 


108  CfiRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

children  of  the  members  of  the  churches  were  many  men  of 
property,  of  estimable  character,  reputable  lives,  and  social 
influence,  who  conformed  to  all  the  outward  observances  of  the 
established  religion,  but  who  made  no  profession  of  regeneration, 
and  consequently  were  not  members  of  the  churches,  nor  entitled 
to  exercise  the  elective  franchise.  Taught  from  earliest  childhood 
to  reverence  the  institutions  of  religion,  they  insisted  upon  the 
benefits  of  baptism  for  their  offspring  and  the  civil  privileges  of 
church  membership  for  themselves.  In  Connecticut,  churches  had 
been  rent  in  pieces  by  this  demand,  and  the  Massachusetts  Council 
was  called  to  promote  a  reconciliation.  About  the  time  that  the  letter 
containing  the  king's  demands  was  received,  a  synod  had  met  to 
consider  the  question.  After  extended  deliberation,  the  majority 
of  the  ministers  and  members  voted  to  enlarge  the  basis  of  their 
polity  by  adopting  the  famous  "  half-way  covenant."  The  children 
of  reputable  parents,  who  were  orthodox  in  principle,  and  had. 
themselves  been  baptized  in  infancy,  although  not  members  of  the 
church  were  admitted  to  baptism,  and  became  members  of  the 
Church  so  far  as  to  become  voters,  although  not  allowed  to  par- 
take of  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  became  half-way  members.  This 
measure  was  adopted  in  1662. 

From  this  period  a  gradual  modification  took  place  in  the 
extreme  politico-religious  policy  of  the  New  England  colonies, 
but  the  parish  system,  the  levying  of  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
churches  and  other  kindred  provisions  remained  until  some  time 
after  the  American  Revolution. 


Section  5.— Religions  Intolerance. 
In  New  England. 

It  has  been  before  noticed  that  the  charter  of  the  Massachusetts 
colony  simply  conferred  the  rights  of  English  subjects.  The  first 
colonists  being  Churchmen  at  the  time  of  their  departure  from 
England,  this  fact  was  supposed  to  be  in  itself  a  sufficient  guaranty, 
and  the  colonists  were  left  unrestricted  in  respect  to  religious  liberty. 
The  colony  being  settled  and  organized  under  the  auspices  of  the 
English  Government,  there  was  no  thought  that  the  Church  of 
England  could  be  e.xcluded  or  its  introduction  attended  with  diffi- 
culty. But  we  have  seen  that,  almost  from  the  first,  these  colonists 
broke  away  from  the  Church  of  England,  a!id  proceeded  to  consti- 


FIRS  T  EPISCOPAL  SEP  VICE  IN  BOS  TON.  1 09 

tute  independent  churches  and  a  civil  polity  based  on  the  Church. 
Having  thus  sundered  their  former  ecclesiastical  relations,  they  hence- 
forth regarded  themselves  as  owing  no  obligations  of  allegiance  or 
courtesy  to  the  English  Church,  and  were  imbued  with  such  preju- 
dice and  antagonism  toward  it  that  only  with  great  difficulty  could 
it  be  introduced  into  New  England. 

The  Episcopalians. 

"  The  people  of  the  sturdy  Puritan  stock  are  not  blameworthy 
for  desiring  to  keep  the  country  of  their  own  way  of  belief,  if  they 
could.  For  nearly  half  a  century  they  had  had  the  opportunity  to 
grow  far  toward  an  independent  nation,  on  that  ecclesiastical  basis, 
and  the  presence  of  the  Church  of  England  would  be  a  perpetual 
sign  that  this  state  of  things  was  ended.  Nor  is  it  strange  that 
they  feared  many  evils  from  the  admission  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  which  never  came  to  pass.  But  they  resolutely  shut  their 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  there  were  those  among  them  who  had  an 
equal  right  with  themselves  to  such  religious  institutions  as  they 
might  choose.  The  Church  of  England  had  the  misfortune  to  be, 
in  the  estimation  of  the  mass  of  New  Englanders,  a  part  of  the 
tyranny  of  the  Stuarts.  If  it  had  been  more  free  from  such  associa- 
tions, perhaps  they  would  have  feared  and  hated  it  less."  * 

It  is  a  fact  to  be  noted  that  for  over  sixty  years  after  the  Pilgrims 
landed  there  was  not  a  single  Episcopal  church  in  New  England. 
On  the  arrival  of  the  royal  commissioners  in  Boston,  in  1686,  they 
caused  the  English  Church  service  to  be  celebrated  in  that  city— the 
first  ever  observed  in  the  town.  The  local  authorities  remonstrated, 
but  in  vain,  and  the  Old  South  Church  was  jointly  occupied  by  its 
owners  and  by  an  Episcopal  congregation.  For  a  long  time  no  one 
could  be  found  willing  to  sell  land  on  w^hich  to  erect  an  Episcopal 
church  ;  but  finally  Governor  Andros  and  his  council  used  their 
authority  as  the  supreme  governing  body,  appropriated  a  corner  of 
the  old  burying  ground  for  that  purpose,  and  King's  Chapel,  the 
first  Episcopal  church  in  New  England,  was  erected  in  16SS. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  in  1701,  something  more  was  accomplished, 
despite  bitter  hatred  and  jjenal  enactments.  Missionaries  were  sent 
into  various  portions  of  New  England  and  into  other  colonies.  So 
much  progress  was  made  that  the  Church  of  England  was  petitioned 

*The  Memorial  Hisforyo/ Boston.    J.R.Osgood.    1880.     Edited  by  Justin  Winsor,  LL.D. 
Vol.  I,  p.  196.     .■\rticle  by  Rev.  H,  \V.  Foote. 


no  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  appoint  Bishops  for  America ;  but  the  application  was  opposed  by 
dissenters  in  England,  and  by  Puritans  and  others  in  America.  Two 
non-juring  Bishops,  however,  were  appointed  (1722)  for  America — 
Rev.  Drs.  R.  Welton  and  J.  Talbot,  the  former  in  Philadelphia,  and 
the  latter  in  Burlington,  N.  J.  "  But  they  were  not  allowed  to  ex- 
ercise their  episcopal  functions,  except  by  stealth,  and  the  govern- 
ment soon  interfered,  and  put  an  entire  stop  to  all  action  on  their 
part." 

When,  about  1720,  several  persons  prominently  connected  with 
Yale  College  were  discovered  leaning  toward  episcopacy,  grave  fears 
were  entertained  "  lest  the  introduction  of  Episcopal  worship  into 
the  colony  should  have  a  tendency  to  gradually  undermine  the 
foundations  of  civil  and  religious  liberty."  When,  a  little  later, 
Episcopal  churches  were  organized  in  Connecticut,  their  members 
were  imprisoned,  their  property  was  taxed  for  the  support  of  the 
"Standing  Order;"  and  when  appeal  was  made  to  the  Governor  for 
relief,  he  showed  them  no  favor,  but  ordered  a  rigid  enforcement  of 
the  obligations,  even  to  the  imprisonment  of  those  refusing  to  pay. 
These  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  difficulties,  the  severities,  vigorous 
persecutions,  and  civil  disabilities  amid  which  the  Episcopal  Church 
was  introduced  into  some  of  the  colonies. 

The  Baptists. 

The  Congregational  were  the  only  churches  organized  in  Massa- 
chusetts, until  the  founding  of  the  first  Baptist  church  in  1662. 
Numerous  attempts  to  establish  Baptist  churches  in  that  State 
had  been  previously  made,  in  which  the  names  of  Messrs.  John 
Clarke  and  Obadiah  Holmes  figure  largely.  In  1639.  the  same  year 
in  which  the  first  Baptist  church  was  founded  in  Providence,  an  at- 
tempt was  made  in  Weymouth,  near  Boston  ;  but  the  promoters  of 
the  design  were  arraigned  before  the  general  court  and  subjected  to 
fines,  disfranchisement,  imprisonment,  etc.  In  1644,  a  poor  man  by 
the  name  of  Painter,  for  expressing  an  opinion  against  infant  bap- 
tism, was  tied  up  and  whipped.*  In  1644,  a  law  was  passed  provid- 
ing for  the  banishment  of  Baptists  from  the  colony.  In  165  i ,  Messrs. 
Clarke,  Holmes  and  Crandall,  representatives  of  the  Baptist  church 
at  Newport,  R.  I.,  visiting  one  of  their  aged  and  infirm  brethren  at 
Lynn,  Mass.,  and  holding  religious  services  in  his  house,  were  ar- 
rested, put  in  prison,  and  sentenced  to  pay  fines  of  ;^30,  £20,  and 
£^  each,  or  to  be  publicly  whipped.     The  case  of  Mr.  Holmes  was 

*  Backus's  History.     Vol.  I,  pp.  151,  etc. 


LA  WS  AGAINST  BAPTISTS.  1 1 1 

pushed  to  the  extreme,  and  after  being  confined  in  prison  he  was 
publicly  whipped  with  a  three-corded  lash  upon  his  bare  back,  re- 
ceiving thirty  strokes  administered  with  the  utmost  strength  of  the 
administrator.  Warrants  were  issued  against  thirteen  persons 
whose  only  crime  was  showing  some  sympathy  with  Mr.  Holmes. 
In  1663,  the  first  Baptist  church  in  Massachusetts  was  formed  in 
Swansea,  near  the  line  of  Rhode  Island,  and,  two  years  after,  the  first 
in  Boston.  "  In  a  few  months  after  the  organization  of  this  feeble 
church  their  trouble  commenced,  and  continued  with  much  severity 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  some  of  the  members  spent  most  of  their 
time  in  courts  and  prisons  ;  they  were  often  fined,  and  finally  the  sen- 
tence of  banishment  was  pronounced  against  them,  which,  however, 
they  did  not  see  fit  to  obey."  ..."  The  burden  of  all  the  com- 
plaints was  that  they  formed  a  church  without  the  approbation  of  the 
ruling  poivers."  *  In  Maine  there  were  similar  experiences.  The 
first  Baptists  suffered  slanders,  abuse  and  legalized  tyranny ;  and 
persons  who  met  with  them  for  worship  were  repeatedly  summoned 
before  a  magistrate  and  threatened  with  fines  in  case  of  future  of- 
fenses. Fines  as  high  as  ;^io  were  inflicted  upon  some.  The  first 
Baptist  church  in  Maine,  organized  at  Kittery  in  1681,  encountered 
storms,  violence,  obloquy,  fines  and  imprisonment,  and,  in  less  than 
one  year  from  its  formation,  the  church  was  dissolved,  and  its  mem- 
bers scattered  like  sheep  upon  the  mountains.  No  other  Baptist 
church  was  organized  in  Maine  until  1764. 

The  Baptists  were  numerically  few  in  all  the  colonies,  especially 
in  New  England.  They  were  Congregational  in  polity,  but  did  not 
submit  the  control  of  their  churches  to  outside  parishes,  not  even  in 
part.  In  their  estimation,  the  existence  of  parish  societies,  com- 
posed in  part  or  altogether  of  persons  who  are  not  members  of  the 
Church,  and  allowed  directly  or  indirectly  to  control  the  action  of 
the  Church,  was  to  be  avoided.  All  such  extraneous  organizations 
they  believed  to  be  contrary  to  the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  the 
Bible,  erroneous  in  principle  and  pernicious  in  results.  Until  with- 
in comparatively  a  brief  period,  the  laws  of  Massachusetts  did  not 
recognize  a  Baptist  church  as  entitled  to  any  rights  of  property,  or 
as  having  any  corporate  existence.  It  was  necessary,  therefore, 
for  individual  members  to  organize  as  "  private  societies,"  asso- 
ciated for  the  secular  business  of  the  Church.  In  New  York  and 
Virginia,  the  Baptists  suffered  from  similar  privations  and  intoler- 
ance.   ^ 

*  History  0/ the  Baptists.     By  David  Benedict.     1848,  p.  383. 


1 12  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Cases  of  Roger  Williams,  the  Quakers,  etc. 

Numerous  instances  of  alleged  religious  intolerance  have  been 
popularly  cited,  in  both  the  historical  and  the  more  transient 
literature  of  the  last  two  centuries,  until  they  have  become  as 
familiar  as  household  words.  The  cases  in  the  sub-heading  above 
are  the  more  notable  ones.  A  different  view  from  that  pop- 
ularly entertained  has  been  taken  by  some  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  discriminating  persons  >and  a  just  exhibit  of  the  cases  requires 
that  the  considerations  by  which  they  have  been  led  to  dissent  from 
the  popular  verdict  should  be  briefly  given.  It  is  claimed  that  in 
the  cases  of  Roger  Williams,  Ann  Hutchinson,  the  Quakers,  and 
some  others,  there  was  no  persecution  for  merely  holding  religious 
opinions  different  from  those  of  the  established  church  of  the 
colony ;  that  there  was  no  attempt  at  enforcement  of  the  conscience ; 
and  that  therefore  these  persons  cannot  be  regarded  as  martyrs  for  the 
faith,  inasmuch  as  they  had  liberty  to  entertain  whatever  religious 
opinions  they  chose,  and  their  relations  to  their  Maker  were  never 
matters  of  civil  inquiry. 

In  the  case  of  Roger  Williams,  it  is  claimed  that  he  was  banished 
because  he  disturbed  the  civil  order  of  the  colony,  stirring  up  strife 
and  revolt,  so  that  he  could  no  longer  remain  consistently  with  the 
public  safety;  that  he  made  himself  justly  obnoxious  to  the  magis- 
trates by  denying  their  power  to  punish  perjury,  blasphemy,  and 
Sabbath-breaking,  crimes  still  punishable  under  civil  statutes; 
that  he  caused  great  alarm  by  publicly  proclaiming  that 
the  patent  under  which  the  colony  was  settled  was  invalid, 
and  the  titles  to  the  land  under  it  worthless,  thus  exposing 
the  colony  to  the  displeasure  of  the  English  Court  at  a  time 
when  the  relations  to  the  crown  were  very  critical  ;  that  when, 
for  the  greater  security  of  the  colony,  the  colonial  legislature 
enacted  that  all  males  over  sixteen  years  should  take  an  oath  of 
fidelity,  Mr.  Williams  not  only  refused  to  take  it,  but  also  strenuously 
maintained  that  it  was  wronc:  for  a  magistrate  to  administer  an  oath 
to  an  unrcgenerate  man,  thus  striking  a  blow  at  the  root  of  civil 
society  and  embarrassing  the  ordinary  administration  of  justice ; 
and  that  Mr.  Williams  induced  the  church  at  Salem  to  write  to  the 
churches  of  which  the  magistrates  were  members,  complaining  of 
their  official  acts,  and  urging  that  they  should  be  disciplined — an 
act  so  seditious  in  its  character  that,  according  to  the  custom  of 
those  times,  it  would  have  resulted  in  their  disfranchisement  and 
removal  from  office. 


BANISHMENT  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS.  113 

The  act  of  the  general  court  (Sept.  3,  1635),  expelling  Mr. 
Williams  from  the  colony,  was  in  these  words:  "Whereas,  Mr. 
Roger  Williams,  one  of  the*  elders  of  the  church  in  Salem,  hath 
broached  and  divulged  new  and  dangerous  opinions  against  the 
authority  of  the  magistrates,  and  also  writ  letters  of  defamation, 
both  of  the  magistrates  and  churches  here,  and  yet  maintaineth  the 
same  without  retraction,  it  is  therefore  ordered,"  etc.  Mr.  Williams 
himself,  in  a  book  published  by  him  in  London,  in  1643,*  states 
the  grounds  of  his  banishment  to  have  been  the  following  opinions  : — 

1.  That  we  have  not  our  land  by  patent  from  the  king,  but  that  the  natives 
are  the  true  owners  of  it,  t  and  that  we  ought  to  repent  of  such  a  receiving  of  it  by 
patent. 

2.  That  it  is  not  lawful  to  call  a  wicked  person  to  swear  or  to  pray,  as  being 
actions  of  God's  worship. 

3.  That  it  is  not  lawful  to  hear  any  of  the  ministers  of  the  parish  assemblies 
in  England. 

4.  That  the  civil  magistrate's  power  extends  only  to  the  bodies  and  goods  and 

outward  state  of  men. 

To  this  publication  Mr.  Cotton  replied  that  it  was  not  for  the 
mere  holding  of  opinions,  but  for  the  turbulent  assertion  of  them,  that 
Mr.  Williams  was  banished.  He  dwelt  at  length  upon  two  reasons 
which  caused  his  banishment : — 

r.  His  violent  and  tumultuous  carriage  against  the  patent. 
2.  His  vehement  opposition  to  the  Oath  of  Fidelity.  \ 

Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams  (Address  before  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society.  1843).  said—"  Can  we  blame  the  founders  of  the 
Missachusetts  Colony  for  banishing  him  (Williams)  from^  within 
their  jurisdiction?  In  the  annals  of  religious  persecution  is  there 
to  be  found  a  martyr  more  gently  dealt  with  by  those  against  whom 
he  began  the  war  of  intolerance?  "  § 

As  to  the  Quakers,  the  number  who  suffered  fine,  imprisonment, 
or  whipping  in  Massachusetts  was  about  thirty ;  twenty-two  were 
banished  on  pain  of  death,  if  they  returned ;  three  had  their  right 
ear  cut  off.  and  four  suffered  death  by  hanging.  No  sufficient 
excuse  can  be  offered  for  these  severities,  and  yet  some  alleviating 
considerations  demand   attention. 

*  Entitled  "  Mr.  Cotton's  Letter,  lately  printed,  examined,  and  answered." 

t  Excepting  the  lands  of  the  Pequots  and  Narragansetts,  which  were  gained  by  conquest,  our 
fathers  bought  the  soil  from  the  Indians,  paying  them  a  fair  value  for  it  for  the  mere  purpose  of 
hunting-for  which  it  was  chiefly  held-and  the  Indians  made  no  complaint  of  dissatisfaction 
with  the  price.  The  patent  protected  them  only  against  European  adventurers.  See  Faltrey  s 
History  of  Neu<  England.     Vol.  I,  p.  Z^l- 

X  Cotton's  Reply  to  Williams,  pp.  27,  30. 

§  For  a  fuller  discussion  see  Congregational  Quarterly,  July  1873,  pp.  395.  402. 
8 


Ii4  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  Quakers  of  that  time  were  not  the  quiet, 
peace-loving,  amiable,  benevolent  Friends  of  the  more  recent  times, 
but  "  rioting,  turbulent,  and  provoking;"*  that  they  were  "guilty 
of  blasphemy,  sedition,  and  general  disorder;"  and  that  "they 
continually  disturbed  congregations  assembled  for  worship."  It  is 
related  that  "  Margaret  Brewster  went  into  a  meeting-house  with 
her  face  smeared  over  as  with  black  paint ;  "  that  "  Deborah  Wilson 
went  through  the  town  of  Salem  naked,  as  a  sign  to  the  people ;  " 
that  "  Lydia  Wardwell  went  into  the  meeting-house  in  Newberry, 
Massachusetts,  as  naked  as  she  was  born  ;  "  that  they  initiated  strife, 
trampled  on  the  laws,  set  at  naught  the  constituted  civil  authority, 
and  with  a  stiff  audacity  courted  the  extreme  penalties  of  the  law; 
and  that  the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  at  first  only  threatened, 
then  sent  them  away,  and  finally  banished  them.f 

The  treatment  oi  Ann  Hutchinson  and  the  Antinomians  has 
also  been  vindicated  on  considerations  of  public  order. ;{:  One  of 
the  editors  of  the  Congregational  Quarterly,^  who  discusses  these 
questions  in  a  very  able  manner,  deserves  attention  here: 

"  We  can  only  judge  correctly  of  their  motives  by  placing  ourselves  in  the 
situation  in  which  they  found  themselves.  A  feeble  and  struggling  colony,  they 
had  no  means  of  self-preservation  but  by  guarding  against  the  intrusion  of  men 
from  abroad,  either  disorderly  in  conduct,  unruly  and  insubordinate  in  spirit,  or 
hostile  or  unsympathetic  in  their  views,  who  might  come  in,  under  their  popular 
form  of  government,  and  defeat  the  very  purposes  for  which  they  had  exiled  them- 
selves from  the  mother  country.  For  half  a  century  or  more  they  had  been 
smarting  under  the  rod  of  persecution  inflicted  by  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  they 
might,  moreover,  have  seen  the  effects  of  its  policy  upon  the  Virginia  Colony.  Did 
it  partake  of  theocracy  that  they  sent  home  the  half  dozen,  more  or  less,  who 
had  undertaken  without  being  invited  to  settle  among  them,  and  that  they  were 
not  willing  that  others  of  the  same  class  should  come  into  their  communion? 
Worthy  as  the  Baptists  J  have  proved  themselves  to  be  of  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  good  men  in  our  time,  the  time  was,  and  that  as  late  as  the  settlement 

*  Bishop  Burnett  speaks  of  them  as  the  most  dangerous  sect  known  in  England  in  his  time. 

^  Congregational  Quarterly,  April,  1873,  pp.  281,  283. 

{ Congregational  Quarterly.  Articles  by  Rev.  John  A.  Vinton,  April,  July,  and  Octo- 
ber, 1873.  • 

§  Congregational  Quarterly,  October,  1883,  pp.  590,  592. 

I  The  law  against  the  Baptists  was  enacted  in  1644.  On  Nov.  4,  1646,  the  general  court 
put  forth  the  following  e.xplanation  :  "  The  truth  is,  the  great  trouble  we  have  been  putt  unto  and 
hazard  also  by  Familisticall  and  Anabaptisticall  spirits,  whose  conscience  and  religion  hath  been 
only  to  sett  forth  th-mselves  and  raise  contentions  in  the  country,  did  provoke  us  to  provide  for 
our  safety  by  a  lawe  that  all  such  should  take  notice  how  unwelcome  they  should  be  to  us  either 
coming  or  staying.  But  for  such  as  differ  from  us  only  in  judgment  in  point  of  baptism  or  some 
other  points  of  lesse  consequence,  and  live  peaceably  among  us  without  occasioning  disturbance, 
.  .  .  such  have  no  cause  to  complaine,  for  it  hath  never  beene  as  yet  putt  in  execution  against  any 
of  them,  although  such  are  knowne  to  live  amongst  us."     See  Hutchinson  Papers. 


THE  CONNECTICUT  -BLUE  LAWS."  1  IS 

of  New  England,  when  the  wild  and  lawless  extravagance  of  the  Anabaptists  in 
Munster  was  still  fresh  in  the  public  memory  ;  *  and  an  outbreak  of  men  of  the 
same  denomination  in  London,  under  one  of  their  preachers,  as  late  as  1661,  and 
which  was  only  suppressed  after  a  bloody  conflict  with  the  troops,  shows  with 
what  dread  the  men  of  New  England  must  have  regarded  an  influx  of  religious 
zealots  whose  antecedents,  as  to  a  quiet  and  orderly  life,  must  have  been  so 
alarming.  So  with  the  Quakers.  Aside  from  the  estimate  in  which  they  were 
held  in  England,  the  people  of  Massachusetts  had  seen  enough  in  their  own  streets 
and  houses  of  worship  to  feel  that  the  public  order  would  never  be  safe  if  such 
open  disturbers  of  the  peace  went  unpunished  ;  and  though  we  might  not,  by  any 
means,  be  ready  to  commend  the  wisdom  or  humanity  of  the  treatment  extended 
to  these  sects,  there  is  no  occasion  to  ascribe  this  to  any  other  motive  than  a  wish 
to  maintain  civil  government  and  preserve  peace  and  good  order  in  the  com- 
munity. Nor  is  it  necessary  to  infer  that  those  who  made  and  administered  laws 
to  this  effect  were  actuated  by  a  desire  to  interfere  with  the  consciences  or  religious 
opinions  of  any  class  of  the  people,  independent  of  their  conduct  as  citizens,  any 
more  than  it  is  that,  in  making  war  upon  the  indecencies  or  polygamy  of  the 
Monnons,  the  government  is  hostile  to  the  freedom  of  religious  opinion." 


"The  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut" 

have  been  popularly  referred  to  as  specimens  of  the  narrowness 
and  intolerance  of  the  colonial  fathers.  It  is  due  to  their  memory 
to  state  that  these  legendary  laws  never  existed  except  in  the 
imagination  of  their  originator,  as  is  well  known  to  persons  of 
historical  information.  They  originally  appeared  in  a  burlesque 
history  of  Connecticut,  written  some  one  hundred  years  ago  by 
Rev.  Samuel  A.  Peters,  born  in  Hebron,  Connecticut,  in  1735.  He 
preached  for  several  years  in  Hartford  and  also  in  his  native 
town.  When  the  Revolution  broke  out  he  made  himself  obnoxious 
by  his  intemperate  advocacy  of  Tory  principles,  denouncing  the 
American  cause,  from  the  pulpit  and  in  private,  in  such  terms 
that  his  parishioners  turned  against  him.  The  storm  rose  f  so 
high  that  he  fled  to  England  in  1774,  and  in  1781  %  he  published 
the  work  alluded  to,  in  London,  in  revenge  for  his  treatment  by 
his  countrymen.  It  was  never  regarded  in  any  other  light  than 
as  a  burlesque,  until  about  forty  years  ago,  in  the  heat  of  the 
anti-slavery  excitement,  a  Southern  orator  in  Congress,  by  way 
of  retaliation,  in  an  extremity  of  debate  quoted  from  Peters's  book 

*John  Bockholdt,  an  Anabaptist  of  Leyden,  with  a  body  of  followers,  seized  the  city  of 
Munster,  usurped  the  government,  and  committed  crimes  and  outrag:es  against  decency.  He 
and  his  followers,  men  and  women,  after  praying  and  preaching  four  hours,  stripped  themselves 
naked  and  ran  through  the  streets  of  the  city.  Mosheim,  Cent,  xvi.,  sec  ii.  Robertson's 
Charles  V.,  Book  V. 

t  We  cannot  here  relate  the  whole  story. 

X  Republished  in  the  United  States  in  1829  as  a  curiosity. 


116  CHRrSTfA.VfTY  LV   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  laws  referred  to  as  an  illustration  of  Yankee  bigotry.  It  soon 
became  a  popular  stock  argument  against  New  Englanders. 

A  gentleman  who  has  closely  investigated  the  matter  says — "  On 
examining  the  more  prominent  statements  of  Peters,  not  one  has 
been  found  which  is  not  either  false  or  so  deformed  by  exaggerations 
and  perversions  as  to  be  essentially  erroneous."  Rev.  Leonard 
Bacon,  D.D.,  called  Peters's  book  "  that  most  unscrupulous  and 
malicious  of  lying  narratives."  * 

Hon.  John  S.  Peters,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  ex-governor  of  Connecticut,  re- 
ferring to  the  book  in  question,  said — "  It  contains  many  statements 
which  are  alike  apochryphal  and  ludicrous,  and  I  am  not  aware  that 
it  was  ever  quoted  as  historical  authority."  f 

Doubtless  in  all  the  New  England  colonies,  and  in  the  New 
York,  Virginia  and  other  colonies,  it  is  easy  to  find  laws  and  usages 
which  we  should  now  call  wrong  and  severe,  not  to  say  bigoted  and 
cruel,  but  they  were  universally  characteristic  of  those  times,  in 
Europe  as  well  as  in  America.  By  the  law  of  Massachusetts,  1692, 
a  man  absenting  himself  from  public  worship  on  Sunday  for  a  month 
was  punished  by  a  fine  to  be  imposed  by  a  civil  court.  By  the  law 
of  Elizabeth  (see  "  1st  Elizabeth,")  he  was  liable  to  be  punished  by 
the  censures  of  the  Church  and  also  to  forfeit  a  sum  of  money. 

Intolerance   in   Virginia. 

Instances  of  religious  intolerance  occurred  in  the  Virginia  Colony, 
extending  through  a  period  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  years. 
A  few  Puritans  settled  in  the  colony  as  early  as  1619,:};  but  the 
number  was  too  small  to  make  much  change  in  the  religious  opinions 
of  the  people.  In  1642,  certain  citizens  who  deplored  the  low  state 
of  religion  made  application  for  religious  teachers  from  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Rev.  Messrs.'  Thompson,  of  Braintree,  Knolls,  of 
VVatertown,  and  James,  of  New  Haven,  went  as  Congregational 
missionaries  to  labor  in  Virginia.  Their  stay,  however,  was  short, 
for  the  legislature  immediately  enacted  that  no  minister  should  be 
allowed  to  officiate  in  the  colony  but  such  as  had  been  ordained  by 
some  English  Bishop,  and  pledged  conformity  to  the  form  and 
usages  of  the  Church  of  England.  They  were  soon  banished  from  the 
colony,  and  after  a  few  j'ears  their  followers  were  wholly  dispersed.  § 

The  law  of  1661  enforced,  with  great   stringency,  conformity  to 

*  History  of  Discipline  at  iVeiK  Haven.     By  Mr.  Kin^jsley,  i8}8,  pp.  83,  90. 
tSprag^ue's  Annals  0/ the  .Americm  Pulpit.     Volume  on  the  Episcopal  Church,  p.  194. 
J  Graham's  History  0/  the  United  States,   p.  219,  and  Hawks's  History  0/  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Virginia,  p.  35. 

§  Hawks's  History  0/  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  pp.  36,  53,  57. 


PATRICK  HENRY.  117 

the  Established  Church  against  Quakers  and  other  non-conformists. 
It  provided  that  each  Quaker  attending  "an  unlawful  assembly 
or  conventicle,"  if  taken  there,  should  pay  a  fine  of  two  hundred 
pounds  of  tobacco  for  each  offense,  and  that  "  schismatical  persons, 
either  out  of  averseness  to  the  orthodox,  established  religion,  or 
out  of  the  new-fangled  conceits  of  their  own  heretical  inventions," 
who  should  "  refuse  to  have  their  children  baptized,  in  contempt 
of  the  divine  sacrament  of  baptism,"  should  be  fined  two  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco ;  half  to  the  parish  and  half  to  the  informer.* 

French  colonists,  fleeing  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  were  allowed  to  settle  and  establish  their  worship  (Presby- 
terian) under  the  provisions  of  the  special  act  of  the  Assembly  in 
1700.  In  1713,  a  similar  favor  was  granted  to  a  colony  of  German 
emigrants.  Both  of  these  classes  were  exempted  from  taxes  for 
the  support  of  the  Established  Church.  In  1746,  the  governor 
issued  a  proclamation  forbidding,  under  the  severest  penalties, 
"  the  meeting  of  Moravians,  New  Lights,  and  Methodists."  f 

Early  in  the  last  century  the  Baptists  began  to  appear  in 
Virginia.  At  first  they  excited  no  alarm,  being  very  poor,  their 
ministers  generally  illiterate,  and  their  efforts  being  directed  to 
places  remote  and  obscure.  It  was  not  until  they  began  to  in- 
crease rapidly  that  they  were  assailed  and  persecuted.  They 
were  constantly  kept  in  view  in  the  legislation  of  the  colony,  and 
persecuting  laws  were  framed  with  the  special  design  of  hindering 
the  spread  of  their  opinions  or  driving  them  from  the  colony. 
In  some  parts  of  the  colony  the  Baptists  were  not  disturbed ; 
but  in  others,  alarmed  by  their  increase,  the  men  in  power 
strained  every  penal  law  in  the  Virginia  code  to  suppress  them. 
-About  thirty  ministers  were  imprisoned,  and  some  as  many  as 
four  times  each,  for  different  periods  of  time,  besides  a  number  of 
exhorters  and  their  companions,  whose  only  fault  was  their  being  in 
company  with  their  clerical  brethren.  .  .  .  In  some  cases  drums  were 
beaten  in  the  time  of  service  ;  high  inclosures  were  erected  before 
the  prison  windows  by  malicious  opponents;  matches  and  other 
suffocating  materials  were  burnt  outside  the  prison  doors.  .  .  . 
In  the  midst  of  their  struggles  this  oppressed  people  were  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  secure  the  interest  of  the  famous  Patrick  Henry,  who 
espoused  their  cause."  % 

*  See  Hawks's  History  o/the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  pp.  66,  68  ;  also,  Trott's  laws  of 
British  Plantations  in  America.  , 

t  13th,  B.  Burke.  Pp.  124,  5,6. 
X  History  o/the  Baptists.     By  David  Benedict,  1848,  p.  655. 


118  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  Presbyterians  entered  Virginia  almost  simultaneously  with 
the  Baptists,  and  were  subjected  to  many  annoyances  and  persecutions. 
After  1745  they  were  allowed  to  settle  in  the  more  remote  portions  of 
the  State,  to  the  westward,  where  their  first  churches  were  established. 
They  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Synod  of  New  York,  which  met  that 
year,  asking  aid  in  their  troubles.  The  Synod  prepared  an  address 
to  the  governor,  and  commissioned  Rev.  Messrs.  Tennent  and 
Finley  as  bearers  of  the  message.  The  governor  received  them 
respectfully  and  gave  them  liberty  to  preach.  But,  soon  after  they 
left,  fines  were  again  inflicted  upon  Presbyterians  for  not  attending 
upon  the  services  of  the  Established  Church. 

In  1747,  the  Synod  sent  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  to  labor  in 
Virginia.  This  gentleman  became  more  influential  than  any  other 
Presbyterian  divine  in  placing  the  denomination  on  a  secure  founda- 
tion. "At  the  time  of  his  settlement  in  the  county  of  Hanover, 
according  to  his  own  testimony,  there  were  not  ten  avowed  dissent- 
ers within  one  hundred  miles  of  him.  On  his  arrival,  his  first  care 
was  to  secure  himself  and  his  followers  from  molestation  by  a  com- 
pliance with  the  laws  of  the  colony.  The  terms  on  which 
dissenters  were  tolerated  were,  obtaining  a  license  from  some 
judicial  body  for  each  meeting-house,  causing  such  license  to  be 
put  upon  record,  taking  the  usual  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  subscribing  to  the  thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of 
England,  with  certain  enumerated  exceptions.  These  exceptions 
embraced  the  thirty-fourth,  concerning  '  traditions  in  the  Church,' 
the  thirty-fifth,  'of  the  homilies,'  the  thirty-sixth,  'of  the  conse- 
cration of  bishops  and  ministers,'  and  so  much  of  the  twentieth  as 
declares  that  the  '  Church  has  power  to  decree  rites  and  ceremonies, 
and  authority  in  controversies  of  faith.'  "  *  Mr.  Davies  complied  with 
these  terms  and  obtained  licenses  for  four  "  meeting-houses,"  and, 
soon  after,  for  three  more.  Among  these  he  divided  his  labors, 
although  some  of  them  were  forty  miles  distant  from  the  others. 
They  were  in  the  counties  of  Hanover,  Henrico,  Caroline,  Louisa, 
and  Goochland.  In  this  region  Presbyterianism  in  Virginia  had  its 
origin,  under  the  ministrations  of  this  eminent  servant  of  God.  Mr. 
Davies  possessed  talents  of  a  high  order  ;  was  gifted  with  remarkable 
eloquence,  readily  attracting  hearers.  In  three  years  his  congregation 
became  large,  and  three  hundred  communicants  were  gathered  into 
his  churches.  He  was  subsequently  removed  to  the  presidency  of 
Princeton  College,  but  not  until  he  had  distinguished  himself  in 
contesting  the  provisions  of  the  English  "act  of  toleration  "   before 

*  Hawks's  ^/V/t^ry  0/  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  p.  108. 


RELIGIOUS  OPPRESSION  IN  NEW  YORK.  119 

the  colonial  courts,  and  sustained  his  cause  against  the  legal  acumen 
and  eloquence  of  Hon.  Peyton  Randolph. 

Intolerance  in  Maryland. 

In  1704  "An  Act  to  prevent  the  increase  of  popery  in  the  prov- 
ince "  was  passed,  prohibiting  bishops  and  priests  from  saying  mass 
and  exercising  other  spiritual  functions  except  in  private  houses. 
Subsequently  Catholics  were  deprived  of  the  elective  franchise,  unless 
they  took  a  test  oath  and  renounced  their  faith.  Other  oppressive 
enactments  followed,  so  that,  in  1752,  Mr.  Daniel  Carroll,  father  of 
the  subsequent  Bishop  Carroll,  went  to  France  to  negotiate  with  the 
French  government  for  the  emigration  of  the  Maryland  Catholics  to 
Louisiana.*  The  project,  however,  failed.  For  seventy  years  no 
mass  was  said  anywhere  in  the  State,  except  in  private  chapels  and 
families.  During  this  time  no  Catholic  churches  were  erected,  and 
only  a  few  chapels  on  plantations  owned  by  the  Jesuits ;  to  whom 
large  tracts  of  land  had  been  conveyed  by  the  Indian  kings, 
thus  eluding  the  reach  of  the  law.  In  1774,  there  was  no  Catholic 
chapel  even  in  Baltimore  ;  that  city  was  then  only  a  "  station,"  vis- 
ited once  a  month  by  a  "  father  "  from  a  farm  at  Whitemarsh,  car- 
rying his  vestments  and  plate  with  him,  and  mass  was  said  in  a 
private  room.  At  last,  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  early  in  1776, 
a  '*  Declaration  of  Rights  "  was  voted  by  the  assembly,  granting  full 
religious  toleration.  But,  in  the  whole  extent  of  Maryland,  there 
were  then  only  twenty  priests,  Jesuits,  and  they  were  under  ecclesi- 
astical condemnation,  the  order  having  been  suppressed  as  a  society 
only  three  years  before  by  the  famous  bull  of  the  pope. 

In  New  York. 

Instances  of  religious  oppression  occurred  in  this  colony.  The 
ties  of  relationship,  a  common  faith,  and  the  persecutions  endured 
by  Protestants  before  coming  to  America,  were  not  sufficient  to 
teach  them  the  lessons  of  charity  and  toleration,  and  the  Lutherans 
of  New  Amsterdam  were  doomed  to  experience  from  their  fellow 
Protestants  some  of  the  rigor  and  unkind  treatment  both  had  suf- 
fered at  home.  Among  the  earliest  colonists  there  was  no  formal 
union  of  the  Church  and  State,  and  yet  they  were  very  unwilling  to 
allow  any  but  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  to  exist  in  the  province. 
A  little  band  of  Lutherans,  who  joined  the  colony  almost  at  its  com- 

*  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.     By  Henry  De  Courcey.     Enlarged 
by  John  Gilmary  Shea.     New  York.     1857.     Published  by  Edward  Dunigan  &  Bro.     P.  33. 


120  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

menccment,  were  not  allowed  to  hold  their  '.vorship  publicly  until 
after  the  English  rule  was  established,  in  1664.  In  1656,  George 
Stuyvesant  forbade  ministers  from  holding  religious  gatherings  not 
in  harmony  with  the  Reformed  Church.  Under  his  administration 
Quakers  were  fined,  imprisoned,  and  banished  ;  but  he  was  not  fully 
sustained  in  all  these  proceedings  by  the  magistrates  of  Amsterdam. 
They  formally  reproved  him,  and  declared  that "  The  consciences  of 
men  ought  to  be  free  and  unshackled  so  long  as  they  continue  mod- 
erate, peaceable,  inoffensive,  and  not  hostile  to  the  government." 
When  the  New  Netherlands  were  surrendered  to  the  English  crown 
(1664)  the  Lutherans  received  the  privilege  of  worshiping  God  ac- 
cording to  their  own  convictions,*  The  Church  of  Englaiid  took 
the  place  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  hitherto  the  supreme  and 
only  ecclesiastical  authority.  Under  the  English,  attendance  upon 
the  Episcopal  Church  was  not  made  compulsory.  But  the  first 
Baptist  minister  f  who  preached  in  New  York  City,  about  1665,  was 
imprisoned  four  months,  and  no  further  efforts  were  made  to  estab- 
lish that  denomination  in  that  province  until  about  17 12,  when  they 
were  not  molested.  The  first  Presbyterians  %  also  were  persecuted, 
and  their  first  ministers,  Revs.  Francis  Makemic  and  John  Hamp- 
ton, were  imprisoned  and  heavily  fined,  in  1707,  for  preaching  in  a 
private  house. 

Treatment  of  the  Roman  Catholics  by  the  Protestant  Colonists. 

From  nearly  all  the  Protestant  English  settlements  the  Roman 
Catholics  were  excluded.  The  colonists,  recently  escaped  from  the 
intolerance  of  Rome,  were  slow  to  forget  what  they  had  suffered,  and 
were  jealous  of  her  approach.  Only  in  Rhode  Island  and  Pennsylva- 
nia was  there  more  liberty  ;  hence  from  the  settlement  of  Maryland 
down  to  the  war  of  the  Revolution  there  was  little  opportunity  § 
for  the  Roman  Catholics  to  settle  in  the  other  colonies. 

*  Professor  Schmucker's  Retrospect  of  Lutheranism  in  the  United  States.     P.  6. 

t  Rev.  Win.  Wickenden,  of  Providence,  R.  I.  See  Benedict's  History  of  the  Baptists.  New 
York.    Louis  Colby  &  Co.     1848,  p.  s-ti. 

X  History  0/  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett.  D.D. 
Presbyterian  Publication  Society,  Philadelphia.     Vol.  I,  pp.  11-16. 

§  Catholics  have  complained  of  the  intolerance  of  the  early  colonial  governments  against 
them,  particularly  in  New  York  and  New  England.  It  should  be  mentioned  that  the  inti- 
mate and  friendly  relations  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  with  the  Indians  brought  the  former  under 
the  imputation  of  complicity  with  them,  in  the  frequent  bloody  massacres  which  were  occurring  in 
the  settlements.  The  colonists  thought  they  had  good  evidence  of  such  co-operation  in  many 
cases.  The  preamble  of  "  An  Act  against  Jesuits  and  popish  priests,"  which  passed  in  the  New 
York  Assembly  in  the  year  1 700,  shows  that  they  acted  under  this  conviction.  It  charged  that 
"divers  Jesuits,  priests,  and  popi.sh  missionaries  have  of  late  industriously  labored  to  debauch, 
seduce,  and  withdraw  the  Indians  from  their  obedience,  and  to  excite  and  stir  them  up  to  sedition, 


STANDARD  OF  JUDGMENT.  121 

At  this  early  period  there  were  no  Roman  Catholic  churches  in 
Rhode  Island.  In  Pennsylvania,  while  religious  liberty  was  indeed 
under  no  legal  restraint,  and  the  State  was  an  asylum  for  Roman 
Catholics  excluded  elsewhere,  yet  the  papists  complained  that  it 
was  difficult  for  the  Quakers  to  see  that  Romanists  ought  to  enjoy 
as  much  liberty  as  the  Friends.  Romanists  confessed  that  they 
were  neither  "  hanged,  banisl;ied,  pillaged  nor  taxed  by  the  Quakers," 
but  they  felt  there  was  "  something  cold  and  repulsive  in  the  coun- 
tenances of  their  hosts  which  expressed  plainly  enough  what  no  one 
was  willing  to  say."  * 


Section  6.— General  Considerations. 

In  considering  the  severity  of  the  civil  penalties  and  the  acts 
of  intolerance  in  any  of  the  early  American  colonies,  it  would  be 
unjust  to  judge  our  fathers  by  any  other  standard  than  that  of  their 
own  times.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  in  the  two  centuries 
which  have  since  intervened  great  progress  has  been  made  in  re- 
gard to  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  nature  of  religious  liberty. 
The  right  of  individual  belief  was  then  admitted  only  in  a  very  nar- 
row circle.  On  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  in  Great  Britain,  cruel 
persecutions  and  severities  were  every-where  inflicted  upon  dissenters. 
According  to  Neale,t  1662,  by  the  "Act  of  Uniformity"  two  thou- 
sand English  ministers,  called  by  Locke  "  worthy,  learned,  pious, 
orthodox  divines,"  were  deprived  of  their  "  livings  "  because  they 
could  not  conscientiously  submit  to  re- ordination,  and  assent  to 
every  word  and  sentence  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Under  the 
"Conventicle  Act"  (1664),  it   became  a  crime  to  attend  religious 

rebellion,  and  open  hostility.  They  were  therefore  ordered  to  depart  from  the  province,  and 
threatened  with  death  if  they  did  not  obey.  The  terrible  scenes  of  Schenectady  were  fresh  in 
their  minds.  This  law  was  clearly  an  act  of  state  policy,  for  the  promotion  of  the  public  safety. 
The  Massachusetts  Legislature  acted  on  the  same  policy  in  the  much-complained-of  treatment  of 
Father  Sebastian  Rasles,  the  French  Jesuit  missionary  at  Norridgewock,  Me.  Some  of  his  own 
papers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  from  which  it  appeared  that  he 
was  in  correspondence  with  the  French  governor  in  Canada,  by  whose  aid  he  hoped  to  e.xclude 
the  English  settlers  from  the  region  where  he  resided,  and  that  he  accompanied  an  expedition  of 
the  Indians  against  the  colonies,  and  acted  a  conspicuous  part  in  at  lea>it  one  attack  upon  their 
settlements.  The  evidence  was  so  conclusive  that  the  Massachusetts  Government  undertook  to 
arrest  him,  and  at  last,  August  23,  1724,  the  Indian  village  at  Norridgewock  was  attacked  and 
destroyed,  and  Rasles  fell  in  the  battle.  See  Colled  ions  0/ the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
Second  Series.     Vol.  VIII.,  pp.  250,  266.      Also,  American  Quarterly  Register.     i84i.     P.  23. 

*  Letter  on  Roman  Catholic  missions  in  the  United  States  to  the  Lyons  Propaganda,  by  Rev. 
Bishop  England,  Catholic  Bishop  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  Published  in  the  Annates  of  the  Propa- 
ganda for  May  1838.     See  American  Quarterly  Register.     November,  1841.     P.  142. 

t  History  0/ the  Puritans.     Vol.  IV.,  pp.  306-406, 


122  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

services,  conducted  otherwise  than  according  to  the  liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England  ;  punishable  by  heavy  fines,  imprisonment,  trans- 
portation, and,  in  case  of  return,  death.  Without  the  verdict  of  a 
jury,  on  the  oath  of  a  single  informer,  and  without  appeal,  in  the 
course  of  two  reigns  about  eight  thousand  dissenters  perished  in 
prison,  and  sixty  thousand  suffered  in  various  other  ways,  the  loss 
of  property  alone  amounting,  it  is  supp9sed,  to  twelve  millions  ster- 
ling.* Such  were  the  prevailing  customs  of  the  times  and  the  cur- 
rent of  public  sentiment.  Under  such  an  ecclesiastico-civil  polity 
as  then  every-where  prevailed,  the  relations  of  man  with  his  Maker 
were  presumed  to  come  within  the  province  of  human  law.  Re- 
ligious intolerance  was  therefore  the  natural  fruitage  of  such  a  sys- 
tem, and  only  under  the  more  favorable  circumstances  of  an 
enlightened  Christian  civilization  and  culture  will  it  be  restrained. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  among  the  American  colonists,  even  in 
those  rude  times,  examples  of  religious  oppression  were  far  less 
numerous  and  severe  than  in  the  countries  from  which  they  emi- 
grated. In  respect  to  toleration  they  were  far  in  advance  of  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

The  penal  inflictions  of  the  colonial  era  are  often  referred  to  as 
severe  and  barbarous  ;  especially  have  those  among  the  Puritans  of 
New  England  been  denounced  in  terms  of  intense  detestation,  as 
though  they  were  exceptionally  brutal.  A  review  of  the  times,  how- 
ever, will  afford  evidence  that  those  of  the  New  Englanders  were  sim- 
ilar to  the  penalties  inflicted  in  other  colonies,  and  also  in  England 
and  Continental  Europe,  only  very  much  more  humane.  It  would  be 
unreasonable  to  expect  the  men  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
century  to  be  abreast  with  those  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  philan- 
thropy and  the  gentle  amenities  of  life.  We  are  to  compare  them 
with  the  customs  of  the  country  from  which  they  came,  in  order  to 
judge  of  their  status.  When  the  Mayjlower  \e.{t  England  thirty-one 
offenses  were  punishable  with  death  in  the  mother  country.  By  the 
middle  of  that  century  the  black  list  had  enlarged  to  223,  of  which 
176  were  without  the  benefit  of  the  clergy.  How  far  in  advance 
the  New  England  colonies  were  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  not  a 
single  colony  code  recognized  more  than  fifteen  capital  crimes. 

So  enormous  an  English  list  argues  an  excessive  brutality  of  public  sentiment. 
And  we  shall  find  this  confirmed  from  many  sources.  For  example:  In  1604  a 
man  named  Ford  petitioned  the  king  to  the  effect  that  the  Lord  Chancellor  had 
done  him  great  injustice.  For  the  offense  of  this  petition,  "  traducing  and  scandal- 
izing "  that  high  functionary — the  said  Lord  Chancellor — the  said  Ford  was  sen- 

*  Neale's  History  of  the  Puritans.     Vol.  IV,  p.  480,  etc.,  Vol.  V,  p.  161,  etc. 


PUNISHMENTS  INFLICTED  IN  ENGLAND.  123 

tenced  to  ride  with  his  face  to  the  tail  of  the  beast  from  the  Fleet  prison  to  West- 
minster, with  his  crime  placarded  on  his  head  ;  to  acknowledge  that  crime  in  all 
the  courts  of  Westminster  ;  to  stand  "  a  reasonable  time  "  in  the  pillory  ;  to  have 
one  of  his  ears  cut  off;  to  be  remanded  to  jail  for  a  few  days  and  then  have  the 
other  ear  cut  off  at  Cheapside;  to  pay  a  fine  of  ;^i,c>oo  ;  and  to  be  imprisoned  for 
life.  Two  years  before  the  Mayjio-iver  sailed  a  man  named  Wrennum  was  con- 
victed of  a  like  offense  and  condemned  to  the  same  penalties.  Two  years  before 
Boston  was  settled  a  Scotch  divine  of  eminence  named  Alexander  Leighton,  Pro- 
fessor of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  published  a  book 
called  an  Appeal  to  the  Parliament,  in  which  he  used  strong  enough  language  to  call 
the  prelates  "  men  of  blood."  the  bishops  "  ravens  and  magpies,"  the  canons  of 
1603  "  nonsense  canons,"  and  so  on.  We  have  two  editions  of  the  book,  and  while 
there  are  several  such  earnest  expressions  which  the  best  taste  must  condemn,  wc 
find  nothing  in  either  which  in  our  day  would  subject  an  author  to  any  further 
penalty  than  the  criticism,  that  his  blows  would  have  hurt  more  if  he  had  not 
struck  quite  so  hard.  Leighton  was  put  on  trial  before  the  Star  Chamber  and 
confessed  the  writing,  but  pleaded  good  intent.  The  court  made  short  work  of 
him,  declaring  that  he  had  committed  "  a  most  odious  and  heinous  offense,  deserv- 
ing the  severest  punishment  the  court  could  inflict,  for  framing  and  publishing  a 
Book  so  full  of  most  pestilent,  devilish  and  dangerous  Assertions,  to  the  scandal  of 
the  King,  Queen  and  Peers,  especially  the  Bishops." 

It  was  accordingly  unanimously  ordered  that  he  be  degraded  from  his  ministry 
into  a  lay  condition,  in  which  he  could  be  legally  whipped  ;  that  he  be  whipped  and 
set  in  the  pillory  at  Westminster;  that  one  of  his  ears  be  cut  off,  one  side  of  his 
nose  be  slit,  and  he  be  branded  on  one  cheek  by  a  red  hot  iron,  with  the  letters 
S.  S.  [stirrer  of  sedition]  ;  that,  fourteen  days  thereafter,  he  be  whipped  again  at 
Cheapside,  the  other  ear  cut  off,  the  other  side  of  his  nose  slit,  and  the  other  cheek 
branded  as  the  first ;  that  he  pay  the  (then)  enormous  fine  of  ^10,000  ;  that  he  be 
imprisoned  for  life. 

In  1633  William  Prynne,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  industrious  barristers  of 
his  time,  having  written  a  book  called  Histriornastix,  whereby — as  also  aforetime 
in  other  ways — he  had  especially  angered  Archbishop  Laud,  was  put  through  the 
same  sort  of  discipline  which  poor  Leighton  had  suffered.  Three  years  later  he 
in  some  way  found  means  to  pul>Iish  a  few  more  plain  words  distasteful  to  the 
archbishop,  when  he  was  hauled  out  of  prison,  the  stumps  of  his  ears  cut  down 
clean,  ;^5,ooo  added  to  his  fine,  and  his  cheeks  branded  S.  L.  [seditious  libelerj  all 
of  which  was,  with  full  barbarity,  executed.* 

What  was  done  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  for  an  offense 
much  more  henious,  transpiring  at  the  very  same  time?  Roger 
Williams,  for  "  trying  to  knock  the  bottom  out  of  all  their  civil  and 
social  fabric  by  publicly  teaching  that  the  colony  had  no  valid  title 
to  its  land,"  ranting  against  official  oaths,  and  inciting  the  people 
against  the  magistrates,  instead  of  being  fined,  pilloried,  cropped, 
imprisoned,  branded,  flayed  alive,  was  simply  sent  out  of  the  colony. 

Dr.  H.  M.  Dexter  cites  a  few  more  cases  which  will  help  the 
reader  to  appreciate  the  situation  : 

*  Editorial  in  the  Congregalionalist ,  November  20,  1884. 


124  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  English  law  down  to  1772  condemned  the  prisoner  who  refused  to  plead 
to  his  offense  to  be  pressed  to  death  [peine  fort  et  dure],  and  so  late  as  1741  this 
horrible  punishmemt  was  inflicted  there.  Until  1790  (and  that  lacks  yet  three  years 
of  being  a  century)  any  woman  convicted  of  counterfeiting  English  gold  or  silver  coin 
was  burned  to  death,  although  after  1700  it  became  humanely  usual  to  strangle 
the  victim  quietly  before  kindling  the  fire.  Twenty  thousand  people  collected  in 
1773  to  see  Elizabeth  Herring  burned,  and  as  late  as  1786  a  woman  was  burned  in 
England  for  having  made  counterfeit  shillings.  Plymouth  Colony  must  have  been 
fifty  years  old  before  the  burning  of  heretics  became  unlawful  in  England. 

In  the  good  old  days  of  Henry  VHI.,  it  was  legal  to  boil  to  death  prisoners,  and 
it  was  several  times  done.  Long  after  that  form  of  death  was  repealed  in  England 
it  remained  in  force  on  the  Continent  for  coiners  and  counterfeiters,  and,  by  a  re- 
finement of  cruelty,  the  boiling  was  made  gradual,  the  victim  being  suspended  by 
a  rope  over  the  bubbling  oil  and  lowered  by  degrees  into  it. 

An  intelligent  writer  tells  us  how,  in  161 7,  the  body  of  the  assassinated 
Ancre,  Marechal  of  France,  was  treated.  They  "  broke  up  his  Grave,  tore  his 
Coffin  to  pieces,  rip'd  the  Winding-sheet,  and  tied  his  Body  to  an  Asses  Tail,  and 
so  dragg'd  him  up  and  down  the  Gutters  of  Paris,  which  are  none  of  the  sweetest : 
they  then  sliced  off  his  ears,  and  nail'd  them  upon  the  Gates  of  the  City,  they  .  .  . 
[too  indecent  to  be  cited]  .  .  .  the  rest  of  his  Body  they  carried  to  the  New-Bridg, 
and  hung  him  with  his  Heels  upward,  and  Head  downwards  upon  a  new  Gibbet." 

It  was  a  mob  which  did  thus,  but  forty-three  years  later  we  find  the  English 
Parliament  deliberately  passing  a  law  whose  results  Evelyn  describes  under  date 
of  30  Jan.-9  Feb.,  1660-1  : 

"  This  day  .  .  .  were  the  carcasses  of  those  arch-rebels,  Cromwell,  Bradshawe 
(the  judge  who  condemned  his  majesty),  and  Ireton  (son-in-law  to  the  usurper) 
dragged  out  of  their  superb  Tombs  in  Westminster,  among  the  kings,  to  Tyburn, 
and  hanged  on  the  gallows  there  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  six  at  night,  and 
then  buried  under  that  fatal  and  ignominious  monument  in  a  deep  pit;  thousands 
of  people  who  had  seen  them  in  all  their  pride  being  Spectators.  [N.  B.  Cromwell 
had  been  dead  nearly  2  yrs.  5  mos.  ;  Bradshawe,  I  yr.  2  mos. ;  Ireton,  more  than 
9  yrs.  2  mos.]  " 

Moreover,  it  was  as  late  as  16  Aug.,  1746,  when  Walpole  wrote  to  Montagu 
how  people  on  the  Strand  before  Temple  Bar  in  London  made  a  trade  of  letting, 
for  a  half-penny  a  sight,  spyglasses  to  passers-by  who  wanted  a  good  look  at  the 
traitors'  heads,  then  impaled  on  the  irons  over  the  Bar:  and  in  April,  1772,  it  is  on 
record  that  one  such  head  was  still  miserably  sticking  there. 

These  "dreadful  and  disgusting  inhumanities"  were  perpetrated 
by  whom?  Refined  and  cultivated  Europeans,  mostly  English 
Churchmen,  graduates  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford.  Such  are  the 
facts  of  modern  history  which  should  moderate  our  denunciations 
and  charges  of  severity,  brutality  and  narrow-mindedness  against 
the  colonial  forefathers,  who,  it  clearly  appears,  were  much  in  ad- 
vance of  their  times. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Sec.  I.  From  1607 — 1662. 
"  2.  From  1662 — 1720. 
"    3.  From  1720 — 1745. 


Sec.  4.  From  1745 — 1776. 
"    5.  Fruits  of  the  Half  Way 
Covenant. 


AMID  the  convulsive  throes  of  the  reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  a  new  people,  with  new  ideas  and  institutions,  was 
begotten.  Escaping  from  the  intolerance  of  the  Old  World,  and 
moved  by  profound  convictions  of  great  religious  responsibilities, 
they  sought  an  asylum  in  America.  As  yet  Protestantism  had  only 
passed  through  its  inceptive  stage.  It  had  been  neither  fully  de- 
veloped nor  tested,  for  the  necessary  conditions  had  not  hitherto  ex- 
existed.  In  America,  unembarrassed  by  the  institutions  of  the  Old 
World,  it  found  the  needful  opportunity.  By  its  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  Protestantism  broke  the  thraldom  of  the  hierarchy, 
which  claimed  to  be  the  only  medium  of  Divine  communication,  and 
threw  each  individual  upon  himself  and  his  God.  Thus  personal  re- 
ligion passed  from  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  sacraments  and 
arbitrary  prerogatives  into  stern  and  irrepressible  conflicts  with  in- 
dividual lusts  and  worldly  influences.  Instead  of  pompous  rituals 
there  were  the  deep  realities  of  the  inner  life.  The  scourge  of  the 
hierarchy  disappeared,  but  the  struggle  with  sense  and  self  went  on. 

Still  recognizing  the  neccessity  of  a  church,  Protestantism  never- 
theless pressed  with  powerful  intensity  upon  each  individual  the 
fact  of  his  personal  responsibility,  and  that  he  must  carry  the  burden 
of  his  own  sins  to  the  foot  of  the  cross.  He  must  seek  for  himself 
access  to  God,  and,  in  the  spirit  of  adoption  begotten  in  his  heart 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  must  find  a  sweeter  satisfaction  than  priestly 
absolutions  or  benedictions  can  impart. 

What  was  to  be  the  effect  of  these  new  religious  conditions  in 
the  actual  life  of  Protestant  communities?  Would  religion  under 
the  fluctuation  of  individual  affections,  and  the  vacillation  of  indi- 
vidual wills,  be  characterized  by  alternations  from  enthusiasm  to 
apathy  ?  Or  would  this  be  only  the  more  apparent  and  earlier 
aspect,  while  a  closer  scrutiny  would  reveal  a  deep,  strong  flow  of 


126  CHRISTIAXITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

religious  life,  more  spiritual  and  real  than  the  products  of  priestly 
functions?  Such  was  one  phase  of  the  religious  problem  to  be 
solved  on  the  American  continent. 

The  religious  life  of  the  new  communites  in  the  colonial  era — 
an  era  of  crudeness,  privation,  fluctuation  and  embarrassment,  with 
a  semi-dependence  upon  European  States  and  churches — now  opens 
to  inspection. 

The  survey  of  this  period  will  not  be  exhaustive,  leading  phases 
being  chiefly  noticed,  but  with  sufficient  fullness  to  show  the  moral 
and  religious  character  of  the  times. 


Section  i.— From  1607  to  1662. 

The  colonies  comprised  within  this  period  were  those  of  Virginia, 
New  England,  New  York,  and  Maryland. 

Virginia. 

Among  the  cavaliers  who  founded  this  "  Mother  of  the  Southern 
Colonies"  religious  ideas  were  not  the  most  prominent,  and  yet  the 
early  records  afford  ample  evidence  that  it  was  founded  as  a 
Christian  colony.*  The  piety  of  the  emigrants,  stimulated  by  the 
exhortations  of  their  pastor,  led  to  the  almost  immediate  erection 
of  an  edifice  which  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God. 
When  Lord  De  La  War  arrived  with  a  new  body  of  colonists,  in 
i6io,  the  church  bell  was  rung,  and  the  people  repaired  to  the 
sanctuary  and  united  in  thanksgiving  and  prayer.  In  the  same 
year  the  Council  of  Virginia  put  forth  an  eloquent  and  stirring 
appeal,  full  of  the  genuine  spirit  of  missions,  seldom  exceeded  by 
public  religious  bodies  in  more  recent  times.f 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  first   colonists  of  Virginia,  who  up  to 

*The  language  of  the  royal  instructions  to  the  first  colonists  was,  "  to  provide  that  the  true 
Word  and  service  of  God  be  preached,  planted,  and  used,  not  only  in  the  said  colony,  but  also  as 
much  as  might  be  among  the  savages  bordering  upon  them,  according  to  the  rites  and  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  England."     Burk's  History  of  ]'irginia.     Vol.  I,  p.  91. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  grant  assigned  in  the  first  charter  was  that  the  colony,  "  under  the 
providence  of  Almighty  God,  might  tend  to  the  glory  of  his  divine  Majesty,  in  propagating  the 
Christian  religion  to  such  people  as  yet  live  in  darkness  and  miserable  ignorance  of  the  true 
knowledge  and  worship  of  God."     Chapter  I.  V{.a.z^.^A^s  State  Papers,  p.  51. 

+  "  O,  all  ye  worthies,  follow  the  ever-sounding  trumpet  of  a  blessed  honor  ;  let  religion  be 
the  first  aim  of  your  hopes,  and  other  things  shall  be  cast  unto  you  ;  your  names  shall  be  registered 
to  posterity  with  a  glorious  title.  These  are  the  men  whom  God  raised  up  to  augment  the  state 
of  their  country  and  to  propagate  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Neither  ought  any  man  to  live 
under  Augustus  as  if  he  lived  under  Domitian,  to  whom  sluggishness  and  privacy  is  imputed  for 
wisdom  and  policy.  The  same  God  that  hath  joined  three  kingdoms  under  one  Cassar  will  not 
be  wanting  to  add  a  fourth,  if  we  would  dissolve  the  frosty  iceinesse  that  chilleth  our  zeal  and 


S/Ji   THOMAS  DALE.  127 

this  time  had  been  left  to  their  own  sense  of  piety  and  the  instruc- 
tions of  their  spiritual  teachers  in  promoting  the  cause  of  religion. 
Nothing  more  definite  had  been  said  than  that  the  colonists  were 
expected  to  conform  to  the  Church  of  England.  But  from  the  ar- 
rival of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  as  governor,  in  i6i  i,  the  London  Company 
attempted  to  regulate  the  religious  affairs  of  the  colony.  "  Lavves 
Diuine,  morall,  and  martiall,"*  were  furnished,  "  to  aid  the  colon- 
ists in  keeping  a  good  conscience."  This  was  supposed  to  be  neces- 
sary from  the  character  of  the  emigrants  who  at  that  time  were  added 
to  the  colony.  Many  of  them  were  "  broken  down  gentlemen  or  per- 
sons fleeing  from  crime  and  shame,  dissolute  and  profligate  in 
habits,  and  unwilling  to  devote  themselves  to  honest  toil."  Such 
laws,  however,  produced  little  restraint  upon  these  classes,  and  a 
serious  deterioration  in  morals  was  every  year  perceptible  in  the 
colony.  This  tendency  was  increased  by  the  difficulty  in  obtaining 
good  clergymen  from  England,  and  the  tyranny  and  rapacity  of 
Captain  Argyll,  who  became  deputy  governer  in  1617. 

Amid  the  general  corruption,  there  were  two  ministers  in  this 
earliest  period  who  were  eminent  for  piety  and  usefulness.  Rev. 
Robert  Hunt  was  a  leader  in  the  original  colony  and  the  first  pas- 
tor. A  man  of  modest  and  sterling  Christian  character,  he  exerted  a 
salutary  influence  upon  the  people.  He  was  especially  noted  for 
reconciling  animosities,  restraining  the  passionate,  cheering  the  de- 
spondent, and  for  unselfish  devotion  to  his  work.  In  161 1,  the  second 
church  was  established,  in  the  town  of  Henrico,  and  committed  to 
the  care  of  Rev.  Alexander  Whitaker.f     At  his  hands  the  celebrated 

maketh  us  so  cold  in  the  action.  But  it  is  a  mere  idea,  speculation,  and  fancy  to  sowe  spareingly, 
and  to  expect  for  to  reape  plentifully;  when  a  penurious  supply  is  like  the  casting  on  of  a  little 
water  upon  a  great  fire,  that  quencheth  not  the  heat,  but  augments  it.  .  .  .  Let  no  man  adore 
his  gold  as  his  God,  nor  his  mammon  as  his  Maker.  If  God  have  scattered  his  blessings  upon 
you  as  snow,  will  you  return  no  tributary  acknowledgements  of  his  goodnesse?  If  you  will,  can 
you  select  a  mure  excellent  subject  than  to  cast  down  the  altar  of  divels,  that  you  may  raise  up 
the  altar  of  Christ,  to  forbid  the  sacrifice  of  men,  that  they  may  offer  up  the  sacrifice  of  contrite 
spirits.  .  .  .  Doubt  ye  not  but  God  hath  determined  and  demonstrated  that  he  will  raise  our 
state  and  build  his  Church  in  this  most  excellent  climate,  if  our  action  be  seconded  with  resolu- 
tion and  religion."  See  A  True  Declaration  of  the  Estate  of  the  Virginia  Colony.  Published  by 
advice  and  direction  of  the  Council  of  Virginia,  London  1610.  Also  History  0/  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Virginia.     By  Rev.  Franicis  L.  Hawks  D.D.  1836.     Harper  &  Brothers.     Pp.  30,  31. 

*Stith's  History  0/  Virginia.     P.  122,  and  Burk's  History  0/  Virginia^  Vol.  I,  p.  165. 

+  The  following  description  of  Mr.  Whitaker's  character  was  sketched  by  a  contemporary  :  "  I 
hereby  let  all  men  know  that  a  schoUer,  a  graduate,  a  preacher  well  borne  and  friended  in  En- 
gland, not  in  debt  nor  disgrace,  but  competently  provided  for,  and  liked  and  beloved  where  he 
lived  ;  not  in  want,  but  (for  a  scholler,  and  as  these  days  be)  rich  in  possession,  and  more  in 
possibilitie  ;  of  himself,  without  any  persuasion,  (but  God's  and  his  pwn  heart)  did  voluntarily 
leave  his  warme  nest,  and  to  the  wonder  of  his  kindred  and  the  amazement  of  them  that  knew 
him,  undertook  this  hard,  but  in  my  judgement,  heroicall  resolution,  to  go  to  Virginia,  and  help 
to  beare  the  name  of  God  unto  the  Gentiles." 


128  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Indian  princess  Pocahontas  received  Christian  baptism,  and  by  him 
also  she  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mr.  Rolfe.  Mr.  VVhitaker  was 
honored  with  the  title  of  "  the  Apostle  of  Virginia." 

The  Virginia  Company  seem  to  have  felt  the  importance  of  pro- 
moting education  in  the  colony.  As  early  as  1619  they  recom- 
mended "  that  each  town,  borough  and  hundred,  should  procure, 
by  just  means,  a  certain  number  of  Indian  children,  to  be  brought 
up  in  the  first  elements  of  literature;  and  that  the  most  towardly 
of  them  should  be  fitted  for  college,"  *  in  an  edifice  to  be  erected  for 
that  purpose.  In  furtherance  of  this  object  the  king  sent  letters  to 
the  bishops  of  England,  directing  that  collections  should  be  taken 
in  all  the  churches.  The  object,  as  stated,  was  "  for  training  up  and 
educating  infidel  (heathen)  children  in  the  knowledge  of  God."  f 
In  the  midst  of  these  efforts  the  project  received  a  death-blow  by 
the  great  Indian  massacre  of  March  22,  1622,  which  was  followed 
by  a  long  and  distracting  Indian  war.  Seventy  years  then  elapsed 
before  another  attempt  to  found  a  college. 

Forty  years  after  the  founding  of  the  colony  the  condition  of 
religion  was  very  low.  In  1642  a  messenger  from  Virginia  visited 
Boston,  bearing  letters  from  individuals  in  that  colony,  "bewailing 
their  sad  condition,  for  the  want  of  the  means  of  salvation,  and 
earnestly  asking  a  supply  of  faithful  ministers."  The  ministers  sent 
were  warmly  welcomed  by  a  few,  and  their  labors  were  attended 
with  some  success,  X  but  they  were  soon  dismissed  from  the  colony 
and  their  congregations  scattered.  § 

In  referring  to  this  period  Bishop  Meade  \  has  said,  "  I  do  not 
question  the  piety  and  fidelity  of  some  of  the  people  and  pastors 
during  the  whole  history.  But  that  its  spiritual  condition  was  ever 
at  any  time  even  tolerably  good,  bearing  a  comparison  with  the 
mother  Church,  over  whose  defects  also  there  was  so  much  cause  to 
mourn,  faithful  history  forbids  us  to  believe.  Many  were  the  disad- 
vantages under  which  she  had  to  labor  during  neariy  the  whole  period 
of  her  connection  with  the  Government  of  England,  which  were 
well  calculated  to  sink  her  character  beneath  that  of  the  Church  of 
England  and  of  some  other  churches  in  America.  Immense  were 
the  difficulties  of  getting  a  full  supply  of  ministers  of  any  character, 

*  Burk's  History  of   Virginia,  p.  225. 

t  Stith's  History  0/  Virginia,  p.  162. 

;  Winthrop's/oj/rwa/.  By  Savage,  p.  334.  K\s,o  American  Quarterly  Register,  "iiov.  1831,  pp. 
125,  126. 

§  History  0/ the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  by  Dr.  Hawks,  p.  57- 

I  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Virginia,  by  Bishop  Meade.  Philadelphia,  J.  B. 
Lippincott  &  Co.,  1857,  Vol.  I,  pp.  13,  14. 


PURITAN  RELIGIOUS  LIFE.  129 

and  of  those  who  came  how  few  were  faithful,  and  duly  qualified  for 
the  station ! 

"  The  Council  of  Virginia  also  addressed  the  most  solemn  and 
pathetic  appeals  to  the  clergy  of  England,  beseeching  them  to  come 
over  to  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  the  colony,  though  it  is  to  be 
feared  with  little  success;  for,  in  the  year  1655,  it  is  recorded  that 
many  places  were  destitute  of  ministers  and  likely  still  to  continue 
so,  the  people  not  paying  their  '  accustomed  dues.**  There  were 
at  this  time  about  fifty  parishes  in  the  colony,  most  of  which  were 
destitute  of  clergymen,  as  there  were  only  ten  ministers  for  their 
supply." 

New  England. 

The  settlement  of  New  England  followed  thirteen  years  behind 
Virginia.  The  high  religious  character  of  its  Pilgrim  and  Puritan 
founders  has  passed  into  undisputed  history.  Their  religion  was 
not  merely  an  abstract  principle.  It  existed  in  vigorous  concrete 
forms  and  was  both  a  dogma  and  a  life.  Whatever  became  its  sub- 
sequent condition,  religion  was  the  chief  concern  of  the  first  set- 
tlers. From  1630  to  1660  revivals  of  religion  were  very  numerous, 
well-nigh  uninterrupted,  in  some  of  the  leading  churches.  The 
pulpit  ministrations  of  some  early  Puritan  ministers  have  been 
described  as  very  spiritual,  "  lively,  searching  and  awakening."  The 
Holy  Spirit  was  copiously  poured  out,  and  spiritual  power  was  the 
distinctive  glory  of  the  churches — the  legitimate  result  of  the  intense 
religious  motives  that  prompted  the  emigration.  In  the  early 
colonial  annals  it  is  said,  "  some  of  their  ministers  seldom  preached 
without  producing  religious  awakenings."  This  was  particularly 
true  of  Revs.  Messrs.  Cotton,  of  Boston,  and  Shepard  and 
Mitchell,  of  Cambridge.  In  1634,  under  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Cotton, 
marked  revival  influences  f  were  enjoyed,  and  from  that  time  to 
1652  six  hundred  and  forty-nine :{:  persons  were  received  into  the 
First  Church,  in  nearly  equal  numbers  of  men  and  women. 

The  Sabbath  services  were  usually  protracted  to  a  great  length, 
and  in  the  evening  of  the  Lord's  day  the  sermons  which  had  been 
listened  to  in  public  were  repeated  and  reviewed  at  home.  Meet- 
ings were  also  held  during  the  week,  by  the  male  members  of  the 
church,  for  recapitulating  and  discussing  the  Sabbath  services.     The 

*  The  clergy  were  supported  by  a  tax  paid  in  tobacco. 

t  Winthrop's/oKr««/,  Dec.  1633,  gives  a  valuable  testimonial  to  the  character  of  Mr.  Cotton, 
as  a  man  and  a  minister. 

X  See  Emerson's  History  0/  the  First  Church,   Boston,  p.  8i. 

9 


130  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

time  not  absolutely  required  for  secular  business  was  given  to  relig- 
ious discourse.  Religious  lectures  were  delivered  each  week,  involv- 
ing an  amount  of  labor  which  made  two  pastors  necessary  in  the 
larger  churches.  It  is  said  that  at  one  time  an  excess  of  religious 
services  in  some  places  interfered  with  the  necessary  secular  labors 
of  the  infant  colony,  and  obliged  the  magistrates  to  restrict  the 
week-day  lectures  to  one  each  week.  But  even  then  some  of  the 
people  would  go  from  town  to  town  to  attend  them.  An  annual 
fast-day  in  the  spring,  and  a  day  of  thanksgiving  in  the  autumn, 
were  the  only  holidays,  and.  they  were  religiously  observed.  Christ- 
mas, Lent  and  other  festivals  of  the  Romish  and  English  churches, 
were  wholly  discarded  as  idolatrous,  and  the  eating  of  mince  pies 
on  Christmas,  or  any  thing  else  giving  to  the  day  a  festive  character, 
was  regarded  as  superstitious  and  wicked.  In  their  revolt  from  the 
papal  doctrine  of  marriage  as  a  sacrament,  they  declared  it  to  be  a 
civil  contract,  to  be  administered  by  a  magistrate;  while  baptism, 
instead  of  being  dispensed  to  all,  as  in  the  older  churches,  was 
restricted  to  the  spiritually  regenerated  and  their  offspring.  All 
amusements  were  proscribed  and  gayety  was  regarded  as  a  sin,  so 
that  the  colony  became  noted  for  the  rigor  and  austerity  of  its 
morals — "  a  convent  of  Puritan  devotees." 

The  New  England  fathers  of  this  period  were  men  of  prayer,  with 
an  overpowering  sense  of  the  sovereignty  of  God,  his  direct  interven- 
tion in  all  human  occurrences,  and  the  power  of  prayer  to  reach  and 
influence  him.  The  annals  of  the  old  churches  are  full  of  records 
of  special  days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  days  of  thanksgiving 
and  praise.  Nothing  seemed  too  great  or  too  trivial  to  be  brought 
to  the  throne  of  grace. 

The  early  churches  of  Cambridge  and  Watertown  were  favored 
with  the  labors  of  eminently  spiritual  men — Revs.  Thomas  Shep- 
ard  and  George  Phillips — the  former  styled  the  Baxter  of  New 
England.  When  the  location  of  Harvard  College  was  being  deter- 
mined, in  1638,  Cambridge  was  selected  because  of  "  the  energy 
and  searching  character  of  Mr.  Shepard's  preaching  and  his  skill 
in  detecting  errors."  *  His  congregation  was  quaintly  described  f  as 
**  a  gracious,  savory,  spirited  people,  principled  by  Mr.  Shepard, 
liking  a  humbling,  mourning,  heart-breaking  ministry  and  spirit ;  liv- 
ing in  religion,  praying  men  and  women."  •  Mr.  Shepard  deeply 
impressed  the  students  of  the  infant  college,  and  many  eminent 
preachers  trained   there  confessed   their  great  indebtedness  to  his 

*  American  Quarterly  Register,  Nov.,  1831,  p.  126. 
t  By  his  successor,  Mr.  Mitchell. 


RE  V.  JON  A  THAN  All  TCHELL.  1 3  1 

words  and  example.  One  of  them,  Rev.  Jonathan  Mitchell,  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard  College  in  1648,  followed  Mr.  Shepard  in  the 
pastorate  of  the  Cambridge  Church  in  1650,  and  nearly  rivaled 
him  in  talents  and  piety.  He  was  called  "  the  holy,  meek  and  heav- 
enly Mitchell;"  "the  matchless  Mitchell."  Richard  Baxter  said  of 
him  that  "  if  there  could  be  convened  an  Ecumenical  Council  of 
the  whole  Christian  world  Mitchell  would  be  worthy  to  be  the 
moderator  of  it." 

Cambridge  was  an  important  religious  center.  Five  sessions  of 
the  early  Synod  were  held  there  between  1637  and  1689.*  'Ihe 
Synod  which  settled  the  famous  controversy  with  Ann  Hutch- 
inson and  the  other  Antinomians  met  with  this  church.  In  this 
place,  also,  the  celebrated  "  Cambridge  Platform  "  was  adopted,  and 
missionaries  were  first  sent  forth  among  the  Indians — the  first  Prot- 
estant missionaries  to  the  heathen.  The  first  printing-press  in 
America,  said  to  have  been  the  gift  of  friends  in  Holland,  was  set 
up  in  Cambridge  under  the  charge  of  Stephen  Day,  and  a  metrical 
version  of  the  Psalms,  prepared  by  Eliot,  Welde  and  Mather,  was 
published,  and  long  continued  in  use  in  the  New  England  churches. 
The  first  Protestant  translations  into  a  heathen  tongue — Eliot's 
Indian  Bible  and  religious  tracts  for  Indians — were  also  printed  there. 
In  these  works  the  Cambridge  Church,  under  the  lead  of  its  eminent 
pastor,  took  a  lively  interest,  f 

In  1636,  the  General  Court  founded  in  Cambridge  a  school  for 
the  education  of  ministers,  which  was  soon  after  endowed  by  Rev. 
John  Harvard  (who  died  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  colony),  with 
the  gift  of  his  library  and  half  of  his  estate  (iJ"8oo).  Thereupon, 
the  school  was  erected  into  a  college,  received  the  name  of  its  ben- 
efactor, and  was  placed  under  the  supervision  of  a  board  of  over- 
seers composed  of  magistrates  and  ministers  from  six  neighboring 
churches.  In  fixing  upon  a  location  for  this  institution  Salem 
was  passed  by,  on  account  of  some  Antinomian  tendencies  which 
had  appeared  there,  and  Newtown,  subsequently  called  Cambridge, 
was  chosen.     The  piety  X  of  the  students  was  diligently  cared  for  as 

*  Mather,  II,  pp.  192,  207,  238,  279,  289. 

+  See  historical  sketch  of  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  the  Congregational  Quar- 
terly, July,  1873,  pp.  384-394.     Also  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I,  p.  263. 

X  An  old  book  (Xew  England's  First  Fruits,  in  respect  to  the  progress  of  learning  in  the 
college  at  Cambridge,  in  Massachusetts  Bay.  London,  1643),  gives  the  following  among  other 
rules  of  the  college  at  this  time  : 

"  2.  Let  every  student  be  plainly  instructed  and  earnestly  pressed  to  consider  well,  that  the 
maine  end  of  his  life  and  studies  is  to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  eternal  life  (John 
17.  3),  and,  therefore,  to  lay  Christ  in  the  bottom,  as  the  only  foundation  of  all  sound  knowledge 
and  learning." 


132  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  primary  importance,  while  they  were  seeking  intellectual  culture. 
During  the  first  one  hundred  years  of  its  existence  a  little  more 
than  three  sevenths*  of  its  graduates  became  ministers  of  the 
Gospel. 

One  who  lived  sufficiently  near  the  early  colonial  period  to  be 
familiar  with  those  times  has  said  :  "  Although  the  generality,  both 
of  the  first  leaders,  heads  of  families,  and  freemen,  were  persons 
of  noted  piety;  yet  there  were  great  numbers,  not  only  of  the 
younger  sort,  both  children  and  servants,  but  also  of  every  age,  both 
in  the  year  1630  and  in  the  ten  following  years,  that  came  here  only 
under  the  common  impressions  of  a  pious  ministry,  or  education, 
or  the  religious  influence  of  their  friends,  or  the  heads  of  families 
they  belonged  to :  and  who  were,  therefore,  fit  materials  for  the 
numerous  conversions  which  quickly  followed  under  the  lively, 
searching  and  awakening  preaching  of  the  primitive  ministers."  f 
"  The  Spirit  from  on  high  was  poured  upon  them,  and  the  wilder- 
ness became  a  fruitful  field.  In  twenty-seven  years  from  the  first 
plantation  there  were  forty-three  churches  in  joint  communion  ;  and, 
in  twenty-seven  years  more,  there  appeared  more  than  fourscore 
churches ;  twelve  or  thirteen  in  Plymouth  Colony,  forty-seven  in 
Massachusetts  Colony  and  the  Province  of  New  Hampshire,  nine- 
teen in  Connecticut,  three  on  Long  Island,  and  one  at  Martha's 
Vineyard.":}:  The  communicants  in  the  New  England  churches  in 
1650,  were  reckoned  at  7,750.  § 

The  morals  of  this  early  period  were  of  a  high  order.  In  164 1 
Governor  Winthrop  made  the  following  entry  in  his  Journal:  "A 
great  training  in  Boston,  two  days.  About  1,200  persons  were  exer- 
cised in  most  sorts  of  land  service ;  yet  it  was  observed  that  there 
was  no  man  drunk  (though  there  was  plenty  of  wine  and  strong 
beer  in  the  town),  not  an  oath  sworn,  no  quarrel,  nor  any  hurt  done." 
It  is  stated  by  an  early  annalist  that  servants  and  vagrants  were  the 
authors  of  most  of  the  open  crimes  which  were  committed.  A 
prominent  minister  in  the  province,  in  1650,  said  to  his  congrega- 
tion, "  I  have  lived  in  the  country  seven  years,  and  all  that  time  1 

"  4-  That  they,  eschewing  all  profanation  of  God's  name,  attributes  and  ordinances,  and  times 
of  worship,  do  studie  with  all  good  conscience,  carefully  to  retaine  G<>d  and  the  law  of  his  truth 
ID  their  minds,  else  let  them  know  that  (notwithstanding  their  learning)  God  may  give  them  up 
to  strong  delusions,  and  in  the  end  to  a  reprobate  mind.  2  Thess.  2.  11,  12;  Rom.  i.  28." 

*  From  1643  to  1742,  there  were  1,421  praduates,  of  whom  641  became  ministers. 

t  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  in  a  sermon  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the  province,  in  May,  17J0. 

X  Christian  History,  pp.  63,  64. 

8  Emerson's  History  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  p.  8r.  In  1674  there  were  also  3,600 
prajine  Indians.     American  Quarterly  Register,  Feb.,  1832,  p.  203. 


LUTHERANS  IN  DELAWARE.  1S3 

have  never  heard  one  profane  oath  nor  seen  a  man  drunk."  *  The 
Sabbath  was  kept  with  extreme  strictness.  AH  men,  even  strangers 
temporarily  stopping  in  a  place,  were  required  to  attend  public  wor- 
ship, or  "  to  keep  themselves  quiet  in  their  houses."  f  Some  individ- 
uals who  found  the  atmosphere  too  pure  and  religion  too  prominent 
returned  in  disgust  to  England  and  grossly  slandered  the  colonists. 

That  there  was  an  extreme  and  impracticable  rigidity  in  the 
spirit  of  many  of  these  early  Puritan  settlers  cannot  be  denied. 
But  this  was  a  relic  of  the  intolerance  against  which  they  had 
revolted  and  into  which  they  were  betrayed  in  their  zeal  for  the 
truth. X 

New  York. 

The  trading  stations  which  constituted  the  first  occupancy  of  New 
York  soon  grew  into  permanent  settlements,  after  the  organization 
of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  in  162 1.  While  the  chief  motive 
was  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  they  very  early  adopted  measures  to 
have  the  Gospel  preached,  and  churches  were  established.  But  the 
progress  of  religion  in  the  Dutch  colonies  was  slow,  owing  to  the 
worldly  spirit  of  the  early  settlers,  the  formal  character  of  their 
piety,  the  agitations  connected  with  the  Indian  hostilities,  and  the 
dependence  of  the  churches  for  pastors  upon  the  classis  of  Amster- 
dam, which,  at  so  great  a  distance,  could  only  imperfectly  judge  as 
to  the  character  of  the  ministers  best  suited  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  colony.  And  yet,  with  all  these  disadvantages,  religious  institu- 
tions were  maintained,  education  was  promoted,  and  morals,  though 
not  austere,  were  strict  and  wholesome. 

Delaware. 

In  1637  two  ship-loads  of  Swedish  Lutherans  settled  in  Delaware. 
This  settlement  was  in  the  interest  of  Protestant  Christianity.  Much 
desire  was  manifested  for  the  evangelization  of  the  Indians,  and 
Luther's  Smaller  Catechism  was  published  in  their  language.  At 
the  time  Eliot  was  performing  his  truly  apostolic  work  in  behalf  of 
the  Indians  in  New  England,  Lutheran  missionaries  were  engaged 

*See  preface  to  sermons  published  in  Boston,  in  1721,  by  Dr.  Increase  Mather. 

+  Winthrop's  Journal,  1646. 

J  "  If  a  body  of  men  be  deprived  of  their  dearest  rights  for  professing:  conscientious  opinions, 
it  is  natural  that  they  should  attach  more  importance  to  those  opinions  than  if  they  were  allowed 
their  free  exercise.  It  not  only  makes  them  more  sturdy  champions  of  their  belief,  but  it  leads 
them  into  intolerance  toward  others."  Essays  and  Reviews,  by  Edwin  P.  Whipple,  New  Yorlc 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.  1848.  Vol.  I,  p.  204.  Article,  Neal's  "  History  of  the  Puritans,"  North 
American  Review,  January,  1845. 


184  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

in  the  same  holy  work  in  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania.  The  royal  in- 
structions to  the  governor  of  thiscolony  especially  enjoined  that  the 
true  worship  of  God  and  a  pure  faith  should  be  maintained.  * 


Section  ^.— From  1662  to  1720. 

This  was  a  period  of  marked  religious  declension  in  all  the 
colonies. 

Virginia. 

That  it  should  be  necessary  in  Virginia  to  enact  a  law  requiring 
the  clergy  to  preach  constantly  every  Sabbath,  and  to  administer 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  least  twice  each  year,  is,  of 
itself,  a  significant  fact.  Passing  down  to  the  close  of  the  first 
century  of  the  colony,  only  a  few  more  churches  appear  to  have  been 
established,  and,  though  glebes  and  parishes  had  been  provided,  not 
more  than  one  half  of  the  congregations  were  supplied  with 
ministers,  the  others  being  served  by  lay-readers.  '*  As  to  the 
unworthy  hireling  clergy  of  the  colony,  there  was  no  ecclesiastical 
discipline  to  correct  or  punish  their  irregularities  and  vices.  The 
authority  of  a  commissary  f  was  a  very  insufificient  substitute  for 
the  superintendence  of  a  faithful  bishop.  The  better  part  of  the 
clergy  and  some  of  the  laity  long  and  earnestly  petitioned  for  a 
faithful  resident  bishop,  as  the  Bishop  of  London  was,  of  necessity, 
only  the  nominal  bishop.  For  about  two  hundred  years  did  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  Virginia  try  the  experiment  of  a  system  whose 
constitution  required  such  a  head  but  was  actually  without  it.  No 
such  officer  was  there  to  watch  over  the  conduct  and  punish  the 
vices  of  the  clergy;  none  to  administer  the  rite  of  confirmation,  and 
thus  admit  the  faithful  to  the  Supper  of  the  Lord."  X  Under 
such  circumstances  the  religious  tendency  was  inevitably  down- 
ward, and   the  morals  also  correspondingly  declined. 

A  passing  tribute  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Rev.  James  Blair,  D.D., 
who  contributed  in  his  day  more  than  any  other  individual  in  the 
southern  colonies  to  the  cause  of  learning  and  the  diffusion  of 
Christianity.      A  native   of  Scotland,   where   he  also   received  his 

*  Article  on  the  "  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  the  United  States,"  \n  ihs  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  July,  1868,  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Brown,  D.D.,  Professor  in  Gettysburg  Theological  Seminary, 
PP-  437.  438- 

tAn  officer  of  the  bishop  exercising^  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  distant  parts  of  his  diocese. 

XOld  Churches,  Ministers,  and  Families  0/ Virginia.  VoL  I,  p.  15.  By  Bishop  Meade, 
Philadelphia.     J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  1857. 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.  135 

education,  and  was  beneficed  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  quitted 
his  preferments  and  went  to  England  near  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.  The  Bishop  of  London  prevailed  upon  him  to  go  as 
missionary  to  Virginia  in  1685.  Having  studied  the  wants  of  the 
colony,  and  performed  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of  religion,  in 
1689  he  was  appointed  commissary  :  the  first  officer  of  this  class 
ever  appointed,  and  a  position  which  he  held,  in  intimate  association 
with  the  Bishop  of  London,  for  fifty-three  years.  Dr.  Blair  has  been 
described  as  "eminently  a  practical  man,"  of  "  sincere  piety,  a  clear 
mind,  and  indefatigable  perseverance."  To  his  labors  may  be 
directly  attributed  the  founding  of  William  and  Mary  College,  in 
1693,  of  which  institution  he  was  president  forty-nine  years.  He  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  after  a  ministry  of  sixty-four  years,  and  for 
fifty  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  king's  council.  He  left  four  vol- 
umes of  sermons,  which  were  highly  commended  by  Dr.  Doddridge.* 

Maryland. 

There  is  no  evidence  of  the  organization  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland  until  about  1675.!  There  were, 
doubtless,  communicants  of  that  Church  in  the  province,  but  they 
were  not  numerous.  In  1676  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of 
the  province  was  represented  %  as  most  deplorable.  In  ten  or 
twelve  counties  there  were  only  three  clergymen  of  the  English 
Church.  The  Lord's  day  was  generally  profaned,  religion  was 
despised,  and  "  all  notorious  vices  were  committed,  so  that  it  had  be- 
come a  Sodom  of  uncleanness  and  a  pest-house  of  iniquity."  In  1684 
the  number  of  the  clergy  had  increased,  but  they  were  "  remarkable  for 
their  laxity  of  morals  and  scandalous  behavior,  utterly  inconsistent 
with  the  sacred  office."  §  From  1678  to  1692  there  was  a  series  of 
movements  indicating  a  revolution  against  the  Roman  Catholics. 
Protestantism  was  in  the  majority,  ||  and  a  spirit  of  deep  unrest 
under  Catholic  administration  rapidly  increased  until  1692,  when 
the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  English  throne  afforded  an 
opportunity  to  change  the  character  of  the  government.  The  pro- 
prietary came  to  an  end  and  the  provincial  form  was  adopted, 
bringing  the  province  directly  under  the  officers  of  the  crown,  and 

♦See  Hawks's  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  pp.  74,  75. 
\  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland.     By  Rev.  Frauds  L,  Hawks. 
New  York,  1839.     Published  by  John  S.  Taylor. 

X  Letter  from  Rev.  Mr.  Yeo,  of  Patuxent,  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.     Hawks,  p.  48, 49. 
§  Hawks,  p.  54  ;  also,  British  Empire  in  America.     Vol.  I,  p.  333. 
I  Hawks,  p.  ^. 


136  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  Episcopal  Church  was  formally  established  as  the  religion  of  the 
State.  This  was  fully  consummated  in  1702,  but  the  condition  of 
morals  was  not  improved.  A  letter  from  one  of  the  clergy  to 
the  Bishop  of  London,  in  1714,  drew  a  dark  picture  of  the  moral 
and  religious  condition  of  the  province.*  In  1722  the  number  of 
parishes  was  thirty-eight,  varying  from  nine  to  seventy  miles  in 
length,  with  eleven  hundred  Episcopal  families  and  three  thousand 
communicants.  During  this  period  a  considerable  number  of 
Baptist,  Quaker,  and  Presbyterian  churches  were  founded  in  this 
province. 

New  York. 

But  little  religious  progress  was  made  in  the  colony  of  New  York. 
Local  circumstances  embarrassed  the  churches.  The  Dutch  churches 
were  still  ecclesiastically  dependent  upon  the  mother  church  in 
Amsterdam.  The  colony  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  and  a 
new  class  of  settlers  came  in,  resulting  in  the  establishment  of  the 
English  Church  in  1693,  and  general  taxation  for  its  support.  This 
produced  dissatisfaction  and  irritation. 

Pennsylvania. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  Pennsylvania  was  settled  by  the 
Quakers.  Founded  upon  the  principle  of  unlimited  toleration,  the 
colony  became  a  favorite  resort  for  people  of  all  creeds,  where  they 
dwelt  together  in  delightful  tranquillity  and  harmony.  No  act  of 
intolerance  or  of  persecution  ever  disgraced  this  colony.  Churches 
multiplied  and  spread  into  the  interior,  the  Quakers  and  Presby- 
terians being  the  most  numerous.  The  morality  of  the  people  was 
of  a  high  order,  and  the  spirituality  of  religion  was  genuine  and 
unaffected. 

To  Rev.  Francis  Makemie  belongs  the  honor  of  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country.  A  man  of 
indefatigable  zeal,  clear-sighted,  sagacious,  fearless,  and  inspired 
by  a  truly  apostolic  spirit,  he  was  pre-eminently  adapted  to  the 
work.  But  the  circumstances  of  the  times  taxed  his  virtues  and  his 
strength  to  the  utmost.  A  true  "  itinerant  missionary,  and  in 
reality  the  bishop  of  a  primitive  diocese,"  f  he  was  emphatically  "  in 
labors  abundant."  He  extended  his  circuit  from  Long  Island  to 
Maryland,  and  visited  New  England,  Old  England,  and  Scotland  in 

*  Hawks,  p.  136. 

fGillett's  History  0/  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     VoL  I,  p.  5. 


RELIGIOUS  COLDNESS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  137 

furtherance  of  his  work,  founding  churches  and  obtaining  ministers 
and  funds.  The  obstacles  which  he  everywhere  encountered  were 
spiritual  coldness  and  formality.  Presbyterianism  in  America  had  its 
origin  during  the  dark  and  gloomy  period  preceding  the  great  Edward- 
ian and  Whitefieldian  revivals.  In  addition  to  the  unfavorable  local 
circumstances  and  tendencies  in  this  country,  it  was  a  time  of 
spiritual  decay  and  heresy  abroad.  "  The  Presbyterian  churches  of 
Switzerland  had  extensively  fallen  away  from  the  vital  doctrines  of 
the  Gospel.  The  writings  of  Whiston,  Clarke,  and  Hoadley,  in 
England,  followed  by  the  debates  and  publications  of  dissenters  at 
Salter's  Hall,  showed  that  in  London  all  was  not  sound,  even  among 
those  who  bore  the  honored  name  of  the  Puritan  ancestry.  In 
Scotland,  moreover,  the  seeds  of  unsound  doctrine  had  been  widely 
sown."  *  In  receiving  ministers,  therefore,  from  the  mother  country 
at  this  time,  the  early  Presbyterian  churches  in  America  were  com- 
pelled to  exercise  the  greatest  care. 

New  England. 

In  New  England,  also,  where,  in  the  earlier  period,  such  deep 
spirituaHty  had  prevailed,  a  sad  and  general  decline  of  piety  and 
morals  was  manifest.  The  year  1662  marks  a  transitional  point  in 
the  churches  of  New  England.  The  adoption  of  the  celebrated 
half-way  covenant  f  that  year  opened  the  door  for  worldliness, 
formality,  and  dangerous  errors.  In  1670  a  decay  in  spirituality 
was  very  apparent.  Rev.  Samuel  Danforth,  of  Roxbury,  spoke  of 
"  the  temper,  complexion,  and  countenance  of  the  churches  as  being 
strangely  altered,"  and  "  a  cold,  careless,  dead  frame  of  spirit "  as 
having  "  grown  steadily  "  upon  them.  In  1678  Increase  Mather 
spoke  of  "  conversions  "  as  "  rare."  "  The  body  of  the  rising 
generation  is  a  poor,  perishing,  unconverted,  and,  except  the  Lord 
pour  down  his  Spirit,  an  undone  generation.  Many  are  profane, 
drunkards,  lascivious,  scoffers  at  the  power  of  godliness."  In  1683 
Rev.  Samuel  Torry,  of  Weymouth,  said :  "  Oh,  the  many  symptoms 
of  death  that  are  upon  our  religion  !  "  "  As  converting  work  doth 
cease,  so  doth  religion  die  away ;  though  more  insensibly,  yet  most 
irrevocably.  How  much  is  religion  dying  in  the  hearts  of  sincere 
Christians  !"  In  1702  Increase  Mather  said  :  "  Look  into  our  pulpits 
and  see  if  there  is  such  a  glory  there  as  there  once  was.     Look  into 


*  History  0/  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.      By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D., 
Vol.  I,  p.  50. 

t  See  chapter  on  the  Diverse  Currents  of  Religious  Sentiment,  and  Section  5  of  this  chapter. 


138  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  civil  State.  Does  Christ  reign  there  as  he  once  did  ?  How 
many  churches,  how  many  towns  there  are  in  New  England  over 
which  we  may  sigh  and  say,  the  glory  is  gone!"  Dr.  Trumbull 
represented  the  condition  of  things  in  Connecticut  at  that  time  as 
very  similar.  In  1705  there  was  a  partial  reformation  in  Eastern 
Massachusetts,  and  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  there  were 
occasional  revivals.  Under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard, 
at  Northampton,  in  a  period  of  sixty  years  there  were  five  revivals 
— in  1679,  1683,  1696,  1712,  and  1718.  Notwithstanding  these  few 
revivals,  in  1720  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  New  England 
had  sadly  declined  from  what  it  was  eighty  years  before. 
/  Several  causes  contributed  to  this  general  declension  in  religion, 
the  most  important  of  which  were — thestormy  political  aspect  of  the 
times,  being  a  period  of  frequent  and  violent  changes  in  the  mother 
country,  for  the  most  part,  under  the  licentious  and  debauched 
court  of  Charles  II.,  then  of  James  II,,  and  finally  under  the  some- 
what improved  but  constantly  disturbed  administration  of  William 
III.,  all  of  which  very  sensibly  affected  the  English  colonies  ;  the 
emigration  of  new  classes  of  inhabitants  who,  unlike  the  earliest 
settlers,  were  actuated  by  worldly  motives,  and  were  restive  under 
religious  restraints;  in  New  England  the  celebrated  "half-way 
covenant"  which  involved  a  vital  change  in  the  conditions  of  church 
membership,  destroying  the  fundamental  distinction  of  the  Church 
as  a  separated  and  consecrated  community,  and  the  new  currents 
of  sentiment  which  were  setting  in  from  the  Old  World  under  the 
influence  of  the  rising  spirit  of  radical  inquiry. 

A  corruption  in  manners  had  been  working  downward  through 
English  society  from  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The  pages  of  Addi- 
son, Steele,  Johnson,  and  Goldsmith  afford  ample  evidence  of  the 
general  prevalence  of  frivolity  and  profligacy.  The  example  of  the 
mother  country  was  contagious,  and  the  children  of  the  Pilgrims,  the 
Covenanters  and  the  Cavaliers  sadly  deteriorated  in  style  of  character 
and  life.  A  growing  liberality  in  thought,  and  an  increasing  tend- 
ency to  deistical  philosophy,  during  the  reigns  of  William  III.  and 
the  Georges  diverted  men's  minds  from  the  old  channels  of  opinion 
and  threatened  to  undermine  the  long-cherished  doctrines.  The 
first  results  of  these  influences  were  felt  in  the  American  churches 
early  in  the  last  century.  The  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  fathers 
had  passed  away,  and  their  devotion,  self-sacrifice,  and  sanctity  of 
life  had  subsided  into  staleness  of  thought  and  stagnancy  of  feeling 
in  all  the  colonies. 


IMPRESSIVE  EVENTS.  139 

Section  5.— From   1720   to   1745. 
The  Whole  Field. 

At  the   opening  of  this  period,  the   Episcopal  was  the  Estab- 
lished Church  in  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  Mary- 
land    and    New  York,  and    it  also    commanded  the   special  favor 
of  the  civil  authorities  in   New  Jersey.      The  Dutch  Church  also 
existed  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  the  Quakers  held  ex- 
tensive  sway  in   Pennsylvania,   New  Jersey,    and  Delaware.     The 
Presbyterians  and  the  Baptists  had  established  a  few  churches   m 
all  the  Middle  States.     The  Baptists  had  some  churches  in  three  of 
the  New  England  States.     The   Roman  Catholics   existed  only  in 
Maryland,  but  even  there  they  were   deprived  of  the  privilege   of 
holding  public  religious  services.     There  were  a  few  Mennonites  and 
other  small  bodies.     The  largest   denomination    of  Christians  was 
the   Congregational,  which  had  almost  exclusive  possession  of  New 
Encrland.     The  total  population  of  the  colonies  in   1700  was  about 
320^000,  and  in   1750  they  had  increased  to  about  1,320,000.*     In 
1733,  Georgia,  the  last  of  the  original  thirteen   United  States,  was 
settled  under  Governor  Oglethorpe. 

New  England. 

At  this  time  several  startling  events  in  New  England  deeply 
impressed  the  people.  In  172 1  nearly  six  thousand  cases  of  small- 
pox occurred  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  of  which  one  seventh  proved 
fatal  In  1727  the  greatest  earthquake  ever  known  in  New  England 
occurred,  in  the  clear  night  of  Oct.  29,  while  the  moon  was  shining 
brightly.  In  173S  a  fatal  throat  epidemic  raged.  In  New  Hamp- 
shire, then  consisting  of  only  fifteen  towns,  one  thousand  persons 
fell  victims  to  the  terrible  malady,  of  whom  nine  tenths  were  under 
twenty  years  of  age.  Temporary  revivals  of  religion  followed,  but 
the  communities  soon  relapsed  into  indifference. 

The  venerable  Increase  Mather  died  in  1723,  and  his  distinguished 
son,  Cotton  Mather,  in  1728.  In  1727  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  of 
Northampton,  Massachusetts,  the  most  influential  public  man  in 
western  New  England,  passed  away.  Three  years  before  his  death 
Cotton  Mather  presented  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  the  name  of  the  general  convention  of  ministers,  praying 
that,  in  view  of  the  great  and  visible  decline  of  piety,  a  synod  might 
be  called  to  remedy  the  unhappy  condition.     No  synod  was  called. 

•  See  Seaman's  Progress  of  Nations,  p.  583.      New  York,  1852.     Charles  Scribner. 


140  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Jonathan  Edwards  and  the  Great  Revival. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  a  religious  condition  that  the  memor- 
able movement  known  as  "  the  great  awakening "  occurred.  It 
was  a  series  of  far-reaching  revivals,  with  Edwards  as  the  prime 
mover,  supplemented  by  Whitefield,  each  acting  independently  of 
the  other — Edwards  in  New  England  and  Whitefield  throughout 
the  colonies. 

Edwards  was  confessedly  a  man  of  rare  intellectual  power,  the 
ablest  preacher  of  his  time,  who  subsequently  acquired  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  "  most  distinguished  metaphysician  from  Leibnitz 
to  Kant."  He  was  acute  in  analysis  and  intense  in  thought.  From 
early  childhood  he  was  deeply  religious.  Somewhat  phlegmatic  in 
temperament,  trained  up  to  a  Puritanical  primness,  scrupulously 
precise  in  ministerial  dignity,  an  absorbed  student,  solitary,  and 
even  ascetical  in  his  habits,  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  man  of 
delicate  sensibility,  of  fine  esthetic  taste,  of  rapt  contemplation, 
and  deep  enthusiasm.  Strong  of  will,  of  lofty  temper,  and  large 
moral  consciousness,  he  was  earnest  even  in  his  most  deliberate 
actions ;  and,  however  wanting  in  practical  qualities  and  knowledge 
of  men,  he  nevertheless  possessed  some  very  important  qualifications 
for  a  religious  reformer.  His  religious  character  was  his  most 
notable  trait.  His  whole  existence  was  a  conscious  longing  after 
the  Divine,  springing  from  a  profound  conviction  of  the  painful 
reality  of  sin  and  the  glorious  reality  of  redemption.  A  descendant 
from  a  London  clergyman  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  a  graduate  and 
tutor  of  Yale  College,  most  fortunately  united  in  marriage  to  a 
woman*  of  the  rarest  qualities  both  of  mind  and  heart,  and  called 
to  the  pastorate  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential  churches 
in  New  England,  he  began  his  ministry  at  Northampton  in  1727 
under  circumstances  exceedingly  auspicious. 

But  the  heart  of  Edwards  could  not  rest  in  outward  circum- 
stances, however  bright.  He  looked  for  spiritual  life,  but  found  it 
not.  In  his  church  the  ripest  and  worst  fruits  of  the  "  half-way 
covenant "  were  conspicuous.  For  about  twenty  years  his  dis- 
tinguished predecessor  had  received  unconverted  persons  to  the 
communion  and  the  Church,  and  had  openly  defended  the  prac- 
tice in  controversies  with  his  ministerial  brethren.  A  worldly 
spirit  prevailed  ;  the  young  people  absented  themselves  from  public 
worship  and  the  restraints  of  family  influence;  licentiousness 
grossly  abounded,  and  the  Sabbath  was  turned  into  a  day  of  amuse- 

*  Daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Pierpont,  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING,  141 

ment.  Edwards  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  prevailingUaxity  in 
morals,  discipline,  and  doctrine.  The  virus  was  deeply  seated, 
requiring  radical  treatment.  He  resolved  to  preach  thi^aighly 
upon  the  fundamental  phases  of  doctrine  involved  in  the  s|ta»tion. 
Influential  friends  endeavored  to  dissuade  him,  but  he  went  forward, 
some  finding  fault  and  others  ridiculing.  He  struck  massive  blows 
against  the  foundations  of  false  hope,  and  set  forth  boldly  the  great 
principles  of  evangelical  truth. 

In  the  latter  part  of  December,  1734,  a  new  religious  condition 
became  apparent,  attended  by  inquiry  and  conversions.  After 
several  months  the  deep  interest  in  Northampton  extended  to 
South  Hadley,  Sunderland,  Deerfield,  Hatfield,  West  Springfield, 
Hadley,  and  Northfield,  in  Massachusetts,  and  to  Sufiield,  Windsor, 
Coventry,  Lebanon,  Durham,  Hartford,  Stratford,  Tolland,  Bolton, 
Hebron,  Preston,  Groton,  New  London,  and  other  towns  in  Con- 
necticut. In  Northampton  alone  three  hundred  persons  professed 
conversion  in  about  six  months.  The  influence  extended  to  the 
Presbyterian  churches  in  New  Jersey  and  some  parts  of  Penn- 
sylvania under  the  labors  of  the  Tennents,  and  subsequently 
of  Cross,  Frelinghuysen,  and  others.  The  revival  spirit  prevailed 
through  several  years.  Powerful  revivals  occurred  in  1739 
in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  and  Harvard,  Massachusetts,  and 
in  1740  in  New  Londonderry,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Bruns- 
wick, New  Jersey.  In  many  places  where  there  was  no  visible 
movement  there  was  a  quiet  quickening  of  religious  interest, 
and  an  increased  attention  to  religion  in  the  inner  and  outward 
life.  Nine  years  after  this  revival  Edwards  attested  that  "  there 
had  been  a  great  and  abiding  alteration  in  the  town,"  "  more 
general  seriousness  and  decency  in  attending  public  worship," 
"  less  vice  than  for  sixty  years  before,"  and  a  more  "  charitable  spirit 
toward  the  poor."  Nor  in  Northampton  alone  were  these  perma- 
nent benefits.  The  good  effects  were  widely  visible  after  the  excite- 
ment had  passed  away.  The  churches  were  stronger  in  numbers  and 
piety.  Public  morals  were  improved ;  theology  was  more  evan- 
gelical and  the  line  of  demarkation  between  the  Church  and  the 
world  more  visible. 
/'  Considered  as  a  work  of  grace,  this  great  revival  was  attended  by 
many  marks  of  genuineness,*  deep  views  of  sin  and  unworthiness, 
clear  convictions  of  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  firm  persuasions  of  the 
fullness  and  sufficiency  of  Christ  as  a  Saviour,  exalted  apprehensions 
of  the  majesty  of  God,  profound  self-abnegation,  utter  dependence 

*  See  Edwards's  Works.     VoL  III,  pp.  123,  140 ;  also,  History  0/ tfie  Great  Awakening. 


142  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

on  the  Holy  Spirit,  restitution  for  wrongs,  reconciliation  of  enemies, 
and  extraordinary  self-dedication  to  God.  That  there  were 
cases  of  self-delusion,  extravagance,  and  excesses,  was  freely  con- 
fessed and  deeply  mourned  by  Edwards  and  his  co-workers,  who 
faithfully  analyzed  and  exposed  them.  These  things  were  made 
occasions  for  gainsaying  and  opposition,  but  great  and  lasting  good 
was  nevertheless  accomplished. 

Whitefield. 

The  revival  under  Edwards  had  nearly  spent  its  force  when  White- 
field  appeared  and  gave  it  a  new  impulse.  He  landed  in  Philadelphia 
in  November,  1739,  warm  in  the  fresh  glow  of  a  new  religious  experi- 
ence, and  flushed  with  his  successes  upon  the  plains  of  Moorfields. 
From  a  fiery  ordeal  of  agonizing  self-conflicts,  and  the  deep  melan- 
choly of  ascetic  follies,  his  struggling  spirit  had  emerged  into  the 
liberty  of  spiritual  adoption,  and  longed  to  proclaim  its  transports 
to  the  world.  With  a  heart  of  great  capacity  and  simplicity,  with 
oratorical  powers  unexcelled  in  effectiveness,  and  imbued  with  rich 
^.spiritual  influences,  he  was  eminently  fitted  to  be  an  evangelist. 
Inwardly  moved  with  the  conviction  of  a  divinely  appointed  mission, 
and  overflowing  with  sympathy,  he  began  his  labors  in  Philadelphia. 
The  whole  city  was  powerfully  stirred,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Quak- 
ers, and  Churchmen,  all  flocking  to  hear  him.  From  Philadelphia 
he  went  to  New  York,  then  to  Philadelphia  again,  then  to  Chester, 
Pa.,  then  to  Delaware,  then  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  Savannah,  Ga., 
then  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  then  to  Savannah,  and  thence 
to  New  England,  moving  like  the  angel  in  the  apocalyptic  vision, 
his  progress  every-where  a  spiritual  triumph.  He  reached  Newport, 
R.  I.,  Sept.  14,  1740.  Reputation  ran  before  him  as  a  herald,  pro- 
ducing a  popular  contagion  and  drawing  multitudes  to  hear  him. 
He  preached  incessantly,  often  sixteen  times  a  week.  High  and 
low  persons,  clergymen,  civilians,  college  professors  and  students, 
were  alike  swayed  by  his  matchless  eloquence.  The  hearts  of  tens 
of  thousands  from  Maine  to  Georgia  were  stirred,  and  many  pro- 
fessed conversion.  He  returned  to  England,  but  revisited  America 
many  times,  traversing  the  length  of  the  land  and  proclaiming  the 
Gospel  message  with  unparalleled  power  and  success.  At  last  he 
died,  in  1770,  at  Newburyport,  Mass.,  saying,  almost  with  his  latest 
breath,  "  Lord  Jesus,  I  am  weary  in  thy  work,  but  not  of  thy  work." 
It  was  Whitefield's  mission  to  revive  in  the  churches  faith  in  Pen- 
tecostal power  and  results.  What  a  sublime  example  of  the  conse- 
cration of  the  highest  oratory  to  the  work  of  saving  souls  ! 


REV.    WILLIAM    TEW  EN  T.  143 

A  considerable  revival  interest  followed  VVhitefield's  labors  in 
Boston.  A  deep  seriousness  and  an  increased  attendance  upon 
Sabbath  worship  were  for  some  time  manifest.  Rev.  VVm.  Tennent, 
of  New  Jersey,  came  and  preached  searchingly  and  powerfully  for 
several  months,  with  good  results.  "  The  very  face  of  the  town," 
it  was  said,  "  seems  altered."  The  revival  spread  as  far  as  Ports- 
mouth, N.  H.,  Plymouth  and  Enfield,  Mass.,  and  Westerly,  R.  I.  . 
Tennent  was  followed  by  Rev.  James  Davenport,  of  New  Jersey, 
under  whose  more  erratic  labors,  guided  by  visionary  impressions,  a 
reaction  set  in. 

The  Edwardian  and  Whitefieldian  revivals  continued,  with  vary- 
ing degrees  of  interest  and  success,  from  1734  to  1745,  and  in  some 
localities  to  1750,  but  they  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  Congregational 
churches  in  New  England  and  the  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  Mid- 
dle States.* 

"The  Log  College"  Work  in  the  Middle  States. 

The  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  Middle  States  had  sunken  low 
in  apathy  and  formalism,  and  the  unsound  doctrinal  tendencies 
which  had  paralyzed  many  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Great 
Britain  threatened  to  destroy  those  of  the  colonies.  But  Providence 
was  raising  up  agencies  to  avert  the  threatened  evils. 

Rev.   William   Tennent,  a  native  of  Ireland   and  a  graduate  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  came  to  America  in  17 18,  became  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  and  settled  at  Neshaminy,  about  twenty  miles  from    j 
Philadelphia.    Here  he  founded  what  was  long  known  as  the  famous    | 
"  Log  College,"  for  training  young  men  for  the  ministry.     He  had   , 
four    sons,   Gilbert,   William,    Jr.,  John    and    Charles,  all    eminent 
preachers.    To  this  remarkable  family,  called  "  the  right-hand  men  of 
Whitefield,"  and  their  intensely  evangelical  school,  the  first  educa- 
tional institution  of  the  Presbyterians  in  America,  is  largely  due  the 
spiritual  resuscitation  and  aggressive  power  of  this  denomination  in 
the  Middle  States. 

Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  D.D.,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  entered  the 
"Log  College,"  became  a  wise,  zealous,  and  useful  minister,  a  coad- 
jutor of  the  Tennents  in  the  spiritual  revolution  which  saved  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  later  life  was  President  of  Princeton 
College. 

Rev.  William  Robinson — "  one-eyed  Robinson  " — was  another 
evangelist  who  studied  at  the  "  Log  College."     The  son  of  a  rich 

*  The  Quciker,  Reformed,  and  Baptist  churches  received  some  benefits. 


144  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Quaker,  he  became  a  zealous  Presbyterian  minister,  laboring  in 
neglected  and  scattered  settlements  in  southern  New  Jersey,  west- 
ern Virginia,  and  North  Carolina.  Threatened  by  the  civil  authori- 
ties because  an  itinerant,  but  allowed  to  go  on  his  way,  he  became 
a  shining  light  in  the  dark  southern  borders.  Dr.  Alexander  said 
of  him  that  he  was  probably  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  as 
many  souls  as  any  man  who  ever  lived  in  this  country. 

There  were  *'  unconverted  ministers  "  in  many  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian pulpits  of  that  time,  says  Dr.  Gillett,*  and  great  religious  apathy; 
and  the  position  of  the  Tennents  and  their  coadjutors,  in  regard  to 
revivals  and  the  spiritual  qualifications  of  ministers,  awakened  bitter 
conflicts  in  the  Synod,  resulting  in  its  division  into  the  "  Old  "  and 
the  "  New  Side  "  in  1741.  In  the  end  the  spiritual  side  triumphed, 
and  the  parties  were  reunited  in  1758.  Many  other  ministers  were 
raised  up  at  the  *'  Log  College."  The  occasional  visits  of  White- 
field  and  these  evangelical  allies  kept  the  revival  work  alive  many 
years,  greatly  augmenting  the  communicants  in  the  churches  and 
trebling  the  ministers  in  seventeen  years.  Princeton  College  grew 
up  out  of  this  revival  in  1746. 

Results  of  Whitefield's  Labors. 

Whitefield  caused  great  commotion  and  disturbances  in  the 
churches,  and  serious  divisions  and  animosities  followed.  Bitter  con- 
troversies were  kindled  which  did  not  die  with  that  generation. 
But  the  old  question  comes  back.  Was  it  Ahab  or  Elijah  who 
troubled  Israel?  The  judgment  of  history  affirms  that  not  only 
the  Middle  Colonies  but  also  New  England  were  benefited  rather 
than   injured  by  Whitefield's  visits. 

Whitefield  often  overrated  both  his  audiences  and  his  converts, 
but  much  of  the  fruit  of  his  way-side  sowing,  never  numbered  on 
earth,  may  be  seen  in  eternity.  Dr.  Coggswell  f  estimated  the  num- 
ber added  to  the  New  England  churches  at  25,000;  Trumbull  X  at 
30,000  to  40,000;  others  as  high  as  50,000.  The  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  churches  shared  largely.  Many  Separatist  and 
Baptist  churches  were  formed.  Many  ministers  and  church  mem- 
bers were  converted  (twenty  ministers,  it  was  said,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston).  The  standard  of  the  religious  life  was  raised.  Indian 
missions  received  a  new  impulse ;  Brainerd  was  thrust  out  on  his 
missionary  career;  and  from  the  same  influence  Dartmouth  College 
had  its  inception,  under  Wheelock,  in  Lebanon,  Conn. 

•Hist.  Pres.  Ch.,  vol.  I,  pp.  82,  etc.     t  Christian  Philanthropist.     X  History  0/ Connecticut. 


WHITEFIELD  IN   THE   SOUTH.  143 

Maryland  and  Virginia. 

From  1725  onward,  in  Maryland  the  character  of  the  clergy  is 
said  to  have  very  much  improved.  Whitefield  visited  this  State  in 
1740,  but  his  labors  were  attended  with  little  success.  Baltimore 
was  just  beginning  to  be  a  place  of  some  importance,  and  the  Epis- 
copalians were  the  first  to  erect  a  church  there.  The  St.  Paul's 
church  was  begun  in  1732.*  No  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  built 
there  until  more  than  forty  years  later. 

Virginia^  too,  as  well  as  Maryland,  received  but  little  benefit 
from  the  great  revival.  Says  Dr.  Havvks,t  "  It  is  not  calumny  to 
say  that  religion  was  in  a  deplorably  low  state."  Another  writer,:}: 
whom  he  quotes,  said :  "There  are  and  have  been  a  few  souls  in. 
various  parts  of  the  colony  who  are  sincerely  seeking  the  Lord,  and 
groping  after  religion,  in  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  England." 
"  In  the  year  1740  Mr.  Whitefield  visited  Virginia  and  preached  at 
the  seat  of  government  and  other  places,  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  his  ministrations  tended  to  create  an  increased  interest  on  re- 
ligious subjects  among  some  of  the  members  of  the  Establishment. 
At  any  rate  he  obtained  a  ready  and  unprejudiced  hearing  because 
he  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  a  deeper  sense 
of  piety  was  exhibited  among  some  of  the  Establishment  soon  after 
his  visit."  § 


Section  4:— Yrom   1745  to    1776. 

This  period  was  one  of  varying  fortunes  in  the  colonial  churches. 
The  influence  of  the  great  revivals  which  have  been  mentioned  was 
felt  in  some  localities  for  a  considerable  time,  but  it  was  a 
period  of  many  distractions.  The  French  and  Indian  war,  con- 
tinuing through  nearly  nine  years  (1754-1763),  and  the  agitations 
preceding  the  war  of  the  Revolution  seriously  militated  against  the 
religious  life  and  morals  of  the  people. 

In  ea.stern  Massachusetts,  where  the  Arian  and  Socinian  defection 
was  already  extensively  working,  there  were  no  revivals.  In  the 
western  part  of  the  State  there  were  large  churches,  in  North- 
ampton, Stockbridge,  Westfield,  and  Southampton.  In  Connecti- 
cut, notwithstanding   several   ecclesiastical  difficulties,   there    were 

*  Griffith's  Annals,  p.  23. 

\  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  by  Dr.  Hawks,  p.  100. 

X  State  0/  Religion  Among  Dissenters  in  Virginia.     By  Rev.  Samuel  Dalls,  p.  lO. 

§  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  by  Dr.  Hawks,  p.  too. 

10 


146  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  VNITED  STATES. 

quickenings  in  the  churches  in  Canaan,  Killingly,  Lebanon. 
Bethlehem,  Preston,  Somers,  etc.  Rev.  Drs.  Bellamy,  Backus,  and 
Hart,  of  that  State,  were  ministers  eminent  for  piety  and  influence. 
In  East  Hampton,  on  Long  Island,  Rev.  Samuel  Buel,  a  man  of 
extraordinary  piety  and  talents,  settled  in  1746 ;  and,  in  1764,  through 
his  efforts,  an  extensive  revival  of  religion  spread  on  the  island. 

Among  the  Presbyterians  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Penn- 
sylvania several  eminent  men  were  raised  up. 

Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  D.D.,  the  great  pulpit  orator  and  president 
of  Princeton  College,  commenced  his  ministry  in  1747;  Rev.  John 
Brainerd,  the  worthy  brother  of  the  great  missionary  to  the  In- 
dians, in  1748;  Rev.  John  Rodgers,  D.D.,  as  associate  of  Davies,  and 
also  a  pastor  in  New  York  City,  in  1749;  Rev.  Elihu  Spencer,  D.D., 
one  of  the  strongest  names  that  adorn  the  Presbyterian  annals,  in 
1748  ;  Rev.  Naphtali  Daggett,  D.D.,  subsequently  president  of  Yale 
College,  in  1751;  Rev.  John  Todd,  who  was  called  to  bear  the 
mantle  of  Davies  on  his  departure  for  England,  in  1751;  Rev. 
Robert  Smith,  D.D.,  the  honored  theological  instructor  of  many 
ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  175 1  ;  and  Rev.  George  Duf- 
field,  D.D.,  a  man  of  marked  abilities  and  pulpit  power,  pastor  of  a 
church  in  Philadelphia,  in  1756.  The  Tennents,  Drs.  Blair,  Finley, 
Sproat,  and  their  co-laborers  in  evangelistic  work,  were  yet  alive,  and 
the  savor  of  their  influence  was  extensively  felt  in  the  schools  and  in 
the  churches. 

In  the  Dutch  Church  Rev.  Drs.  Archibald  Laidlie  and  John  H. 
Livingston  were  eminent  names,  the  patriarclis  and  fathers  of  the 
Church.  Laidlie,  a  Scotchman  by  birth  and  a  graduate  at  Edin- 
burgh, commenced  his  labors  in  New  York  in  1764.  This  event 
marks  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 
His  evangelical  and  powerful  ministry  resulted  in  great  spiritual 
blessings.  His  pastoral  tact  and  success  were  remarkable.  Crowds 
attended  his  ministry,  and  he  was  a  successful  winner  of  souls.* 
Livingston,  a  native  of  Poughkeepsie,  a  graduate  of  Yale  and 
of  the  University  of  Utrecht,  Holland,  commenced  his  labors  in 
New  York  in  1770.  During  his  ministry  he  established  a  great 
reputation  as  an  orator  and  a  theologian.  His  pastorate  in  New 
York  continued  forty  years.  To  him,  more  than  any  other  man, 
is  attributed  the  separate  organization  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church  in  this  country.f 

*See  Historical  Discourse,  1856.  By  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt.  Life  of  Dr.  Livingston.  By 
Dr.  Gunn.      Sprague's  Annals  0/  American  Pulpit.     Vol.  IX. 

\S^Q  Life  0/ Livingston.     By  Dr.  Gunn.     Sprague' s  Annals.     Vol.  IX. 


DISSENT  IN    VIRGINIA.  147 

Baptists  and  Presbyterians  in  Virginia. 

No  noticeable  event  occurred  during  this  period  in  Maryland  ; 
but  Virginia  was  the  scene  of  new  movements.  Until  near  the 
middle  of  this  century,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  Quakers  and 
Independents  who  had  occasionally  appeared  and  were  almost  as 
promptly  dismissed,  Virginia  had  been  exclusively  occupied  by 
Episcopalians.  A  few  Baptists  had  entered  the  colony  in  17 14, 
and  others  from  Maryland  in  1743.  But  not  many  permanent  Bap- 
tist churches  were  established  until  soon  after  1750.  The  first 
Baptist  Association  was  organized  in  1766,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  about  seventy*  churches  had  been  constituted. 
but  they  were  located  chiefly  in  the  western  part  of  the  State. 
In  the  same  sections  the  Presbyterian  churches  were  established. 
"The  Virginia  Government  encouraged  emigration  along  its 
frontier  settlements,  where  the  hardy  pioneers  might  serve  as  a 
defense  against  the  incursions  of  the  Indian  tribes.  There  was  no 
question  now  raised  in  regard  to  their  faith  and  order.  If  they 
could  carry  a  rifle,  or  plant  ailong  the  western  forest  a  line  of  pro- 
tection against  savage  inroads,  they  were  sufficiently  orthodox. 
Their  distance,  moreover,  from  the  settlements  on  the  eastern 
shore  prevented  any  umbrage  being  taken  at  a  dissent  which  did 
not  attract  notice  or  give  offense.  Thus,  in  obscurity  and  neglect, 
Presbyterianism,  in  spite  of  Virginia  laws,  planted  itself  unmolested 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  Germans,  Quakers,  and  Irish  Presbyterians 
from  Pennsylvania  took  possession  of  the  county  of  Frederick."  f 

From  1719  to  1755,  at  various  times,  the  people  at  "  Potomoke," 
near  Martinsburg,  at  Opekon,  south  of  Winchester,  at  Wood's  Gap,  in 
Albemarle,  at  Timber  Ridge,  at  the  Triple  Forks  of  the  Shenandoah, 
at  Staunton,  and  numerous  other  places,  were  supplied  with 
preachers  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  and  the  New  York 
Presbytery.  In  1755  the  Hanover  Presbytery  was  constituted, 
from  which  time  the  cause  prospered  more  fully.  That  distinguished 
minister.  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  D.D.,  was  the  most  able  and  successful 
promoter  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  region.  The  celebrated  Patrick 
Henry  was  a  frequent  attendant  upon  his  ministry.  Great  revivals 
attended  his  labors,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  Presby- 
terian churches  in  western  Virginia  were  quite  numerous. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  Virginia  the  Episcopal  churches  were  life- 

*See  List,  by  Rev.  Rufus  Babcock,  D.D.  in  Ame)  ican  Quarterly  Register,  Nov.  1840,  pp. 

'  +  See  History  of  t/ie  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     By  Rev.  E.   H.   Gillett, 
D.D.,  Philadelphia.     Presbyterian  Publication  Committee.     Vol.  I,  p.  106. 


148  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

less.  To  say  that  the  clergy  were  worldly  and  formal  comes  short 
of  the  truth.  Many  of  them  were  not  only  irreligious,  but  also 
immoral.  According  to  Jarratt,*  "  the  Sabbath  was  usually  spent 
in  sporting."  In  the  pulpits  natural  religion  and  essays  on  morality 
were  substituted  for  the  Gospel.  "  Tillotson's  sermons,"  says 
Bishop  Meade,t  "  abridged  into  moral  essays  and  dry  reasonings  on 
the  doctrines  of  religion,  were,  I  fear,  the  general  type  of  sermon- 
izing among  the  clergy  who  came  over  to  America  for  the  seventy 
or  eighty  years  before  the  war  of  the  Revolotion."  There  were 
only  a  few  exceptions.  The  most  distinguished  of  these  deserve  a 
a  more  extended  notice.  Under  their  labors,  in  some  portions  of 
Virginia  a  new  spiritual  life  was  promoted. 

Morgan  Morgan, 

an  eminent  Episcopal  layman,  a  native  of  Wales,  emigrated  in 
early  life  to  Pennsylvania.  In  the  year  1726  he  removed  to  the 
county  of  Berkeley  in  Virginia,  and  erected  the  first  cabin  between 
the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  North  Mountain.  As  a  man  of  exemplary 
piety,  and  devoted  to  the  Church,  "  he  went  about  doing  good," 
visiting  the  sick,  and  impressing  upon  all  the  value  of  per- 
sonal religion,  training  his  own  family  in  the  ways  of  piety,  and 
died  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-eight  years,  full  of  faith  and  good 
works.  In  the  absence  of  the  clergy  he  often  officiated  as  a  lay- 
reader,  visiting  destitute  localities,  quickening  the  piety  of  the 
churches,  cheering  the  desponding,  extending  his  labors  through 
the  counties  of  Berkeley,  Jefferson,  and  a  part  of  Frederick,  Hamp- 
shire, and  a  small  portion  of  Maryland.  He  was  every-where 
welcomed,  beloved  alike  by  the  rich  and  the  poor,  and  attracted 
attentive  audiences.  His  character  was  his  passport,  and  the  fruit 
of  his  labors  was  long  seen  in  the  valley  of  Virginia.  %     The  second, 

Devereux  Jarratt, 

was  a  clergyman  of  deep  spiritual  character  and  zeal.  In  1763 
this  remarkable  man  became  the  pastor  of  Bath  parish,  in  Din- 
widdle County,  Virginia,  having  received  ordination  in  London  the 
previous  year.  In  his  autobiography  he  presents  many  striking 
facts  relative  to  the  condition  of  religion  in  this  State.     He  was  an 

'^  Autobiography  of  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt,  p.  28. 

t  Old  Churches.  Ministers  and  Families  0/  Virginia.    By  Rev.  Bishop  Meade.    Philadelphia. 
J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  1857.     Vol.  II,  p.  355. 

X\ia,yi\i^%  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia,  pp.  112,  iij. 


REV.  DEVEREUX  JARRATT.  149 

earnest  and  laborious  minister,  of  very  decided  evangelical  senti- 
ments. In  a  time  when  the  parish  ministers  preached  little  but 
"  morality  and  smooth  harangues,  in  no  wise  calculated  to  disturb 
the  carnal  repose  of  the  people,"  he  says,  "  My  doctrine  was  strange 
and  wonderful  to  them,  and  their  language  one  to  another  was  to 
this  effect :  '  We  have  had  many  ministers,  and  heard  many  before 
this  man,  but  we  never  heard  anything  till  now  of  conversion,  the 
new  birth,'  etc.  At  this  time  I  stood  alone,  not  knowing  one 
clergyman  in  Virginia  like-minded  with  myself.'  " 

Bishop  Meade  says,  *  "  It  is  to  be  feared  that  about  this  time, 
and  for  some  years  before,  the  clergy  of  Virginia  were  not  only 
wanting  in  seriousness,  but  were  immoral  and  ignorant.''  Com- 
plaint was  made  to  the  Bishop  of  London  of  the  gross  ignorance  of 
four  clergymen  and  the  immorality  of  others. 

Mr.  Jarratt  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  character,  and  his 
ministry  extended  through  a  period  of  thirty-eight  years.  He 
devoted  himself  zealously  to  his  work,  and  was  both  pastor  and 
evangelist,  not  only  in  the  three  churches  in  his  parish,  but  often  in 
many  adjacent  towns.  In  his  preaching  he  discarded  the  merely 
moral  and  sentimental  homilies,  then  the  staple  instruction  of 
the  clergy,  and  enforced  often  "  in  a  bold  and  alarming  man- 
ner"  the  guilt  of  sin,  the  depravity  of  mankind,  their  danger, 
and  portrayed  in  most  inviting  strains  the  way  of  salvation  by  faith 
in  Christ.  When  the  spirit  of  religious  inquiry  was  awakened  in  his 
parish,  he  extended  his  labors  through  the  week,  by  night  and  by 
day,  often  in  private  houses,  holding  meetings  for  prayer,  singing, 
preaching  and  conversation.  His  churches  were  crowded  to  over- 
flowing :  his  labors  were  sought  for  elsewhere,  and  extended  through 
a  circle'  of  five  or  six  hundred  miles.  Twenty-nine  counties  in 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina  were  visited  by  this  great  Episco- 
palian evangelist,  and  for  some  years,  as  his  journal  shows,  his 
sermons  averaged  five  each  week. 

Says  Bishop  Meade,  "  He  was,  of  course,  very  obnoxious  to 
many,  of  the  clergy.  One  of  them  charged  him  with  violating  an 
old  English  canon  by  preaching  in  private  houses.  To  this  he 
replied  that  no  clergyman  refused  to  preach  a  funeral  sermon  in  a 
private  house  for  forty  shillings,  and  he  preached  for  nothing; 
moreover,  that  many  of  the  brethren  transgressed  the  75th  canon, 
which  forbids  cards,  dice  tables,  etc.,  to  the  clergy,  and  yet  were  not 
punished.  Some  complained  of  his  encouraging  pious  laymen  to 
pray  in  his  presence,  which  he  answered  by  reminding  them   how 

♦  Old  Churches,  Ministers,  and  Families  0/  Virginia.     By  Bishop  Meade.    Vol.  I,  p.  467. 


ISO  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

often  they  permitted  ungodly  laymen  to  swear  in  their  presence, 
without  even  a  rebuke.  Mr.  Jarratt  adduced  in  proof  of  the  k>vv 
state  of  religion  the  small  number  of  communicants,  none  but  a  few 
of  the  more  aged,  perhaps  seven  or  eight,  attending.  The  rest 
thought  nothing  about  it,  or  else  considered  it  a  dangerous  thing 
to  meddle  with.  The  first  time  he  administered  it  there  was  only 
that  number.  About  ten  years  after  he  entered  the  ministry  there 
were  at  his  three  churches,  including  a  number  who  came  from 
other  parishes,  about  nine  hundred  or  one  thousand,  although 
he  endeavored  to  guard  the  table  closely  against  unworthy 
receivers.  For  many  years  this  happy  state  of  things  continued, 
but  after  a  time  a  melancholy  change  appeared."  *  The  Revolution- 
ary war  and  French  infidelity  swept  over  the  State. 
Returning  to  New  England,  we  notice : 


Section  ^.— The  Fruits  of  tlie  Half-way  Covenant. 

The  introduction  of  the  half-way  covenant  into  the  New 
England  churches,  and  the  subsequent  action  of  Rev.  Solomon 
Stoddard,  have  been  sketched  in  these  pages.  A  few  things  need 
to  be  stated  as  to  its  actual  workings  and  its  later  history.  The 
two  systems  (that  of  the  Synod  of  1662  and  that  of  Stoddard), 
during  the  last  century,  ran  largely  together.  This  fact  should  be 
considered  in  order  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  current 
events.  As  is  often  the  case,  some  parts  of  the  systems  were  not 
fully  observed,  and  there  was  much  laxity,  an  inherent  tendency  in 
the  nature  of  the  case.  Says  Dr.  Buddington,t  "  Had  the  theory  of 
the  covenant  been  carried  out,  it  might  have  been  a  source  of  aJl 
the  good  anticipated,  but  probably  it  was  the  vice  of  the  system 
that  it  could  not  be  carried  out  faithfully.  It  was  looked  upon 
by  many  as  a  form  devised  to  procure  a  respectable  standing 
in  the  community,  and  it  was  practiced  as  a  form,  with  no  intent 
to  discharge  its  duties  or  submit  to  the  discipline  it  implied.  In 
this  way  it  happened  that  the  discipline  of  the  churches  was 
neglected  ;  indeed,  so  numerous  had  the  children  of  the  covenant 
become,  that  it  became  well-nigh  impossible  to  exercise  a  faithful 
discipline,  inasmuch  as  almost  the  whole  community  were  members 
of  the  Church  by  baptism." 

*  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Virginia.       By   Bishop  Meade.      Vol.    I,    pp. 
471,  472. 

\  History  o/ the  First  Church  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  p.  127. 


THE  HAI.F-WAY  COVENANT.  18 J 

The  South  Church,  Hartford,  Connecticut,  as  already  stated, 
came  into  being  out  of  the  controversy  which  arose  over  the  subject 
of  baptism  in  the  first  Church  in  that  city.  It  was  organized  in 
1670,  under  a  protest  against  the  half-way  covenant,  though  it 
subsequently  fell  into  the  same  practice.  At  its  two  hundredth 
anniversary  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  said  :  "  In  the  days  of  the  half-way 
covenant,  whatever  else  was  neglected,  the  baptism  of  children  was 
well  attended  to.  Looking  into  the  records  of  an  old  church  in 
Fairfield  County,  Connecticut,  not  very  long  ago,  I  saw  something 
to  this  effect :  the  minister,  in  his  old  age,  recorded  this  regret,  that 
he  had  not  kept  an  accurate  registry  of  baptisms,  and  therefore 
supplied  that  deficiency  by  certifying,  once  for  all,  that  according 
to  his  best  knowledge  and  belief,  every  body  *  then  living  in  the 
parish  was  baptized,  except  a  few  Indians  in  a  remote  corner." 

We  are  credibly  informed  that  those  who  were  baptized  were 
urged  and  accustomed  to  come  to  the  communion.  We  thus  gain 
some  conception  of  the  condition  of  things  in  the  churches  of  the 
last  century.     The  churches  were  generally  walking  in  this  way. 

Rev.  Increase  N.  Tarbox,  D.D.,  says  if 

This  one  historical  fact  is  so  comprehensive  that  it  includes  many  others. 
In  the  light  of  i(  we  can  easily  understand  why  the  churches  of  Massachusetts 
were  in  a  very  unhealthy  condition  one  hundred  years  ago. 

They  had  not,  it  is  true,  lost  all  their  power  as  churches  of  Christ,  but  they 
were  greatly  shorn  of  their  strength.  From  1745  on  to  the  close  of  the  century 
there  was  a  woeful  absence  of  those  special  breathings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  we 
call  revivals  of  religion.  The  churches  were  built  up  as  to  numbers,  but  largely 
with  earthly  materials,  and  the  standard  of  Christian  conduct  came  to  be  very  low. 

We  talk  of  the  good  old  times,  but  all  through  the  last  century  there  were 
strifes  and  contentions  in  many  of  the  churches,  such  as  were  far  below  the 
Christian  standard  of  the  present  day. 

We  refer  to  these  things  not  to  dishonor  our  fathers,  but  rather  to  honor  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  in  its  power  to  overcome  evil  and  make  the  world  better 
from  generation  to  generation. 

When  Rev.  Peter  Thacher  was  ordained  in  Boston  over  the  New  North,  in  1723, 
there  were  disorders  such  as  would  not  be  endurable  in  our  times.  The  vote  that 
called  him  was  not  unanimous,  though  nearly  so,  but  the  few  dissentients  were  so 
stout  and  hateful  in  their  opposition  that  they  actually  undertook  to  interrupt  and 
stop  the  public  services  on  ordination  day,  and  in  doing  this  were  guilty  of  most 
mean  and  dastardly  acts.  Not  prevailing,  however,  to  stop  the  ordination,  one 
man  afterward  nailed  up  his  pew  door,  and  it  remained  in  this  condition  for  years, 
until  some  young  men  sawed  it  out  one  night  and  fixed  it  as  a  kind  of  sign  on 
his  shop.  ^___ 

«^he  baptisms  in  the  old  church  in  Windham,  Connecticut,  from  1700  to  1800  were  2,389. 
Almost  every  person  was  a  church  member,  and  all  had  their  children  baptized. 

t  Historical  Survey  0/  the  Churches,  1776-1886. 


182  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  type  of  religious  experience,  even  in  the  most  religious,  was 
very  somber,  dull  and  gloomy — little  of  the  cheerful,  hopeful,  happy 
piety  of  more  recent  times.  The  most  experienced  Christians  were 
sadly  in  bondage  to  fear.  When  talking  of  spiritual  things  it  was 
common  for  them  to  remark — "  O,  if  I  only  knew  I  had  a  spark 
of  grace  I  should  be  so  happy.'*  Some  of  the  churches  voted  that 
no  person  should  be  required  to  make  a  relation  of  his  religious 
experience  when  admitted  to  the  Church,  and  in  some,  "  no 
assent  to  the  covenant  "  was  required. 

Outwardly  the  people,  especially  in  New  England,  were  more 
religious  one  hundred  years  ago  than  now.  They  all  supported 
religious  institutions,  taxing  themselves  for  that  purpose.  The 
mass  of  the  population  was  more  generally  found  in  the  sanctuary 
on  the  Sabbath  than  now,  but  aside  from  the  Sabbath  services  there 
were  few  religious  meetings.  Even  if  they  had  been  disposed  to  gather 
for  extra  services,  their  scattered  condition,  poor  roads,  scarcity 
of  bridges,  etc.,  would  have  been  hinderances.  They  thought  more 
of  being  members  of  the  Church  and  having  their  children  baptized 
than  now;  but  the  reasons  for  these  things  were  semi-political,  and 
church  attendance  was  not  voluntary,  but  enforced  under  heavy 
penalties.  In  respect  to  the  formalities  of  religion,  that  age  was  in 
marked  contrast  with  the  present.  People  were  more  reverent  of 
God.  of  His  Church,  of  the  Bible,  of  ministers  and  magistrates,  and 
more  solemn  and  devout  in  worship.  Devout,  solemn  airs,  whining 
tones,  and  long  faces  commanded  a  high  premium.  But  there 
were  less  than  ten  years  of  good  average  spirituality  in  the  whole 
century. 

The  effect  of  the  half-way  covenant  upon  the  theology  of  the 
Churches  will  be  developed  in  the  chapter  on  Diverse  Currents. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  CUSTOMS.  1S3 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   CUSTOMS  AMONG  PROTESTANTS. 

Sec.  I.  The  Ministry.  I      Sec.  4.  The  Catechism. 

"      2.  The  "  The  Meeting-Houses."  "      5.  Thanksgiving  and  Fast  Days. 

"      3.  Public  Worship.  | 


Section  JT.— The  Ministry. 

THE  parish  minister  was  a  conspicuous  personage  in  the  colonial 
times.  In  the  very  earliest  years  of  the  settlement  of  New- 
England  each  of  the  larger  churches  had  two  ministers,  one  of  whom 
was  the  "  teacher  "  and  the  other  the  pastor ;  but  this  custom  did  not 
long  continue.  The  minister  was  known  by  his  dress.  His  pow- 
dered wig  was  surmounted  with  a  three-cornered  clerical  hat,  usually 
of  beaver.  A  ministerial  coat,  single-breasted,  with  an  ample  curve 
on  each  side,  and  a  vest  of  enormous  length,  with  large  pockets  and 
lappets,  covered  his  body.  He  wore  short  pants,  met  at  the  knees 
by  long,  smooth  silk  or  worsted  stockings,  and  soft  calf  or  deer-skin 
shoes,  fastened  together  by  shining  silver  buckles.  He  was  a  grave 
man,  of  imperturbable  dignity,  and  of  great  importance  in  all  the 
town,  and  "  his  person  was  sometimes  made  a  bug-bear  to  frighten 
refractory  children  into  obedience."  So  greatly  was  he  revered 
that  the  people  usually  took  off  their  hats  and  bowed  to  him  as  he 
passed.  It  has  been  jocosely  said  that  men  passing  the  parsonage 
with  teams  always  put  the  best  wheel  on  the  end  of  the  axle  nearest 
the  parson's  house. 

In  New  England  the  minister  was  "  the  parson,"  which  meant 
the  person,  in  the  parish — a  much  more  important  personage  than 
now.  He  was  consulted  concerning  the  enactment  of  laws  and 
questions  of  civil  administration.  To  speak  against  him  or  his 
preaching  was  punished  by  fine,  whipping,  banishment,  or  cutting 
off  ears.  Every  person  was  obliged  to  contribute  for  his  support, 
usually,  however,  by  tax;  all  were  required  to  hear  him  preach  on 
the  Sabbath,  Fast  and  Thanksgiving  days,  or  pay  a  fine  of  five  shil- 
lings for  every  absence ;  and  all  were  expected  to  keep  awake  dur- 


134  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ing  the  sermon.  Marriages  were,  however,  performed  by  magis- 
trates, and,  in  the  earlier  period,  the  dead  were  buried  without 
prayer,  lest  that  should  bring  in  papal  customs.  At  this  early  time 
the  term  Reverend  was  not  applied  to  the  parson,  but  on  portraits 
and  pamphlets  the  name  was  followed  by  V.  D.  M.  {Verbi  Dei 
Minister).  Among  the  Dutch  in  New  York  he  was  called  the 
**  Dominie." 

The  salary  of  the  minister  at  Danvers,  Mass.,  in  1713,  was  £()0 
a  year  and  15  cords  of  wood  while  single,  and  £'j^  when  married. 
In  Schenectady,  in  1700,  the  allowance  was  £\QO  New  York 
currency  (about  $250),  house  and  garden  rent  free,  pasturage  for 
two  cows  and  a  horse,  60  cords  of  wood  delivered  at  the  parsonage, 
and  traveling  expenses  from  Holland.*  Generally  the  salary  was 
paid  in  money,  but  often,  in  part,  in  country  produce.  The  Ply- 
mouth Legislature  decreed  that  a  portion  of  any  whales  "  in  God's 
providence  "  cast  upon  the  shore  should  be  set  apart  for  "  the  en- 
couragement of  an  able,  godly  minister  among  them." 

Much  is  said  of  the  narrow-mindedness  and  sectarianism  of  the 
ministers  of  that  period,  but  we  should  not  forget  that  all  through 
the  colonial  era  there  was  progress,  and  the  minister  of  1750-1775- 
was  far  in  advance  of  those  of  1630-1660  in  respect  to  toleration 
and  breadth  of  ideas.  There  was  a  constant  general  advance,  far- 
sighted  men  leading  the  van  and  obtuse  ones  following  far  behind. 
As  a  whole,  the  ministers  of  those  times  were  the  leaders  in  public 
sentiment.  There  were  no  lyceum  lectures,  concerts,  plays  or 
amusements,  outside  of  a  very  few  large  towns,  and  the  sermons 
were  the  events  of  the  week.  In  New  England  the  sermons  were  often 
strongly  tinged  with  philosophy,  and  varied  with  discussions  of  obscure 
points  in  science  and  metaphysics,  which  afforded  new  topics  for 
conversation  among  the  people.  Crude  as  some  of  those  discus- 
sions now  seem,  they  were  then  the  skirmish  lines  beyond  which 
the  intellect  of  this  age  has  passed,  only  to  be  superseded  by  the 
generations  to  follow  us.  Such  is  the  progress  of  ideas.  The 
minister's  influence  was  felt  in  every  hamlet,  but  the  lawyers  and 
the  physicians  owed  more  to  the  parson  than  any  other  class  of 
persons.  The  long  sermons,  often  dealing  in  abstruse  metaphysical 
questions,  afforded  the  professional  and  educated  men  intellectual 
occupation  and  amusement.  The  pulpit  served  for  the  stage  and 
the  circulating  Ubrary,  and  the  sermons  heard  on  Sunday  were 
thought  over  and  discussed  during  the  week. 

♦  In  1784  it  was  advanced  to  ^140  ($350),  in  1796,  j^aoo. 


INFLUENTIAL   MINISTRY.  153 

The  Influence  of  the  Minister. 

Five  reasons  have  been  given  why  ministers  had  so  great  influ- 
ence in  the  colonial  times,  i.  Religion,  in  the  earlier  period,  at 
least,  was  regarded  by  the  people  as  a  very  serious  business,  the 
subject  on  which  their  lives  and  destinies  turned,  and  the  parish 
minister  was  both  the  Moses  and  the  Aaron  of  their  hopes.  2.  He 
was  really  an  important  officer  in  the  theocracy,  the  ecclesiastical 
order  being  the  power  behind  magistrates  and  courts.  3.  The 
superior  learning  of  the  clergy,  they  being  the  learned  men  of  the 
settlements.  4.  The  simplicity  of  colonial  hfe  afiforded  them  rare 
opportunities  for  personal  influence.  The  complexity  and  expan- 
sion of  society,  with  its  great  interests  developing  able  men  in  their 
departments,  now  every-where  surrounding  us,  was  then  unknown. 
The  parson  was  a  natural  center  of  influence,  as  he  cannot  be  now. 
He  was  often  the  physician  and  surgeon,  and  the  more  advanced 
schools  were  under  his  roof,  where  young  men  fitted  for  college  and 
the  ministry.  There  were  few  college  graduates  outside  of  the  min- 
istry in  the  first  century  of  our  colonial  history,  and  few  lawyers, 
educators,  editors  and  financiers.  Managers  of  manufactories,  rail- 
roads, etc.,  etc.,  were  unknown.     And  there  were  no  newspapers. 

5.  The  length  of  the  pastorates  was  also  favorable  to  the  growth 
of  influence. 

Long  Pastorates. 

In  1782  Rev.  Timothy  Walker  died  at  Concord,  N.  H.,  after  a 
settlement  of  fifty-two  years  as  pastor  of  that  church.  Among  his 
contemporaries  in  that  State  were  thirteen  ministers*  all  of  whom 
had  long  pastorates  ;  namely : 

Years    I  Years. 


Rev.  Ebenezer  Flagg,  of  Chester. . .  60 
"     John  Wilson  (Presbyterian),  of 

Chester 45 

"     John  Odlin,  of  Exeter 48 

"     William  Allen,  of  Greenland.  53 
"     Samuel  McClintock,  of  Green- 
land   47 

"    John  Tuke,  of  Gosport 41 


Rev.  Jeremy  Fogg',  of  Kensington . .  52 
"     William  Davidson,  of  London- 
derry    51 

"     Joseph  Adams,  of  Neurington.  68 

"     John  Moody,  of  Newmarket..  48 

"     Samuel  Parsons,  of  Rye 48 

"     Jonathan  Cushing,  of  Dover. . .  52 

"     James  Pike,  of  Somersvvorth. .  60 


Ministers  were  settled  for  life.  Of  271  pastors  in  Massachusetts 
in  1776,  223  retained  their  pastorates  until  death;  and  only  48  were 
terminated  by  dismission  or  resignation.     One  had  a  ministry  in  the 

•  Congregational  Quarterly^  July,  1873,  pp.  36a,  36^. 


186  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

same  parish  over  70  years;  21,  between  60  and  70  years;  51,  be- 
tween 50  and  60  years  ;  66,  between  40  and  50  years;  62,  between 
30  and  40  years;  24,  between  20  and  30  years  ;  32,  between  10  and 
20  years ;  14,  under  10  years. 

A  small  farm  was  attached  to  the  parsonage  in  most  towns,  and 
the  parson  was  often  a  skillful  farmer.  Sometimes  he  became  very 
worldly  and  secular,  neglecting  study,  and  his  sermons  became  stale. 
An  eminent  New  England  divine,  himself  a  son  of  a  Puritan  clergy- 
man, used  to  relate  that,  when  a  boy,  he  heard  the  deacons  in  his 
father's  house  discussing  the  merits  of  their  respective  ministers. 
After  many  had  spoken  an  old  deacon  said  :  *'  Wa'al,  our  minister 
gives  so  much  attention  to  his  farm  and  orchard  that  we  get  pretty 
poor  sermons,  but  he  is  mighty  movin'  in  prayer  in  caterpillar  and 
cankerworm  time." 


.  Section  ^.— The  Meeting-Houses. 

When  the  legions  of  Rome  attempted  to  conquer  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  they  found  the  tribes  bound  together  by  a  league  they  had 
nowhere  else  encountered — the  league  of  the  tuns.  Each  village  was 
a  tun,  independent,  managing  its  own  affairs,  each  householder  hav- 
ing the  right  of  suffrage  on  all  questions  affecting  the  welfare  of  the 
tun.  Every  village  had  its  moot,  or  meeting-house,  where  the  in- 
habitants met  to  discuss  all  questions  in  tun  meeting.  Each  tun  man- 
aged its  own  affairs,  and  each  united  with  its  neighboring  tun  to 
repulse  invaders.  Rome  could  not  conquer  this  people.  The  term 
moot  {moot-(\\xes\.\ox\,  nwot-court,  etc.),  signifying  debate,  gave  char- 
acter to  the  buildings  used  for  mooting,  and  the  mootmg-house  in  the 
course  of  time  was  called  a  mecttng-house.  The  first  settlers  at 
Plymouth  Rock  were  a  tun,  the  beginning  of  a  State — a  Republic. 
In  the  wilderness  they  reared  their  tnoot — the  meeting-house — where 
on  Sundays  religious  questions  were  mooted,  and  where,  on  other 
days,  they  mooted  the  affairs  of  the  tun,  elected  tun  officers,  etc.,  every 
voter  mooting  his  opinions  upon  all  subjects  relating  to  the  tun, 
money  for  roads,  schools,  bounties  on  foxes  and  wolves,  down  to  the 
question  of  putting  yokes  upon  geese  and  wires  in  the  snouts  of 
swine.  The  meeting-house  was  the  legislative  house  of  the  minia- 
ture commonwealth,  as  well  as  a  sanctuary  where  spiritual  and  eternal 
things  were  considered.  The  town  meetings  held  in  New  England 
meeting-houses  have  become  potenL  factors  in  the  nation.  In  the 
meeting-houses  troops  were  raised  to  fight  the  Pequots.      From  the 


EARLY  CHURCH  ARCHITECTURE.  137 

pulpits  patriotic  fires  were  fanned  that  flamed  into  the  Revolution, 
and  from  the  meeting-houses  the  troops  went  forth  to  fight. 

Outside  of  New  England,  on  some  of  the  frontiers,  meeting- 
houses were  not  so  promptly  reared,  and  Sabbaths  and  general  morals 
ran  low.  But  in  New  England,  it  may  be  said,  in  the  beginning  was 
the  meeting-house.  The  edifice  belonged  to  the  town,  in  its  paro- 
chial character,  and  the  town  meetings  were  opened  with  solemn 
religious  services.  All  parish  business  was  transacted  in  many  New 
England  towns  at  the  regular  town  meeting.  Even  the  most  trivial 
matters,  such  as  the  appointment  of  a  chorister,  the  purchase  of  sup- 
plies for  the  ordination  dinner,  arrangements  for  the  ordination  ball, 
which  sometimes  occurred,  etc.,  were  decided  in  this  popular  assem- 
bly. The  records  of  one  town  meeting  show  a  vote  authorizing  a 
committee  "to  purchase  a  pitch-pipe  for  the  use  of  the  chorister." 
For  many  years  this  was  the  only  instrument  used  in  singing  in  New 
England.  "  A  barrel  of  rum  to  raise  the  meeting-house  "  was  an- 
other town  charge. 

The  meeting-house  always  belonged  to  the  town,  in  its  parochial 
character  ;  but  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent century  these  arrangements  were  gradually  modified  until,  by 
the  adoption  of  the  amended  "  Bill  of  Rights  "  in  Massachusetts,  in 
1834,  towns  were  discharged  from  all  care  of  the  Gospel  and  all  con- 
nection with  its  institutions  and  agencies.  In  most  other  States  this 
change  came  sooner. 

Rude  Edifices. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  edifices,  the  very  earliest  belonged  to 
the  nondescript  style  of  architecture — four  walls  of  logs,  with  crevices 
stuffed  with  clay,  no  ceiling  but  the  rough  wood,  often  unhewed,  and 
a  thatched  roof.  Such  were  the  first  houses  of  worship  in  Virginia, 
New  York  and  New  England.  They  could  do  no  better.  In  a  little 
while  the  log  church  gave  place  to  a  square  framed  house,  with  a 
"  tunnel"  roof,  the  latter  style  of  roof  prevailing  chiefly  among  the 
Dutch.  In  these  buildings  town  business,  courts,  and  many  local 
contentions  were  held  and  criminals  sentenced  ;  and  stocks  and  whip- 
ping-posts were  conveniently  near.  In  the  southern  colonies  the 
early  churches  were  without  spires  for  a  hundred  years  or  more,  and 
were  often  located  in  retired  places. 

In  the  days  of  Indian  hostilities  the  sanctuary  was  loop-holed 
and  surrounded  with  a  palisade  built  of  tall  stakes  as  a  protection 
against  attacks.  This  building  also  stored  the  powder  and  served 
as  a  fort.     A  certain  number  of  men  were  detailed  to  go  every  Sun- 


188  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

day  to  the  place  of  worship,  with  arms  and  ammunition,  ready  to 
repel  an  assault. 

Advance  in  Church  Architecture. 

Only  a  little  time,  however,  elapsed  before  the  house  of  worship 
became  a  more  worthy  edifice.  An  old  church,  erected  in  eastern 
Massachusetts  in  1 713,  was  28  by  42  feet,  three  stories  high,  covered 
with  plank  one  and  a  half  inches  thick,  and  clap-boarded.  It  was 
voted  "  to  leave  the  inside  to  be  plastered  when  ye  precinct  are 
able."  There  were  no  carpets,  cushions,  or  pews,  only  hard  oaken 
seats  ;  the  men  sitting  on  one  side  and  the  women  on  the  other  until 
pews  were  introduced.  Heavy  beams  crossed  overhead,  bare  and 
unsightly,  and  when  the  building  was  crowded  "  some  of  ye  sprightly 
lads  sat  on  ye  beams  over  ye  heads  of  ye  congregation,"  Dignita- 
ries of  the  State  sat  "  on  ye  high  seat  by  ye  pulpit."  It  was  long 
before  the  family  or  square  pew  was  adopted. 

Most  of  the  church  buildings  standing  in  the  older  towns  in  i8cx3 
were  built  from  1730  to  1770,  the  third  of  the  series  built  since  the 
first  settlements.  In  the  newer  towns  they  were  the  second. 
Many  of  them  were  the  best  buildings  of  the  period,  the  largest, 
most  expensive  and  best  cared  for,  requiring  sacrifices  from  the 
people  that  would  now  be  considered  intolerable.  They  were 
painted  white  externally.  An  unpainted  meeting-house,  or  one 
without  a  steeple  and  a  bell,  was  an  exception  to  the  general  rule. 
Sometimes,  ever!  in  this  more  advanced  period,  the  building  of  the 
steeple  was  deferred  for  lack  of  means,  the  modern  expedient  of  a 
church  mortgage  not  having  been  adopted  ;  but  the  glory  of  the 
sanctuary  was  deemed  wanting  until  a  lofty  spire  pointed  heaven- 
ward and  the  welcoming  notes  of  a  bell  reverberated  to  the  remot- 
est corner  of  the  town.  It  was  then  an  imposing  structure,  located 
in  the  center,  where  the  paths  and  lanes  of  the  settlement  converged, 
and  often,  in  New  England,  on  a  high  hill,  where  the  first  houses 
were  built.  The  square  house  gradually  gave  place  to  an  oblong 
structure  of  two  stories  and  a  gallery.  Sometimes  it  was  plastered 
only  below  the  galleries,  the  portions  above  being  left  unfinished  to 
the  roof.  Kegs  of  powder  often  stood  on  the  great  oak  cross-beams 
for  safe  keeping,  there  never  being  any  fire  in  the  house.  No  cur- 
tains softened  the  light  nor  cushions  the  hard  seats,  except  in  the 
pulpit. 

No  flue  or  chimney  appeared  in  church  architecture  until  near 
the  close  of  the  last  or  early  in  this  century.  Men  warmed  their  hands 
by  keeping  them  in  their  stout  coat  pockets,  and  knocked  their  feet 


CHURCH  INTERIORS.  1S9 

together  with  not  a  little  noise.  Judge  Sewall,  of  Boston,  wrote 
(Diary,  Jan.  24,  1685) :  "This  day  was  so  cold  that  the  Sacramen- 
tal Bread  was  frozen  pretty  hard  and  rattled  sadly  on  the  plates." 
The  women  brought  small  foot-stoves,*  replenished  with  charcoal, 
which  sometimes  occasioned  fainting,  though  generally  the  cold  and 
the  fumes  of  gas  were  borne  without  complaint.  The  first  stoves 
were  mounted  on  high  platforms,  sometimes  nearly  as  high  as  the 
gallery,  until  the  philosophers  discovered  that  heat  rises. 

A  peculiarity  of  the  early  times  were  the  "  Sabba*-Day  Houses  ;  " 
buildings  erected  near  the  church,  about  sixteen  feet  square,  with 
small  windows  on  three  sides,  a  chimney  built  of  stone  or  perhaps 
partly  of  brick,  with  a  large  fire-place.  This  room  was  furnished 
with  rough  seats.  In  this  place  the  women  passed  the  short  inter- 
mission in  mutual  greetings,  inquiries  after  health,  commenting  on 
the  morning  sermon,  gossiping,  etc.,  while  the  men  lingered  around 
the  horse-sheds,  or  the  bar-room  of  the  tavern. 

The  pulpit  was  lofty,  reached  by  a  flight  of  stairs ;  so  high  that 
those  who  kept  their  eyes  fixed  upon  the  preacher  did  so  at  the 
peril  of  a  stiff  neck.  Behind  was  a  curtainless  window,  and  above  a 
curiously  gilded  canopy  about  six  feet  in  diameter,  in  form  resem- 
bling a  flat  turnip  cut  transversely.  It  was  called  a  sounding-board 
and  hung  just  above  the  speaker's  head  by  a  slender  iron  rod  from 
the  ceiling.  Just  beneath,  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  were  the  deacons' 
seats,  in  a  sort  of  pen,  where  they  sat  on  communion  days,  facing  the 
congregation,  with  the  communion  table  hanging  by  hinges  in  front 
of  them.  When  pews  were  introduced  they  were  constructed  about 
six  feet  square,  with  high  perpendicular  walls,  and  a  railing  on  the 
top.  Within  were  uncushioned  seats  on  two  sides,  and  sometimes 
two  or  three  plain  chairs.  The  seats  were  hung  by  hinges,  so  that 
they  might  be  turned  up  when  the  congregation  rose,  as  it  was  the 
universal  custom  to  stand  in  prayer  time  ;  and  "  the  slam-bang  as 
they  were  turned  carelessly  down  again  at  the  close  of  prayers,  not 
unlike  a  volley  of  musketry,  was  no  inconsiderable  episode  in  the 
ceremonies." 

Before  bells  were  introduced  a  flag  was  raised  and  drums  were 
used  to  call  the  people  to  worship.     A  good   deacon,  as  was  some- 

*  From  time  immemori2il  only  aged  women  and  feeble  persons  were  allowed  to  carry  foot- 
stoves,  which  were  replenished  with  coals  at  noon  from  the  "  Sabba'-Day  House"  or  a  neighbor's. 
In  a  town-meeting  debate  on  the  question  of  introducing  a  stove  into  the  church  in  Brimfield, 
Mass.,  one  speaker  said  :  "We  do  n^t  need  a  stove  in  this  hnuse  to  warm  it,  the  preaching  is  hot 
enough  for  that  purpose."  When  a  stove  was  introduced  into  a  certain  meeting-house  a  leading 
man  fancied  the  air  so  uncomfortable  that  he  walked  out  of  the  house  in  a  rage,  when  a  by. 
stander  examined  the  stove  and  found  that  no  fire  had  yet  been  kindled  in  it. 


160  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

times  the  case,  with  cocked  hat  and  small  clothes,  solemnly  beat  the 
drum  from  hill  to  hill  on  Sabbath  morning.  The  people  came  forth 
from  their  brown  houses  and  wended  their  way  to  the  meeting-house. 
A  story  is  told  of  a  faithful  deacon  who  rode  the  same  white  horse 
to  church  for  twenty  years  without  missing  a  Sabbath  ;  but  at  length, 
taken  sick,  the  deacon  was  kept  at  home.  The  venerable  steed, 
however,  without  saddle  or  bridle,  joined  the  worshipers  as  usual  at 
the  sound  of  the  drum,  went  to  the  church,  lingered  till  the  services 
were  over  and  then  trotted  home  again.  When  carriages  were  first 
introduced  those  who  used  them  were  subjected  to  serious  criticism, 
as  extravagant  and  proud. 

The  Congregations. 

"  Behold  now  the  congregation  as  it  assembles  on  the  Sabbath. 
Some  of  them  are  mounted  on  horses,  the  father  with  his  wife  or 
daughter  on  a  pillion  behind  him,  and  perhaps  also  his  little  boy 
astride  before  him.  They  ride  up  to  the  stone  horse-block  and  dis- 
mount. The  young  men  and  maidens,  when  not  provided  with 
horses,  approach  on  foot.  They  have  worn  their  every-day  shoes 
until  just  before  coming  in  sight,  and  have  exchanged  them  for 
their  clean  calfskins  or  morocco,  having  deposited  the  old  ones  in 
some  unsuspected  patch  of  brakes  or  some  sly  hole  in  the  wall. 
They  carry  in  hand  a  rose,  a  lilac,  a  pink,  a  peony  or  a  pond-lily 
(for  this  was  the  whole  catalogue  of  flowers  then  known  in  the  coun- 
try towns),  or,  what  was  still  more  exquisite,  a  nice  bunch  of  caraway 
seeds.  Instead  of  this  in  winter  they  bear  a  tin  foot-stove  contain- 
ing a  little  dish  of  coals,  which  they  have  carefully  brought  from 
home  or  filled  at  some  neighboring  house ;  and  this  was  all  the 
warmth  they  were  to  enjoy  during  the  two  long  hours  of  the  service. 
In  winter  they  come  a  long  distance  on  ox-sleds,  or  perhaps  skim 
over  the  deep  untrodden  snow  on  snow-shoes.  They  enter  the 
house  stamping  the  snow  from  their  feet  and  tramping  over  the 
uncarpeted  aisles  with  their  cow-hide  boots, 

"  Let  us  enter  with  them.  The  wintry  blast  howls  around  and 
shrieks  among  the  loose  clap-boards;  the  half-fastened  windows 
clatter  ;  and  the  walls  re-echo  to  the  thumping  of  thick  boots  as 
their  wearers  endeavor  to  keep  up  the  circulation  in  their  half  frozen 
feet,  while  clouds  of  vapor  issue  from  their  mouths ;  and  the  man 
of  God,  as  he  raises  his  hands  in  his  long  prayers,  must  needs  pro- 
tect them  with  shaggy  mittens.  So  comfortless  and  cold — it  makes 
one  shudder  to  think  of  it.     In  summer,  on  the  contrary,  the  sun 


THE  MEETING-HOUSE  SERVICE.  161 

blazes  in,  unscreened  by  window  curtains  ;  the  sturdy  farmer,  accus- 
tomed to  labor  all  day  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  takes  the  liberty  to  lay 
aside  his  coat  in  like  manner  for  the  more  serious  employments  of 
the  sanctuary."  * 


Section  5.— The  Worsliip. 

It  is  winter;  nevertheless  the  people  are  gathered,  many  of  them 
from  distant  homes,  in  a  cheerless  sanctuary.  Upon  rough  boards 
arranged  on  rude  blocks  sit  the  fathers  of  the  church,  in  stout  woolen 
frocks  with  snow-shoes  near  by  and  fur  caps  hung  upon  the  muzzle 
of  guns  leaning  against  their  shoulders.  The  pastor,  too,  has  hung 
his  three-cornered  hat  upon  his  own  trusty  musket,  which  stands  by 
the  side  of  the  pulpit. 

The  forenoon  service  begins  at  ten  o'clock.  A  solemn  tune  is 
sung  in  nasal  strains.  The  congregation  rise  and  stand  daring  the 
pastor's  prayer,  which  is  never  less  than  fifteen  minutes  long,  often 
twice  or  thrice  as  long,  f  Then  a  psalm  is  "  lined  off "  by  "  the 
ruling  elder,"  and  sung  by  the  congregation  in  "  a  most  solemne 
tune."  The  sermon  follows,  never  less  than  an  hour  in  length,  some- 
times extending  to  an  hour  and  a  half  and  two  hours,  so  that  "  the 
hour-glass  "  on  the  preacher's  desk  is  turned  twice.  "  The  Improve- 
ment "  is  often  as  long  as  the  argument.  It  advances  by  regular 
stages  to  eighthly  and  even  to  sixteenthly.  The  elderly  m^n,  unac- 
customed to  long  sittings,  occasionally  stand  up,  stretching  over  the 
breastwork  of  the  pew  or  gallery  to  relieve  the  fatigue  of  their  posi- 
tion. It  was  the  duty  of  the  tithing-man  to  keep  the  people  awake,:}: 
striking  the  boys  with  a  knob  at  one  end   of  his  pole,  and  tickling 

*  From  the  history  of  an  old  New  Hampshire  town. 

+  Sometimes  a  pause  was  made  at  a  certain  stage  of  "the  long  prayer'  to  accommodate 
those  who  chose  to  sit  down. 

Jin  a  satire,  one  of  the  preachers  of  that  time  is  pictorially  represented  as  saying;  to  his  audi- 
ence, "  I  know  you  are  good  fellows,  stay  and  take  another  glass."  Another  minister  who  stood 
in  a  pulpit  on  the  side  of  the  church  next  to  the  cemetery,  seeing  many  asleep,  sarcastically 
remarked  that  those  behind  him  could  hear  as  well  as  those  before  him. 

"  In  one  town  in  eastern  Masssachusetts  it  was  voted  'that  the  three  hindmost  seats  in  the 
meeting-house  be  left  for  the  boys  that  are  under  twelve  years  old,  and  three  seats  above  in  the 
men's  gallery  be  left  for  older  boys  to  sit  in,  and  that  the  select  men  see  to  the  getting  of  two 
men  to  look  after  the  boys,  that  they  be  made  to  sit  in  the  seats  appointed  for  them  and  they  be 
kept  from  playing.'  If  any  of  the  boys  above  twelve  years  old  should  play  on  the  Sabbath  day  in 
the  time  of  public  worship  they  were  to  be  '  brought  below  and  compelled  to  sit  with  the  smaller 
boys,  until  they  leave  off  playing  on  the  Sabbath.'  It  was  also  voted  that  the  same  course  be 
taken  with  the  girls.  Two  misses  in  one  case  were  fined  for  laughing  in  meeting,  and  for  speak- 
ing deridingly  of  God's  Word  and  ordinances  men  were  sentenced  to  pay  five  pounds  or  be 
whipped."  .  .  . 
11 


162  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  ears  of  the  girls  with  a  feather  at  the  other  end.  *  After  the 
sermon  another  psalm  is  read.  "Tate  and  Brady"  is  lined  off  and 
sung  with  a  strong  nasal  twang  and  hearty  good  will  to  some  good  old 
St.  Ann's  or  St.  Martin's,  and  finally  the  benediction  is  pronounced. 
The  congregation  still  remain  in  place,  to  go  out  in  prescribed  order: 
first,  the  minister;  then,  the  deacons;  then,  those  in  the  front  seats 
below ;  and  at  the  same  time,  those  in  the  front  gallery  seats  and 
those  in  the  pews,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Intermission. 

They  separate  for  a  short  intermission,  and  to  dispatch  their 
lunch  t  of  doughnuts  or  apples ;  in  summer  they  stroll  in  the  grave- 
yard hard  by,  to  hold  silent  converse  with  those  who  sleep  there 
and  be  impressed  with  the  lesson  of  their  own  mortality.  In  win- 
ter those  from  a  distance  take  refuge  before  the  blazing  hearth  of 
some  friend  in  the  village,  and  are,  perhaps,  regaled  with  a  hos- 
pitable mug  of  cider  or  something  stronger ;  and  after  an  hour's  inter- 
mission all  re-assemble  for  the  afternoon  service,  which  is  much  like 
that  of  the  morning.  Some  ministers,  however,  in  the  morning 
usually  preached  a  doctrinal  sermon,  and  in  the  afternoon  drew  infer- 
ences and  practical  lessons.  This  logical,  connected  style  of  preach- 
ing trained  the  minds  of  their  hearers  to  habits  of  consecutive 
thought. 

Sanctuary  Items. 

There  were  some  incidental  items  in  the  religious  services  of 
those  times  which  have  been  well    described  by  a  writer;}:  in  The 

*  An  old  document  speaks  of  a  disturbance  in  an  old  church  at  Danvers,  Mass.,  in  1713  : 
"There  was  a  disturbance  in  ye  gallerie  when  it  was  filled  with  divers  negroes,  mullattoes  and 
Indians.  And  a  negro  called  Pomp  Shester,  belonging  to  Mr.  Gardner,  was  called  forth  and  put 
in  ye  Broad  Aisle,  when  he  was  reproved  with  great  awfulness  and  solemnity  ;  he  was  then 
put  in  ye  deacon's  seat,  between  two  deacons,  in  view  of  ye  whole  congregation,  but  ye  Se.xton 
was  ordered  by  Mr.  Prescott  to  take  him  out  because  of  his  levity  and  strange  contortions  of  coun- 
tenance giving  great  scandal  to  ye  gjave  deacons,  and  put  him  in  the  lobby  under  ye  stairs.  Some 
children  and  a  mulatto  woman  were  reprimanded  for  laughing  at  Pomp  Shester." 

t  "  It  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  in  those  days  for  people  to  bring  their  dinners  to  meeting. 
In  a  certain  instance  a  pitcher  of  milk  was  set  on  the  pulpit  stairs  by  the  occupant  of  a  pew  near 
by.  During  the  long  prayer  a  dog  found  his  way  into  the  meeting-house,  and  in  wandering 
about  in  the  aisles  espied  the  pitcher.  Putting  his  nose  into  it  he  kept  on  lapping  tiil  his  head 
had  forced  itself  so  far  into  the  vessel  that  it  was  impossible  to  shake  it  off.  To  see  the  dog  work- 
ing vehemently  to  get  the  pitcher  from  his  head,  as  he  ran  up  and  down  the  aisle,  was  too  much 
f  If  the  risibles  of  the  congregation,  even  in  the  time  of  prayer.  The  minister,  opening  his  eyes, 
caught  sight  of  the  dog  and  was  himself  overcome  by  the  ludicrousness  of  the  scene.  The  con- 
gregation were  too  much  demoralized  to  resume  worship  for  that  occasion,  and  it  was  found 
practicable  to  adjourn  till  afternoon." 

X  To  this  writer  the  author  is  indebted  for  some  of  the  previous  items,  cis  well  as  some  which 
follow. 


A  PURITAN  CHRISTENING.  163 

Congregationalist.      Before  "  the  long  prayer  "  a  string  of  notes  was 

read.     "A H asks   prayers  for  herself,  sick  and  weak;" 

"  B S requests  prayers  for  him.  sick  and  low,  that  he  may 

be  restored  to  health  or  prepared  for  God's  will  concerning  him." 
"  That  T S 's  death  may  be  sanctified  to  wife,  parents,  chil- 
dren, brothers  and  sisters."  Then  a  note  of  "  thanks  for  mercies 
received  "  by  the  parents  of  a  new-born  child,  which  occasions  some 
sheep's  eye  glances  in  the  congregation.  Last  comes  one  which 
stirs  every  heart.  "  Prayers  are  desired  for  Thomas  Cobbett,  son 
of  Rev.  Thomas  Cobbett,  of  Ipswich,  who  has  been  taken  captive 
by  the  Tarantine  savages,  that  the  Lord  who  preserved  the  life  of 
Joseph  and  delivered  him  out  of  prison  may  be  with  our  friend  and 
brother,  to  preserve  his  life  and  health,  and  restore  him  to  his  dis- 
tressed and  sorrowing  family."  The  long  prayer  that  followed  pre- 
sented every  case  separately  before  the  Lord. 

In  the  afternoon,  "  during  the  opening  prayer,"  the  "mercies  re- 
ceived "  for  which  thanks  were  offered  in  the  morning,  in  a  little  red 
bundle  of  wrappings  and  adornments  from  over  the  sea,  is  brought 
by  its  pleased  but  timid  father,  half  way  up  the  pulpit  stairs  to  the 
font,  at  the  end  of  the  railing  in  front  of  the  deacons.  The  descend- 
ing pastor  takes  the  infant  tenderly,  sprinkles  her  tiny  forehead, 
pronounces  her  significant  name,  "  Welcome,"  and  after  the  rite 
returns  to  the  pulpit  and  goes  on  in  his  suspended  prayer — "  Now, 
O  Lord,  be  pleased  to  ratify  in  thy  courts  above  what  has  been 
done  in  thy  courts  below,  and  grant  in  thy  great  mercy  that  the 
name  of  this  dear  child  may  be  written  in  thy  Book  of  Life."  Then 
follows  singing  and  the  sermon. 

The  sands  of  the  glass  at  the  left  end  of  the  deacon's  railing  run 
their  hour  and  the  sermon  closes.  "  One  of  the  deacons  says, '  Breth- 
ren, now  there  is  time  left  for  contributions  ;  wherefore,  as  God  hath 
prospered  you,  so  freely  give.'  The  magistrates  and  chief  gentle- 
men first,  and  then  all  the  congregation,  go  up  oneway,  putting  their 
offering,  if  it  be  money,  into  a  box,  or  if  any  other  chattel — as  a 
squash,  a  bag  of  beans  or  a  spare-rib — depositing  it  before  the  dea- 
cons, and  all  return  by  another  way  to  their  seats.  These  gifts  are 
for  the  poor  and  needy,  many  of  whom  from  their  designated  places 
in  the  front  galleries  anxiously  watch  the  deposits." 

The  service  closes,  and  just  as  all  are  ready  to  start  they  halt  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  town  clerk  cry  out,  "  Jonathan  Bishop  and 
Esther  Jennison  intend  marriage."  As  this  is  their  second  announce- 
ment it  awakens  no  surprise,  and  all  depart  for  their  homes.  In 
some  meeting-houses  there  was  a  stool  of  repentance  for  transgressors. 


1  6 4  CHP.TS TIA XI TV  IN  THE  USI TED  S TA TES. 

who  were  placed  on  elevated  seats,  with  labels  designating  their 
offenses  so  fixed  upon  their  persons  as  to  be  seen  by  all.  Confes- 
sions were  also  required  to  be  made  by  penitents  before  the  congre- 
gation on  Sabbaths  and  lecture  days. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  no  Scripture  lessons  were  read  in  the 
New  England  pulpits.  About  1700,  the  Brattle  Street  Church.  Bos- 
ton, introduced  the  practice  of  reading  a  Bible  lesson,  but  they  were 
called  to  order  by  the  other  churches.  Some  New  England  churches 
did  not  introduce  this  practice  until  near  the  close  of  the  last  cent- 
ury, and  then  only  in  the  morning  service. 

When  the  meeting  was  over,  says  the  writer  already  quoted, 
the  people  hurried  home  to  kindle  their  fires,  raking  open  the  bed 
of  coals  on  the  hearth.  If  the  fire  had  gone  out  they  rekindled 
it  by  striking  a  flint  against  a  piece  of  steel,  throwing  a  spark  upon 
tinder.  After  supper  was  over  the  family  sat  around  the  old  fire- 
place and  recited  the  catechism,  beginning  with  "  What  is  the  chief 
end  of  man?"  all  taking  part.  It  was  a  long  time  to  bed-time,  but 
there  were  no  Sunday-school  books,  no  religious  papers,  nothing  to 
read  except  the  Bible  and  the  Primer,  with  the  rhymes  : 

"  Xerxes  the  Gieat  did  die 
And  so  must  you  and  I." 

As  the  Sunday  ended  at  dark,  it  came  to  be  a  question  with 
many  how  dark  it  must  be  before  it  would  do  to  work  or  play. 
The  prevailing  rule  was  that  '*  when  five  stars  could  be  seen  the  Sun- 
day was  at  an  end."  When  the  boys  could  count  the  five  stars  their 
pent-up  spirits  burst  wildly  out  in  whoops  and  jumps. 

The  Music. 

The  music  of  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  the 
better  congregatioiis,  while  not  artistic,  was  doubtless  essentially 
good,  and  expressive  of  devout  feeling.  Manuals  and  collections  of 
sacred  music  had  been  published  and  were  freely  used.*  Handel 
died  in  1759  and  Haydn  was  born  in  1733.  Rev.  Dr.  Chauncy,  of 
Diirliam,  Connecticut,  published  an  able  pamphlet  on  "  Singing  by 
Rule,"  as  early  as  1728.  One  of  the  smaller  collections  of  Hymns 
and  Tunes  shows  more  than  fifty  tunes  in  use  prior  to  1800,  and 
more  than  twenty-five  which  antedated  1760.  This  in  a  few  of  the 
better  congregations,  while  the  sparser  and  newer  seldom  used 
more  than  two  or  three,  or  perhaps  a  half  dozen  tunes. 

*  Before  the  cl'>se  of  the  last  century  some  collections  of  hymns  had  been  published  in  New 
England,  one  of  them  containing  500  pages,  Tliey  were  expensive,  however,  and  for  that  reason, 
and  because  many  could  not  read,  the  hymns  we're  "  lined  off." 


CONGREGATIONAL  SINGING.  163 

Congregational  singing  was  the  general  custom.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century  a  few  choirs  were  formed,  and  a  revolution 
in  the  singing  customs  began.  Musical  instruments  came  in — bass 
viols,  or  "  big  fiddles,"  as  they  were  contemptuously  called,  occasion- 
ing serious  quarrels. 

In  the  early  New  England  churches  the  singing  never  ministered  to  the  har- 
mony of  a  Sabl)ath  congregation.  And  there  was  a  greater  discord  than  ever  in 
the  meeting-houses  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  improve  the  singing  by  forming 
choirs,  and  teaching  them  to  read  notes  and  sing  "  by  rule."  This  was  first  done 
in  the  Brattle  Street  meeting  house,  Boston,  in  1720.  In  the  country  towns  the 
innovation  met  with  stout  opponents,  who  declared  that  it  would  lead  to  popery, 
and  that  "  fa,"  "sol,"  "la,"  was  the  voice  of  the  pope  in  disguise!  Each  party 
accused  the  other  of  disturbing  the  public  worship  of  God,  one  in  attempting  to 
perpetuate  the  "  old  way,"  the  other  to  force  in  the  "new  way"  of  singing.  The 
opponents  of  the  new  way  said  that  the  old  way  was  more  solemn,  and  that  the 
new  way  must  be  wrong  because  the  young  people  so  readily  fell  into  it ! 

Some  congregations  did  not  understand  the  merits  of  the  controversy  well 
enough  to  have  any  opinion  about  it.  On  the  Stamford,  Connecticut,  records  is 
the  following  amiable  decision  : — 

"Genewary  ye  28,  1747.  Voted  yt.  Mr  Jona.  Bell,  or  any  other  man  agreed 
upon  to  sing  or  tune  ye  Salm  in  his  absence  in  times  of  publick  -worship,  may 
tune  it  in  ye  old  way  or  new  way,  which  suits  you  best." 

At  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1736,  it  was  decided  to  sing  "  in  the  old  way  "  in 
the  morning  and  "  in  the  new  way"  in  the  afternoon.  The  new  way  of  singing 
gradually  broke  up  the  custom  of  employing  a  town  reader  to  read  aloud  the 
hymns,  line  by  line,  to  the  singers,  which  was  first  introduced  at  Plymouth,  in  1685, 
at  the  request  of  worshipers  who  could  not  read.  This  custom,  which  finally 
attached  itself  to  the  deacon's  otfice,  prevailed  in  all  parts  of  New  England  for  a 
hundred  and  fiity  years,  because  it  removed  "the  embarrassment  resulting  from 
the  ignorance  of  those  who  were  more  skillful  in  giving  sound  to  notes  than  in 
ciphering  letters  "  (Lincoln's  Worcester.)  Education  finally  rendered  the 
custom  unnecessary,  and  the  formation  of  choirs  caused  it  to  be  destroyed.  At 
Worcester,  Massachusetts,  August  5,  1779,  it  was  "  voted  that  the  singers  carry 
on  singing  in  public  worship,  and  that  the  mode  of  singing  be  without  reading  the 
psalms  line  by  line,  to  be  sung."  On  the  next  Sabbath  the  aged  Dea.  Chamberlain, 
unwilling  to  abandon  the  old  custom,  arose  and  read  aloud  the  first  line  of  the 
hymn  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do.  The  singers,  whose  bold  array  stretched 
along  the  front  of  the  gallery,  sang  line  after  line  without  noticing  the  deacon, 
while  he,  raising  his  voice,  read  the  lines  as  usual,  until  the  strength  of  the  choir 
overpowered  him.  Then  he  took  his  hat  and  left  the  meeting-house,  weeping  and 
mortified.  But  the  Church,  not  satisfied  with  this  triumph  over  the  old  man, 
publicly  censured  him.  and  deprived  him  of  communion  because  he  had  absented 
himself  "  from  the  public  ordinances  on  the  Lord's  day. '* 

Long  Sermons  and  Long  Prayers. 

The  prayers  as  well  as  the  sermons  in  those  days  were  very  long. 
A  little  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago  Jasper  Bankers  and  Peter 

*  A  writer  in  The  New  York  Observer. 


166  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Sluyter,    of  Friesland,    visited    Boston,    and    gave    the    following 
account  of  the  exercises  on  a  certain  day  for  fasting  and  prayer : 

We  went  into  the  church,  where,  in  the  first  place,  a  minister  made  a  prayer  in 
the  pulpit  of  full  two  hours  in  length,  after  which  an  old  minister  delivered  a  ser- 
mon an  hour  long,  and  after  that  a  prayer  was  made  and  some  verses  sung  out  of 
the  Psalms.  In  the  afternoon  three  or  four  hours  were  consumed  with  nothmg 
except  prayers,  three  ministers  relieving  each  other  alternately;  when  one  was 
tired  the  other  went  up  into  the  pulpit. 

A  suggestive  record  of  an  early  Thanksgiving  Day  service 
(Dec.  22d,  1630)  is  worth  introducing. 

Beginning  some  half  an  hour  before  nine,  and  continued  until  after  twelve 
o'clock,  ye  day  being  very  cold — beginning  with  a  short  prayer,  then  a  psalm  sung, 
then  more  large  in  prayer,  after  that  another  psalm  and  the  Word  taught,  after 
that  prayer  and  then  a  psalm, 

A  certain  preacher  of  the  olden  time,  after  exhausting  his  sand- 
glass, which  ran  an  hour,  turned  it  and  kept  on.  When  he  had 
gone  through  with  three  fourths  of  another  hour  the  congregation 
had  nearly  all  retired,  and  the  clerk,  tired  out,  audibly  asked  his 
reverend  superior  to  lock  up  the  church  and  put  the  key  under  the 
door  when  the  sermon  was  done,  as  he  and  the  few  remaining 
auditors  were  going  home. 

The  stories  which  have  come  down  to  our  day  about  the 
length  of  the  prayers  by  the  ministers  in  the  early  times  seem 
exaggerated  and  fabulous,  but  they  are  doubtless  true.  The  author 
of  this  volume,  while  writing  these  lines,  has  before  him  a  book  of 
written  sermons  by  Rev.  Thomas  Clapp,  who  graduated  at  Harvard 
College,  and  was  settled  in  Taunton,  Massachusetts,  in  1725.  On 
the  introductory  leaves  is  a  "  Scheme  of  Prayer,"  covering  six  pages, 
in  fine  writing.  It  is  divided  into  five  general  heads,  with  numerous 
sub-heads;  there  are  four  and  even  seven  grades  of  sub-divisions  as 
follows : — 

Part  I.  Adoration  of  God — thirty-one  sub  heads. 

Part  II.  Confession — forty-nine  sub-heads,  in  five  classes,  designated  by  He- 
brew numerals,  capital  letters,  Roman  numerals,  Arabic  numerals,  and  small  letters. 

Part  III.  Petitions — ninety  sub-heads,  in  five  classes,  as  above. 

Part  IV.  Thanksgiving — forty-two  sub-heads,  in  seven  classes. 

Part  V.  Intercession — twenty-eight  sub-heads,  in  four  classes.  Total, 
two  hundred  and  forty  sub-heads. 

We  can  easily  imagine  that  an  hour  would  be  consumed  in 
offering  a  prayer  upon  this  elaborate  plan.*  It  would  contain  a 
body  of  divinity. 

*  Hon.  Samuel  Sewall  mentions  a  fast  at  which,  after  three  persons  had  prayed  and  one 
had  preached,  "  another  prayed  about  an  hour  and  a  half,"     Diary,  vol.  I,  p.  76, 


THE  CATECHISM.  167 

The  sermons  of  this  minister  are  also  a  curiosity.  The  pages 
measure  seven  inches  by  four  and  a  half,  but  so  closely  written  that 
the  average  number  of  words  in  a  page  is  eight  hundred  and  nine- 
teen.* The  North  American  Review,  at  the  present  time,  averages 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  printed  words  per  page.  The  printed 
matter  is  six  and  a  half  inches  by  four  inches,  a  little  smaller  than 
the  pages  of  the  MS.  in  question.  But  the  North  American  Review 
has  forty-ond  lines  per  page,  and  averages  eleven  words  to  a  line, 
while  this  MS.  has  sixty-three  written  lines,  and  averages  thirteen 
words  in  a  line.f  We  can  easily  understand  why  the  reading  desks 
in  those  times  were  built  so  high — a  necessity  in  reading  such 
closely  written  sermons. 


Section  4.— The  Catechism. 

The  Catechism  was  an  important  element  in  the  religious  history 
of  New  England,  but  its  origin  antedates  the  Puritans.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  on  our  shores, 
John  Wickliffe  wrote  the  first  catechism  of  which  there  is  now  any 
knowledge.  R.  Legatt's  catechism  appeared  in  1545;  King 
Edward  VI. 's  Short  Catechism,  in  1553  ;  Calvin's  catechism,  in 
Geneva  in  1536,  and  in  England  in  1560.  A  great  number  of 
catechisms,  large  and  small,  were  published  by  the  Puritans,  Non- 
conformists, and  Independents,  in  the  sixteenth  and  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  centuries.  Rev.  William  Perkins's  catechism  was 
translated  into  Dutch  and  printed  by  William  Brewster  (Father  of 
the  Pilgrims)  at  his  press  in  Leyden,  in  1617,  in  a  stout  quarto  of 
184  pages.  It  was  much  used  by  Nonconformists  in  Old  and  New 
England,  and  was  translated  (probably  by  one  of  the  Mayhews, 
though  not  printed)  into  the  Indian  langifage.  Rev.  Daniel  Rogers, 
son  of  the  proto-martyr,  prepared  a  catechism  which  was  much  used 
by  the  Puritans,  and  to  some  extent  in  New  England. 

Thomas  Lechford,  an  English  attorney  and  scrivener,  who  passed  about  three 
years  in  Massachusetts,  1638-41,  and  after  his  return  to  London  published  his 
Plaine  Dealing  or  Neives from  New  England,  complained  that  there  was  here 
"  no  catechising  of  children  or  others  in  any  church,  except  in  Concord  church, 
and,  in  other  places,  of  those  admitted  [to  Church  membership]  in  their  receiving. 
.  .  .  But  God  be  thanked,"  he  adds,  "the  General!  Court  was  so  wise,  in  June  last 
[1641],  as  to  enjoyn  or  take  some  course  for  such  catechising,  as  I  am  informed." 

*  Some  of  them  contain  over  eight  hundred  and  fifty  words  per  page, 
t  These  sermons  cover  about  eighteen  or  twenty  pages. 


168  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  vote  of  the  court  as  it  appears  in  the  record  was,  "  It  is  desired  that  the  Elders 
would  make  a  catechism  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  grounds  of  religion." 

The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  early  Congregationalists  in  New  England  did 
not  object  to  catechising,  but  had  some  differences  of  opinion  about  catechisms ; 
and,  moreover,  they  regarded  the  catechetical  instruction  of  the  young  as  a  duty 
ol  the  household  rather  than  a  distinct  office  of  the  Church.  As  Mr.  Cotton  ex- 
pressed it  (in  his  answer  to  John  Ball's  discourse  of  Set  Formes  of  Prayer),  "  The 
excellent  and  necessary  use  of  cateciiising  young  men  and  novices  ...  we  willingly 
acknowledge  ;  but  little  benefit  have  we  seen  reaped  from  set  forms  of  questions 
and  answers  devised  by  one  church  and  imposed  by  necessity  on  another."  The 
objection  to  "  set  forms  "  was  not  to  be  removed  by  any  action  of  the  general 
court.  If  any  form  must  be  adopted,  every  church  looked  to  its  own  minister  to 
provide  one.  '*  Public  catechising  of  children  or  others,  in  church,"  was  not 
generally  practiced,  but  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  catechising  in  the  family 
and  in  schools  was  not  neglected,  and  soon  there  was  no  lack  of  approved  cate- 
chisms written  and  printed  in  New  England.  At  the  end  of  the  century  Cotton 
Mather  wrote  : 

"Few  pastors  of  mankind  ever  took  such  pains  at  catechising  as  have  been 
taken  by  our  New  English  divines.  Now,  let  any  man  living  read  the  most  judi- 
cious and  elaborate  catechisms  published,  a  lesser  and  a  larger  by  Mr.  Norton,  a 
Icssei-  and  a  larger  by  Mr.  [Richard]  Mather,  several  by  Mr.  Cotton,  one  by  Mr, 
Davenport  [and  sundry  others],  and  say  whether  true  divinity  were  ever  better 
handled."  * 

Catechisms  were  prepared  by  Richard  Mather  and  John  Cotton 
{Spiritual  Milk  for  Babes)  and  printed  in  numerous  editions. 
In  1697  Cotton  Mather  wrote  that  "the  children  of  New  England 
are  to  this  day  most  usually  fed  with  this  (John  Cotton's)  excellent 
catechism,"  and  in  1702  he  called  it  "peculiarly  The  Catechism  of 
New  England,''  and  predicted  that  "  it  will  be  valued,  studied,  and 
improved  until  New  England  ceases  to  be  New  England."  "  It 
made  a  part  of  A  Primer  for  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  printed 
about  171 5,  and  of  The  New  England  Pritncr,  improved  in  the 
editions  of  1775,  1777,  and  after.  A  translation  of  it  into  the  Indian 
language  of  Massachusetts,  by  Rev.  Grindal  Rawson,  was  printed 
in  1691,  and  again  in  the  Indian  Primer  of  1720."  f 

The  Assejnblys  Shorter  Catechism  was  before  Parliament  in  1647.  But  many 
catechisms  were  prepared  by  individual  pastors  :  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  of  Cam- 
bridge ;  John  Fiske,  of  Chelmsford  ;  John  Norton,  of  Boston  ;  Davenport,  of  New 
Haven ;  Stone,  of  Hartford ;  Fitch,  of  Norwich  ;  Noyes,  of  Newbury  ;  Cotton 
Mather  and  others. 

The  Wettminster  Assembly  s  Shorter  Catechism  (first  printed  in  1647)  was 
reprinted  at  Cambridge  in  1665,  and  again,  with  "  the  proofs  out  of  the  Scriptures," 

*  Articles  on  Catechisms  in  Old  and  New  England.  By  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  LL.D., 
in  the  Sunday-School  Times,  September  8  aud  15,  1883,  to  which  the  author  is  greatly 
indebted. 

t  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  LL.D. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PRIMER.  169 

Boston,  1683.  At  what  date  it  was  introduced  into  the  New  Enjlanl  Primer  is 
not  ascertained.  It  does  not  appear  in  the  contents  of  the  •'  enlargeil  "  Primer  of 
1691,  or  of  the  Connecticut  Primer  of  171 5,  but  it  makes  a  part  of  the  earliest 
New  England  Primer  of  wiiich  any  complete  copy  is  preserved  — the  one  primed 
at  Boston,  in  1737.  Cotton  Mather  tells  us  that  the  Rev.  John  Fiske,  of  Chelms- 
ford, who  died  in  1677,  "  did,  by  most  laborious  catechising,  endeavor  to  know  the 
state  of  his  flock,  and  make  it  good,"  and,  "  although  he  did  himself  compose  and 
publish  a  most  useful  catechism.  Watering  of  the  Olive  Plant,  before  mentioned, 
yet  he  chose  the  Assembly's  Catechism  for  his  public  expositions,  wherewith  he 
twice  went  over  it  in  discourses  before  his  aliernoon  sermons."  The  Rev.  Samuel 
Willard,  of  Boston,  gave  his  people  a  course  ol  two  hundred  and  fifty  lectures, 
continued  for  more  than  nineteen  years  (1688-1707),  on  the  Shorter  Catechism. 
and  these  lectures  were  published  after  his  de;Uh,  in  a  stout  folio,  as  a  "  body  of 
divinity."  But,  until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "  the  children  of  New 
England  "  were  (as  Mather  said)  "  most  usually  'i&<\  with  Qonow's  Milk/or  Babes," 
or  some  of  the  many  catechisms  written  for  the  use  of  particular  congregations.  * 

Describing  The  New  England  Primer,  Dr.  Trumbull  says: 

The  contents  of  the  little  book  are  nearly  the  same  as  in  the  editions  of  fifty 
years  ago,  which  some  of  us  remember.  There  are  "  The  Great  Capital  Letters  " 
and  "The  Sinall  Letters,"  the  "  Easie  Syllables  for  Children  " — ab,  eb,  ib,  ob,  lib, 
and  the  rest — the  "  Words  of  One  Syllable,"  and  upward,  to  those  terrible"  words 
of  live  syllables,  beginning  with  "  A-bom-i-na-tion  "  and  ending  with  "  Qual-i-fi-ca- 
tion."  Then  comes  the  chief  attraction  of  the  Primer,  the  rude  woodcuts  and 
their  associated  rhymes,  from 

"In  Adam^s  Fall 
We  sinned  all," 

down,  through  the  alphabet,  to 

' '  Zaccheus  he 
Did  climb  the  Tree." 

These  are  followed  by  "The  Dutiful  Child's  Promises"  (which  take  the  place 
given  in  later  editions  to  the  series  of  Scripture  questions  beginning  with  "  Who 
was  the  first  Man?");  then  "An  Alphabet  of  Lessons  lor  Youth,"  in  verses  or 
parts  of  verses  from  the  Bible  ;  "  A  wise  son  maketh  a  glad  father,"  etc.  After 
these  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  ;  te.xts  teaching 
the  "Duty  of  Children  toward  their  Parents,"  and,  on  two  following  pages,  six 
verses,  one  of  which  every  child  was  directed  to  "learn  by  heart:  " 

"  Have  communion  with  few, 
Be  intimate  with  ONE. 
Deal  justly  by  all, 
Speak  evil  of  none.'' 

Another  of  these  short  verses  every  child  did  learn  from  his  mother  if  not  from 
his  Primer — the  prayer  at  lying  down  ;  more  familiar  to  English-speaking  Protest- 
ants than  any  other,  the  Lord's  Prayer  only  excepted.  Lisped  in  infancy,  breatherl — 
with  closed  lips  possibly — in  middle  age,  reaching  beyond  and  above  all  distinc- 
tions of  creed  and  differences  of  doctrine,  its   every  syllable  hallowed   Hy  eaWy 


*J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  LL.D. 


170  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

associations,  that  evening  prayer  has  ascended  to  God  from  the  hearts  of  "  a  great 
multitude  which  no  man  can  number  :" 

"  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep; 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep  ; 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take." 

Only  a  short  time  before  his  death  the  venerable  John  Quincy  Adams  said 
that  he  had  never  laid  his  head  upon  his  pillow  without  saying  this  prayer,  as  his 
mother  taught  him  to  do  in  childhood. 

After  the  short  verses,  prayers  at  lying  down  and  for  the  morning,  and  the 
"  Names  and  Orders  of  the  Books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,"  come  (in  the 
Primer  of  1737)  the  "verses  for  little  children,"  beginning  : 

"  Though  I  am  young,  a  little  one," 
and  the  hymn — 

"  Lord,  if  Thou  lengthen  out  my  days." 

Then,  turning  the  leaf,  we  have  the  principal  embellishment  of  the  volume,  in  the 
rude  type-metal  cut  of  "Mr.  John  Rogers,  minister  of  the  Gospel  in  London,  the 
first  martyr  in  Queen  Mary's  reign, "about  to  be  burnt  at  Smithfield,  "his  wife  with 
nine  small  children,  and  one  at  her  breast,  following  him  to  the  stake," 

Without  giving  Dr,  Trumbull's  description  in  full,  we  pass  to 
what  he  says  of  later  editions  of  the  Primer. 

Between  the  Primer  of  1737  and  that  of  1768  came  thegreat  revival  of  religion. 
Edwards  and  Bellamy,  and  the  ministers  they  had  trained,  had  given  a  new  cast  to 
New  England  theology.  This  is  not  the  time  or  place  to  discuss  the  nature  or 
extent  of  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  the  religious  teaching  of  New 
England,  but  we  may  observe  some  indications  of  it  even  in  the  Primer.  The 
earlier  Primers  were  distinctly  Protestant,  or  rather  anti-papal.  They  were  de- 
signed to  inculcate  hatred  of  Romanism — hatred  which,  for  the  first  century  and 
a  half  of  our  colonial  existence,  was  intensified  by  fear.  In  the  Primer  of  1768 
"  the  Pope,  or  Man  of  Sin  "  no  longer  appears  as  a  bugbear  on  the  first  page.  The 
general  tone  becomes  evangelical  rather  than  anti-papal.  This  point  deserves 
notice,  because  an  exactly  opposite  conclusion  has  been  formed  by  previous 
writers,  who  had  not  an  opportunity  of  examining  the  earlier  editions.  Mr,  George 
Livermore,  to  whose  articles  on  The  New  England  Primer  I  have  more  than 
once  referred,  had  seen  no  copy  of  earlier  date  than  1775.  This  was  the  edition 
which  was  reprinted  in  1843  by  Mr.  Ira  Webster,  and  which  has  been  popularly 
regarded  as  the  "  original  New  England  Primer."  It  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  few 
editions  which  copied  the  "improved  "  Primer  of  1768.  More  modern  editions 
are  founded  on  the  earlier  type,  and  the  deviations  in  these  editions  from  the 
Primers  of  1768  and  1775,  instead  of  being,  as  Mr.  Livermore  and  other  critics 
have  argued,  "  unwarrantable  alterations,"  are,  in  fact,  a  return  to  the  original 
Puritan  standard. 

The  catechism  was  used  in  the  reh'gious  families  with  great 
uniformity  and  punctiliousness  during  the  last  century.     The  time 


FEASTS  AND  FASTS.  1 7 1 

most  generally  observed  for  catechising  the  children  was  after  the 
return  from  worship  on  Sunday  afternoon.  Besides  this,  in  some 
places,  the  parish  minister  visited  the  district  school  twice  each 
term,  when  all  the  pupils  were  required  to  repeat  the  catechism. 
In  some  schools  in  Connecticut  the  catechism  was  attended  to  at 
the  close  of  the  half-day  school  on  Saturday,  or,  if  no  session  Satur- 
day, on  Friday  afternoon. 


Section  5.— ThanksgiYings  and  Fasts. 

The  Thanksgiving  custom  did  not  originate  with  the  colonists. 
Among  the  Jews  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  a  thanksgiving  for 
the  harvest.  In  England,  under  Edward  III.,  after  the  battle  of 
Cressy  there  was  a  national  thanksgiving;  another  under  the  Black 
Prince;  another  under  Henry  V.,  after  the  battle  of  Agincourt. 
The  Puritans  brought  this  custom  to  America.  On  December  ii, 
1 62 1,  o.  s.,  the  first  thanksgiving  on  American  shores  was  observed 
at  Plymouth,  in  view  of  a  good  harvest.  In  1630  a  general  thanks- 
giving was  appointed  for  the  safe  arrival  of  VVinthrop  and  his 
party,  and  another  the  following  year  for  the  arrival  of  provisions. 
During  the  infancy  of  these  colonies  this  festival  had  no  stated 
season,  but  was  appointed  on  occasions  of  success,  the  civil  power 
ordaining  the  feast,  although  the  religious  element  was  the  power 
behind  them.  Later  it  was  a  stated  yearly  observance.  Outside 
of  New  England  this  festival  was  unknown  till  late  in  the  last 
century.  Fast  days  were  also  extensively  observed,  and  with  great 
punctiliousness,  at  first  only  occasionally,  but  later  a  regular  yearly 
observance. 


172 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 


Sec.  I.  In  New  England. 
"      2.  In  the  Middle  Colonies. 
"      3.  In  the  South. 


Sec.  4.  Jesuit  and  Protestant  Missions 
compared. 
"      5.  Results. 


THE  early  Protestant  colonists  have  been  severely  aspersed  for 
their  treatment  of  the  Indians.  They  have  been  accused  of 
maintaining  an  unkind,  suspicious  attitude,  of  rushing  hastily  into 
hostilities,*  and  making  only  a  few  tardy,  feeble  efforts  for  the  con- 
version of  the  natives  to  Christianity,  while  the  Spanish  and  French 
colonists,  it  is  claimed,  drew  the  red  men  into  cordial  relations  and 
converted  them  in  large  numbers  to  the  papal  faith.  The  situation 
should  be  considered. 

The  Spanish  and  French,  in  advance  of  all  Protestant  settle- 
ments, had  occupied  the  northern  and  southern  borders,  and  were 
intent  upon  the  po.ssession  of  the  whole  country.  Studiously 
attaching  the  Indians  to  themselves  and  fostering  jealousy  and 
hatred  toward  the  English,  the  Jesuits,  working  in  the  interests  of 
Spain  and  France,  kept  the  Indian  mind  biased  against  the  English 
colonists  and  strongly  predisposed  to  hostility.  Even  the  natives 
living  within  or  near  the  lines  of  the  Protestant  settlements  were 
tainted  with  the  infection,  and  with  difficulty  were  held  in  affiliation. 
Almost  all  the  troubles  of  the  English  colonists  may  be  traced  to 
this  source. 


Section  l.—ln  Hew  England. 

The  principal  tribes  of  Indians  in  New  England  were  the Pequois, 
in  north-eastern  Connecticut ;  the  il^/(?//r^^;/i-,  in  south-eastern  Con- 
necticut  ;  the  Narragansetts,  in  Rhode  Island,  and  Bristol  County, 

*  Bishop  Wilberforce,  in  his  History  0/  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
St:.tes,  says  :  "  It  is  calculated  that  180,000  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  were  slaughtered  by 
them  (the  colonists)  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  alone."  How  absurd!  It  is  probable 
there  were  not  30,000  in  Massachusstts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  New  Hampshire,  in  16.30. 


PURITAN   WORK  AMONG    THE  INDIANS.  173 

Massachusetts  ;  the  Pawkunnnivkutts,  on  Nantucket,  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, and  the  neighboring  shores,  as  far  as  the  Plymouth  Colony 
and  the  Cape ;  the  Massachusetts,  around  Massachusetts  Bay  and 
back  to  the  center  of  the  State  ;  the  Pnwtucketts,  in  the  northern 
and  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  and  extending  into  New  Hamp- 
shire and  a  small  part  of  Maine ;  the  Algorquins,  further  east, 
roaming  through  northern  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  and  the 
Canadas ;  the  Housatonnocs,  on  the  rivers  in  western  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut.  At  one  time,  shortly  before  the  settlement  at 
Plymouth  began,  it  is  said  that  the  Pequots  could  muster  4,000 
warriors;  the  Narragansetts,  5,000;  the  Pawkunnawkutts,  3,000; 
the  Massachusetts,  3,000;  the  Pawtucketts,  3,000;  a  total  of  18,000 
men,  indicating  an  Indian  population  of  about  70,000.  About 
161 2-13  a  terribly  fatal  epidemic  swept  them  off  by  tens  of 
thousands.  The  Pawtucketts  were  reduced  to  about  250  men,  be- 
sides women  and  children.  The  other  tribes  were  greatly  decimated, 
but  not  so  seriously.  Probably  30,000  would  be  a  high  estimate  for 
the  number  of  Indians,  if  we  except  the  Algonquins,  in  all  New 
England  in  1630. 

The  Royal  Charter  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  called  for  "  the  con- 
version of  such  savages  as  yet  remain  wandering  in  desolation  and 
distress  to  civil  society  and  the  Christian  religion."  The  charter 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  enjoined  the  duty  to  win  the 
natives  "to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only  true  God  and 
Saviour  of  mankind,"  and  the  seal  of  the  colony  presented  the 
figure  of  an  Indian  with  a  label  at  his  mouth  on  which  was 
inscribed  the  Macedonian  cry,  "Come  over  and  help  us."  And 
when  it  was  reported  to  Rev.  John  Robinson,  at  Leyden,  that,  in  an 
early  skirmish  with  the  Indians,  some  of  them  had  been  killed,  he 
wrote  to  the  governor,  "  O  that  you  had  converted  some  before  you 
had  killed  any,"  In  less  than  one  year  from  the  landing  at  Plym- 
outh Robert  Cushman  wrote  to  England  that  many  of  the  Indians 
were  "  tractable  both  to  religion  and  humanity  ;"  that  if  the  colonists 
had  means  they  would  instruct  many  of  the  native  children,  and 
that  young  men  of  wealth  in  England  would  do  well  to  come  over 
and  devote  themselves  to  this  work.  During  the  earlier  years  of 
hardships  and  privations  much  was  done,  by  both  ministers  and 
laymen,  as  opportunity  offered,  to  impart  the  Gospel  to  their 
heathen  neighbors,  and  some  of  them  gave  satisfactory  evidence 
of  conversion  to  Christ.  As  early  as  1636,  in  the  Plymouth  Colony, 
laws  were  enacted  providing  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Indians. 


174  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

These  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  were  the  pioneers  of  the  Protestant 
world  in  attempts  to  convert  heathen  to  Christ.  They  were  mis- 
sionary colonies — self-supporting  missions — composed  of  men  who 
went  on  their  own  responsibility  and  at  their  own  expense,  to 
establish  their  posterity  among  the  heathen,  whose  salvation  they 
sought.  Nor  should  it  be  omitted  that  for  more  than  fifty  years,  if 
we  except  one  short,  sharp,  bloody  conflict,  brought  about  by  an 
out-settlement  of  factious  men  who  could  not  be  tolerated  at 
Plymouth,  the  founders  of  Massachusetts  lived  in  peace  with  the 
Indian  tribes.  Scarcely  a  gleam  of  light  shone  into  the  minds  of 
these  savages.  They  adored  the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  were  in 
bondage  to  a  system  of  conjuring  and  of  professed  intercourse  with 
evil  spirits.  Their  condition  was  so  degraded  that  Rev.  John 
Eliot,  in  his  first  letter  to  England  in  regard  to  the  Indians,  said  : 

Wee  are  oft  upbraided  by  some  of  our  countrymen  (/.  e.,  in  England),  that  so 
little  good  is  done  by  our  professing  planters  upon  the  hearts  of  natives.  Such 
men  have  surely  more  splene  than  judgment,  and  know  not  the  vast  distance  of 
natives  from  conmion  civility,  almost  humanity  itself;  and  'tis  as  if  they  should 
reproach  us  for  not  making  the  winds  to  blow  when  we  list  ourselves.  It  must 
certainly  be  a  spirit  of  life  from  God  which  must  put  flesh  and  sinews  unto  these 
dry  bones.  If  wee  would  force  them  to  baptisme  (as  the  Spanish  do  about  Cusco, 
Peru,  and  Mexico,  having  learnt  them  a  short  answer  or  two  to  some  popish 
questions),  or  if  wee  would  hire  them  to  it  by  giving  them  coates  and  shirts  to  allure 
them  to  it,  wee  could  have  gathered  many  hundreds,  yea  thousands,  it  may  be,  by 
this  time  into  the  churches;  but  wee  have  not  learnt,  as  yet,  the  art  of  coyning 
Christians,  or  putting  Christ's  name  and  image  upon  copper  mettle." 

The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  (Nov.  19,  1644)  ordered  : 

That  the  county  courts  should  take  care  that  the  Indians  residing  in  their 
several  shires  should  be  civilized,  and  that  they  should  have  power  to  take  order, 
from  time  to  time,  to  have  them  instructed  in  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  God. 

Two  years  later  the  court 

Ordered  and  decreed  that  two  ministers  should  be  chosen  by  the  elders  of 
the  churches  every  year  at  the  court  of  election,  and  so  to  be  sent  with 
the  consent  of  their  churches,  with  whomsoever  would  freely  offer  themselves 
to  accompany  them  in  that  service,  to  make  known  the  heavenly  counsel  of  God 
among  the  Indians,  in  most  familiar  manner,  by  the  help  of  some  able  interpreter, 
.  .  .  and  that  something  might  be  allowed  them  by  the  General  Court  to  give 
away  freely  to  those  Indians  whom  they  should  perceive  most  willing  and  ready 
to  be  instructed  by  them. 

Rev.  John  Eliot. 

Rev.  John  Eliot  was  educated  in  Cambridge  University,  En- 
gland, came  to  Boston  in  1631,  and  was  settled  as  "Teacher"  of  the 


REV.  JOHN   ELIOT.  173 

Church,  in  Roxbury,  in  1632.  He  was  eminently  an  intellectual 
and  devout  man  of  high  character.  Almost  simultaneously  with 
Thomas  Mayhew,  on  Martha's  Vineyard,  he  gave  himself  to  the 
work  of  converting  the  Indians,  and  urged  the  subject  upon  the 
attention  of  the  colonists  in  their  legislative  assembly.  President 
Dunster,  of  Harvard  College,  advised  that  they  be  instructed 
through  their  own  language  rather  than  the  English.  From  his  first 
settlement  in  Roxbury,  Eliot  had  given  much  attention  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  natives.  Long  after  his  efforts  seemed  hopeful  to  himself 
he  encountered  incredulity  and  opposition  from  those  around  him. 

Eliot's  preliminary  preparation  extended  through  several  years. 
An  Indian  captured  in  the  Pequot  wars,  and  who  lived  in  Dor- 
chester, was  the  first  native,  "  whom  he  used  to  teach  him  words  and 
to  be  his  interpreter."  He  took  the  most  unwearied  pains  in  his 
strange  lessons  from  this  uncouth  teacher,  finding  progress  very 
slow  and  baffling,  receiving  no  aid  from  the  other  tongues  which  he 
had  learned  and  taught  in  England,  and  which  were  so  "  difficultly 
constructed,  inflected,  and  augmented." 

Though  he  is  regarded  as  having  gained  an  "amazing  mastery  of 
the  Indian  language,  he  frequently,  even  to  the  close  of  a  half 
century  in  his  work,  avowed  and  lamented  his  lack  of  skill  in  it.  He 
secured  from  time  to  time  what  he  called  the  more  '  nimble-witted 
natives,  young  or  grown,'  to  live  with  him  in  Roxbury  and  to 
accompany  him  on  his  visits,  to  interchange  with  him  words  and 
ideas."* 

First  Sermon  to  the  Indians. 

After  two  years  of  study  Eliot  ventured  to  preach  in  the  Indian 
tongue.  On  the  28th  of  October,  1646,  on  a  hillf  in  Nonantum, 
about  four  or  five  miles  from  Roxbury,  he  discoursed  for  an  hour 
and  a  quarter  to  the  dusky  natives,  from  Ezekiel  3? :  9.  Here 
resided  Waban,  one  of  the  principal  chiefs,  who  had  gathered  his 
tribe  to  listen  to  the  new  message.  Eliot's  "prayer  was  in  English, 
as  he  scrupled,  lest  he  might  use  some  unfit  or  unworthy  terms  in 
the  solemn  office."  This  prompted  an  inquiry  from  his  interested 
but  bewildered  listeners,  whether  God  would  understand  prayers 
offered  to  Him  in  the  Indian  tongue.  His  method  in  subsequent 
visits,  when  he  gained  more  confidence,  was  to  offer  a  short  prayer 
in  Indian  ;  to  recite  and  explain  the  ten  commandments  ;  to  describe 

*  Rev.  George  E.  Ellis,  D.D.,  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  I,  p.  260. 
+  Within  the  present  limits  of  the  city  of  Newton,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Charles  River, 
opposite  to  Watertown. 


176  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  character,  work,  and  offices  of  Christ  as  Saviour  and  judge  :  to 
tell  his  hearers  about  the  creation,  fall,  and  redemption  of  man, 
and  to  persuade  them  to  repentance.  He  then  encouraged  them 
to  put  any  questions  that  rose  in  their  minds,  promising  answers 
and  explanations.  Some  of  their  queries  were  so  apt  and  pertinent, 
indicating  so  much  acumen,*  that  their  good  friend  was  often 
puzzled  to  satisfy  them.  Cotton  Mather,  in  commending  Eliot's 
style  in  sermonizing,  said :  *'  Lambs  might  wade  into  his  discourses 
on  those  texts  and  themes,  wherein  elephants  might  swim."  Such 
a  style  must  have  been  equally  suited  to  his  white  and  red  auditors. 
Some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  colony,  magistrates  and  ministers, 
occasionally  accompanied  Eliot  on  his  preaching  visits,  and  however 
they  may  have  fallen  short  of  his  enthusiasm  and  hopefulness,  they 
gratefully  appreciated  his  devotion  and  zeal."  f 

The  following  week  Eliot  met  another  company  of  Indians  at 
Neponset^  about  four  miles  south-west  from  his  own  home,  in  the 
wigwam  of  Chicatabut,  chief  of  another  tribe.  Between  Nonantum 
and  Neponset  he  alternated  his  labors.  These  chiefs  soon  became 
zealous  helpers  of  Eliot,  and  their  people  generally  accepted 
Christianity. 

Interest  in  England. 

Eliot's  narrative  of  his  Indian  labors  was  printed  in  England,  in 
1647,  under  the  quaint  title,  The  Day-Breaking  if  Not  the  Sun 
Rising  of  the  Gospel  with  the  Indians  in  New  England.  In  1648 
another  from  Rev.  Th  ^mas  Shepard  appeared,  entitled,  The  Clear 
Sunshine  of  the  Gospel  Breaking  Forth  Upon  the  Indians  in  New 
England,  and  dedicated  "To  the  Godly  and  Well-affected  of  This 
Kingdom  of  England."  This  tract  "  begat  a  debate,"  in  the  House 
of  Common.;,  "  how  the  Parliament  of  England  might  be  serviceable 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  to  help  forward  such  a  work  begun."  After  two 
years'  delay,  in  1649  an  act  was  passed  entitled,  "  A  Corporation 
for  the  Promoting  and  Propagating  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
New  England."     This  ordinance  set  forth  that 

Divers  heathen  natives  of  New  Entjland  had,  through  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
tlie  i)ious  care  and  pains  of  some  godly  English,  fiorn  being  very  barbarous  become 
civil,  but  many  of  them  forsaking  their  sorceries  and  other  satanical  delusions,  did 

*  Being  told  that  they  were  the  children,  not  of  God,  but  of  the  devil,  they  were  naturally 
interested  chiefly  in  the  latter.  They  asked,  "Whether  ye  devil  or  man  was  made  first? 
Whether  there  might  not  be  something,  if  only  a  little,  gained  by  praying  to  ye  devil?  Why 
does  not  Gijd,  who  has  full  power,  kill  ye  devil  that  makes  all  men  so  h)ad  ?  If  God  made  hell 
in  one  of  the  '  six  days,'  why  did  he  make  it  before  Adam  had  sinned  ?  If  all  ye  world  be  burned 
up,  where  shall  hell  then  be  ?'  " 

\  Memorial  History  0/ Boston,  Vol.  I,  p.  262. 


MISSIONARY  CORPORATION  FORMED.  177 

then  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord;  and  that,  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
among  these  poor  heathen,  universities,  schools  and  nurseries  of  learning  must  be 
settled,  and  instruments  and  material  fit  for  labor  and  clothing,  with  other  neces- 
saries, must  be  provided. 

The  ordinance  enacted  that  a  corporation  of  sixteen  persons 
should  be  formed  with  power  to  hold  lands,  goods,  and  money. 
Collections  for  the  corporation  were  ordered  in  all  the  cities,  towns 
and  parishes  of  England.  Under  the  superintendence  of  Edward 
Winslow  ;^  1 2,000  were  soon  raised  and  invested.  Correspondence 
was  opened  with  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  in  New 
England,  through  whom  the  work  of  evangelization  was  to  be  carried 
on,  meeting  annually  in  September,  in  Boston,  Hartford,  New 
Haven  and  Plymouth,  in  rotation.  Edward  Rawson,  Secretary  of 
Massachuetts  Bay  Colony,  held  the  treasuryship  till  his  death,  in 
1693. 

The  commissioners  kept  in  close  communication  with  Eliot  and  the 
Mayhews,  and  employed  others  as  assistants,  both  Englishmen  and 
natives,  as  circumstances  permitted.  Young  men  were  selected  to 
be  fitted  at  Harvard  College  for  future  service  as  teachers  of  Indian 
youth,  and  a  small  building  for  the  accommodation  of  native  pupils 
was  erected  within  the  college  precincts.  Provision  was  made  for 
printing  catechisms  and  an  Indian  Bible.  Between  165 1  and 
1660,  six  tracts  in  the  Indian  language,  known  as  "  Eliot's  Tracts," 
were  published  in  England, 

The  death  of  Cromwell,  under  whose  patronage  the  English 
movement  had  been  sustained,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts 
affected  all  the  interests  of  religion  as  well  as  of  the  State.  Hugh 
Peters,  who  had  been  for  a  short  time  an  honored  pastor  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, an  active  promoter  of  the  cause  of  Indian  evangelization, 
suffered  death  on  Tower  Hill.  The  corporation,*  being  a  creature 
of  the  Long  Parliament,  ceased  to  exist,  and  even  its  invested  prop- 
erty was  in  danger.  But  by  the  wise  management  of  Hon.  Robert 
Boyle  the  king  was  conciliated  and  a  royal  charter  obtained.  Boyle 
presided  over  the  company  nearly  thirty  years.  Eliot's  translation 
of  the  New  Testament  into  the  Mohican  dialect  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guage was  published  in  Boston,  in  1661,  and  dedicated  with  fulsome 
compliments  to  Charles  II.  In  1663  the  publication  of  the  Indian 
Bible  was  completed,  by  a  font  of  type  sent  from  England  by  the 
society.  The  second  edition  of  Eliot's  Bible  appeared  in  1685,  in 
which  he  was  aided  by  Rev.  John  Cotton,  of  Plymouth.     The  follow- 

*  For  a  fuller  account  of  this  early  or^nizatioa  see  Andover  Review,  October,  1885.     Article  by 
Hamilton  Andrews  Hill,  to  which  the  author  acknowledges  indebtedness. 
12 


178  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

ing    year  the    TIu   Practice  of  Piety,  by    Bishop  Bayly,  translated 
by  Eliot,  appeared  in  the  Indian  language. 

The  First  Indian  Settlement. 

Worldlings  complained  of  Eliot  for  injuring  the  trade  in  peltries, 
by  calling  off  the  Indians  from  the  chase,  and  settling  them  in 
agricultural  pursuits.  Magistrates  were  sometimes  unfaithful  to 
their  covenants.  Indian  powwows,  magicians,  sorcerers,  and  med- 
icine-men were  secretly  jealous,  sometimes  actively  hostile.  King 
Philip,  hearing  of  Eliot's  work,  refused  to  receive  the  missionaries, 
and  spoke  in  bitter  contempt  of  the  English  religion.  On 
one  occasion  he  heard  Eliot,  but  scorned  his  message,  and,  taking 
hold  of  a  button  on  Eliot's  coat,  told  him  he  cared  no  more  for  his 
religion  than  for  the  button.  Cotton  Mather  called  the  hard-heart- 
ed Philip  "  a  blasphemous  Leviathan."  Uncas,  the  Mohegan 
sachem,  forbade  any  proselyting  work  among  his  Indians. 

After  deliberate  examination  of  several  localities  Eliot  made  choice  of  a  region 
which  stills  bears  its  original  name,  Natick,  for  his  first  experiment  for  the  subjects 
of  his  care,  who  came  to  be  known  as  "  the  praying  Indians."  A  considerable 
number  of  the  natives  were  gathered  here  in  1651.  Eliot  kept  the  general  court 
informed  of  all  his  proceedings  and  sought  its  sympathy  and  aid.  It  is  curious  to 
read  on  the  records  enactments  by  which  portions  of  one  wilderness  territory,  the 
whole  of  which  had  so  recently  been  regarded  by  the  savages  as  in  their  unchal- 
lenged ownership,  were  bounded  off  as  henceforward  to  be  their  own  for  improve- 
ment. * 

The  experiment  at  Natick,  the  first  of  a  series  of  a  dozen  others 
subsequently  made  under  the  care  of  Eliot,  was  thoroughly  under- 
taken. Retaining  for  a  short  time  his  parish  at  Roxbury,  he  alter- 
nated between  Natick  and  Neponset,  riding  on  horseback  in  all 
weathers,  through  woods,  swamps  and  streams,  carrying  miscellaneous 
burdens  for  his  neophytes.  With  quiet  enthusiasm,  meek  patience, 
and  steady  advances,  he  met  the  obstacles  almost  constantly  pre- 
sented by  an  intractable  race,  and  with  mild  virtues  he  parried  the 
coldness  and  distrust  of  many  of  the  colonists,  looking  in  hope  "  for 
the  coming  in  of  ye  fullness  of  ye  Gentiles." 

The  Indian  community  at  South  Natick  was  divided  by  the 
Charles  River,  over  which  the  natives  built  a  strongly  arched  foot- 
bridge, eighty  feet  long.  Three  streets  ran  parallel  with  the  stream, 
two  on  one  side  and  one  on  the  other,  with  lots  marked  for  houses, 
tillage,   and    pasturage.      A    palisaded    fort    inclosed    a    meeting- 

*  Memorial  History  0/  Boston.  Article  by  Rev.  Geo.  E.  Ellis  D.D.,  Vol  I,  p.  262.  J.  R. 
Osgood  &  Co. 


SOUTH  N A  TICK.  179 

house  fifty  feet  long  and  twenty-five  wide,  built  of  squared  timber, 
in  English  fashion,  by  the  natives,  and  used  for  worship  and  a 
school.  The  village  soon  began  to  wear  an  aspect  of  industry, 
thrift  and  comfort.  In  deference  to  the  Indians  the  wigwam  was 
allowed,  but  cleanliness  and  decency  were  insisted  upon.  A  gov- 
ernment by  rulers  of  tens,  fifties,  and  hundreds  was  formed,  with 
magistrates  and  school-teachers  of  both  sexes  of  their  own  race. 
September  24,  165 1,  they  entered  into  a  solemn  religious  covenant, 
"  with  God  and  each  other,  to  be  governed  by  the  word  of  the 
Lord  in  all  things."  The  house  for  public  worship  also  answered 
for  a  school-room. 

"Here  it  was,"  says  Cotton  Mather,  "that  in  the  year  165 1  those  that  had 
heretofore  hved  like  wild  beasts  in  the  wilderness  now  compacted  themselves  into 
a  town,  and  applied  themselves  to  forming  a  civil  government.  .  .  .  Mr.  Eliot,  on 
a  solemn  fast,  made  a  public  vow  that,  seeing  these  Indians  had  not  any  form  of 
civil  government,  he  would  instruct  them  in  such  a  form  as  we  have  in  the  Word  of 
God,  so  that  they  in  all  things  might  be  a  people  ruled  by  the  Lord.  .  .  .  The  lit- 
tle town  of  Indians  being  thus  pitched  upon  this  foundation,  they  utterly  abandoned 
that  polygamy  which  had  hitherto  been  common  among  them;  they  made  severe 
laws  against  fornication,  drunkenness.  Sabbath-breaking,  and  other  immoralities. 

They  soon  desired  to  be  organized  as  a  church.  A  day  was 
therefore  set  apart,  called  a  day  of  asking  questions,  when  the  minis- 
ters of  neighboring  churches,  assisted  by  interpreters,  examined  a 
goodly  number  of  these  Indians  as  to  their  knovvedge  and  religious 
experience.  The  results  were  satisfactory,  and  it  was  decided  that 
a  church  should  be  constituted. 

They  proceeded  very  cautiously,  however,  and  the  Church  was 
not  formed  until  1660,  the  Indians  being  kept  as  catechumens  for 
several  years. 

South  Natick  was  the  first  of  the  Indian  communities.  In  1670 
it  consisted  of  29  families,  from  whom  60  or  70  persons  had  become 
communicants.  The  other  Indian  communities  were  :  Packemitt,  in 
Stoughton,  12  families;  Hassanamessett,  in  Grafton,  12  families; 
Okommackamesit,  in  Marlborough,  10  families  ;  Wamesit,  in  Tewks- 
bury,  15  families;  Nashobah,  Chelmsford  and  Groton,  10  families  ; 
Maqunkaquog,  Hopkinton,  5  families.  There  were  others  in 
Oxford,  Dudley,  Auburn,  Littleton,  Uxbridge,  Brookfield  and 
Woodstock,  Connecticut — 14  towns,  within  70  miles  of  Boston,  with 
1,100  souls,  all  of  which  Eliot  visited,  and  in  all  of  which  there 
were  some  praying  Indians  under  his  spiritual  supervision. 

In  1656  the  General  Court  commissioned  Daniel  Gookin,  a  man 
of  high  character,  and  Eliot's  most  attached  co-worker,  as  the  gen- 


180  CHRISTIAt^ITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

eral  magistrate  over  all  the  Indian  towns.  The  income  of  the 
English  society  for  converting  and  civilizing  the  Indians,  amount- 
ing to  the  then  large  sum  of  about  ^'JOO  annually,  was  expended 
for  the  salaries  of  the  missionaries,  in  printing  books,  furnishing 
goods,  tools,  clothing,  etc.  Eliot's  salary,  even  after  his  whole  time 
was  devoted  to  this  work,  never  exceeded  ;^50.  Eliot  died  in  1690. 
Tackawambit,  an  Indian  neophyte,  succeeded  him  as  pastor  of  the 
Natick  church  ;  but  he  did  not  long  survive  the  apostle  Eliot,  and 
the  church  fast  declined. 

An  Indian  Magistrate. 

Thomas  Waban,  an  Indian  justice  of  the  peace  in  this  settle- 
ment, was  highly  esteemed.  How  he  enforced  law  may  be  judged 
from  the  following  warrant  which  he  issued  : 

"  You  bij  constable,  you  quick  catchum,  Jeremiah  Offscow  ;  strong  you  hold 
um  ;  safe  you  bring  urn  afore  me."  Thomas  Waban,  Justice. 

When  Waban  became  superannuated  a  younger  magistrate  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him.  Cherishing  respect  for  age  and 
experience,  the  new  officer  waited  upon  Waban  for  advice.  Hav- 
ing stated  a  variety  of  cases  and  received  satisfactory  answers,  he 
at  length  proposed  the  following ;  "  When  Indian  get  drunk,  and 
quarrel,  and  fight  and  act  like  devil,  what  you  do  ?  "  Waban  quickly 
answered,  "Tie  um  all  up,  and  whip  um  plaintiff,  whip  um  fendant 
and  whip  um  witness." 

Eliot  traveled  e.xtensively  among  the  Indians  from  Cape  Cod  to 
Worcester  County,  and  occasionally  visited  Martha's  Vineyard. 
He  translated  the  Bible  into  the  Indian  language,*  a  work  attended 
with  great  difficulty,  from  the  Indian  habit  of  clustering  together 
in  one  prolonged  word  the  separate  ideas  which,  in  our  language, 
are  expressed  in  several  words.  This  Indian  Bible,t  with  catechisms, 
psalms,  primers,  grammars,  "  Practice  of  Piety,"  Baxter's  "  Call," 
etc,  translated  into  the  Indian  tongue  by  Eliot,  were  printed  in 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  at  the  expense  of  the  English  Society. 

Other  Laborers  in  Eastern  Massachusetts. 

In  1 72 1,  thirty-one  years  after  Eliot's  death.  Rev.  Oliver  Pea- 
body  was  induced   to  go   Natick  and   labor  for  the  good  of  the 

*  "  Its  words,"  said  Cotton  Mather,  "  are  long  enough  to  tire  the  patience  of  any  scholar  in  the 
world  ;  one  would  think  they  had  been  growing  ever  since  Babel." 

t  In  1663,  1,500  copies  were  printed  ;  in  1685,  2.000  copies — the  first  and  only  Bibles  printed  in 
America  until  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 


REV.   OLIVER  PEA  BODY.  181 

Indians.  At  that  time  there  were  but  two  families  of  white  people 
in  the  town.  Arpong  the  Indians  there  was  no  church,  nor  a  mem- 
ber of  a  church,  nor  even  a  person  known  to  have  been  baptized  ; 
for  though  a  church  had  been  formed  there  sixty  years  before,  by 
Eliot,  it  had  become  extinct.*  In  1729  a  church  was  gathered, 
partly  of  English  and  partly  of  Indians,  three  of  the  former  and  five 
of  the  latter.  Under  Mr.  Peabody's  influence  the  Indians  were  con- 
formed to  the  usages  of  civilized  society,  and  some  of  them  exhib- 
ited fruits  of  a  religious  life.  In  about  twenty-two  years  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  Indians  were  baptized,  of  whom  thirty-five  were 
admitted  to  the  church.    Mr.  Peabody  died  in  1752,  greatly  beloved. 

In  the  colony  of  Plymouth,  Revs.  Richard  Bourne  and  Rowland 

Cotton,  of  Sandwich,  John  Cotton,  and  Thomas  Tupper,  labored 

among  the   Indians.      The  praying   Indians   in  Massachusetts,  in 

1685,  were  numbered  at  1,435,  besides  other  members  of  the  Indian 

•  families. 

Rev.  Samuel  Treat,  eldest  son  of  Robert  Treat,  Governor  of 
Connecticut,  while  pastor  at  Eastham,  Massachusetts,  1672-1717, 
became  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  Indians,  who  were  numer- 
ous in  his  vicinity.  He  commenced  the  study  of  their  language,  and 
so  far  mastered  it  as  to  be  able  to  preach  intelligibly  to  the  Indians, 
fully  equaling  Eliot  himself.  Through  his  influence  they  were 
brought  into  a  condition  of  order,  civilization,  and  a  practical 
knowledge  of  Christianity.  There  were  five  hundred  and  five 
adult  Indians  in  the  township,  of  whom  he  said  he  did  not  know 
one  habitually  absent  from  religious  worship.  They  were  organized 
in  four  villages,  with  four  teachers  in  religion  and  general  knowl- 
edge, who  every  week  conferred  with  Mr.  Treat  in  regard  to  their 
work.  Six  justices  of  the  peace  and  other  officers  of  their  own 
people  regulated  civil  affairs.  A  Confession  of  Faith  was  trans- 
lated into  their  language.  But  before  Mr.  Treat's  death  a  fatal  dis- 
ease swept  off  most  of  the  Indians. 

The  Mayhews  on  Martha's  Vineyard. 

The  same  year  that  Eliot  began  his  labors  at  Nonantum  the  two 
Thomas  Mayhews  (father  and  son — the  father  the  governor  of  the 
island  and  the  son  the  minister)  commenced  a  similar  work  on 
Martha's  Vineyard.  The  son  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  but  his  English  flock  was  small,  and  his  compassion   was 

*  There  had  been  a  very  great  and  serious  decline  of  spiritual  religion  in  all  the  Massachussets 
churches.     It  extended  from  about  1660  to  1735. 


182  CHRISTIAMTY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

moved  toward  the  untaught  natives,  several  thousand  of  whom 
existed  on  the  islands  of  Buzzards'  Bay.  He  treated  the  Indians 
with  great  kindness,  learned  their  language,  and  gradually  won 
many  of  them  to  Christ.  Thus  was  begun  a  series  of  labors  which 
extended  through  several  generations.  These  missionary  Mayhews 
were:  *Thomas,  the  second,  1646-1657 ;  Thomas,  the  elder, 
1658-1681  ;  John,  1673-1689  ;   Experience,  1694-1758. 

The  story  of  the  labors  and  privations  of  the  Mayhews  is  full  of 
heroic  and  thrilling  interest,  but  it  cannot  be  here  related  in  detail. 
As  early  as  165 1,  199  men,  women  and  children,  had  become  wor- 
shipers of  the  true  God,  and  thirty  Indian  scholars  were  collected 
in  a  school.  By  the  end  of  1652,  282  Indians,  besides  children,  had  re- 
nounced their  false  gods,  and  eight  of  the  powwoivs  had  forsaken  their 
trade.  In  1657  Thomas  Mayhew,  the  son,  perished  on  his  way  to  En- 
gland to  seek  assistance  for  his  mission,  and  his  venerable  father,though 
governor  of  the  island,  and  sixty  years  old,  took  up  the  work,  visited  the. 
plantations,  learned  the  language,  and  persevered  in  his  mission  toils 
until  his  death,  at  ninety-two  years  of  age.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
grandson,  John  Mayhew,  who  followed  closely  in  the  steps  of  his 
father  and  grandfather,  and  died  in  1689,  after  sixteen  years  spent 
in  his  ministry.  His  eldest  son,  Experience  Mayhew,  followed  in 
the  same  field  of  toil  five  years  after  his  father's  death,  and  died  in 
1758.  Dr.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  subsequently  an  able  minister  of 
Boston,  was  his  second  son.  In  1727  Experience  Mayhew  published 
a  volume  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  the  lives  of  thirty  Indian 
ministers  and  about  eighty  Indian  men,  women  and  chidren,  who 
resided  on  Martha's  Vineyard,  worthy  of  remembrance  on  account 
of  their  piety.  His  son,  Zaccheus  Mayhew,  was  employed  in  pro- 
moting the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  in  North  America  until  his 
death  in  1803.  King  Philip's  war,  in  1675,  greatly  injured  this  mis- 
sion work,  but  it  soon  recovered,  and  in  1698  Revs.  Grindal  Rawson 
and  Samuel  Danforth,  visited  the  several  plantations  of  Indians  in 
Massachusetts  and  reported  to  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gos- 
pel thirty  distinct  assemblies  of  Indians,  with  thirty-six  teachers, 
five  school-masters  and  twenty  rulers,  comprising,  in  all,  3,080  souls. 
All  the  above  officers  and  teachers  were  Indians.  The  commissioners 
expressed  a  favorable  opinion  of  the  improvement  and  manners  of 
the  Indians,  their  sobriety,  dress,  and  proficiency  in  reading  and 
writing. 

In   Connecticut    and    Rhode    Island    Indian    missions  were  less 
successful.     The  Narragansetts  were  decidedly  opposed  to  Chris- 

•See  Sprague's  Annals,  Trinitarian-Clergymen.     Vol.  I,  p  131. 


PRAYING  INDIANS.  183 

tianity,  though  they  permitted  Roger  Williams  to  preach  among 
them  occasionally.  Revs.  Messrs.  Pierson  and  Fitch  labored  indus- 
triously among  the  Pequots,  and  the  Mohegans  also  received  much 
attention.  In  1733  the  Indians  in  Westerley  and  Charlestown,  R.  I., 
were  visited  by  Rev.  Mr.  Parks,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Horton  labored  sev- 
eral years  among  the  Montauk  tribe  on  eastern  Long  Island. 

Distinguished  Friends  of  the   Indians. 

At  the  time  of  Eliot's  death,  in  1690,  the  celebrated  Judge 
Sewall  was  a  good  friend  of  the  Indian  race,  and  devoted  much 
time  and  thought  to  the  society  organized  in  their  behalf.  In  their 
interest  he  officially  visited  Martha's  Vineyard  in  1702,  1706  and 
1 7 14.  During  this  last  visit  arrangements  were  made  for  the  occu- 
pation and  cultivation  of  lands  belonging  to  the  society  by  the 
Indian  families  severally.  Other  friends  of  Indian  evangelization 
were  William  Dummer  and  Thomas  Hutchinson,  among  the  laity; 
and  Benjamin  Coleman,  Edward  Wigglesworth,  Joseph  Sewall, 
Thomas  Prince,  etc.,  among  the  clergy.  This  society  continued  in 
force  until  the  Revolution. 

The  aggregate  number  of  praying  Indians  in  eastern  Massachu- 
setts in  1664  was  estimated  :  * 


On  Martha's  Vineyard,  etc.,  under 

the  Mayhews 1,500 


Under  Mr.  Eliot's  care i.ioo 

In  Plymouth,  under  Mr.  Bourne..  530 
In  Plymouth,  under  Mr.  Cotton.,  170 
On  the  island  Nantucket 300  Total 3.600 


In  Berkshire  County,  Mass. 

The  Stockbridge  mission  was  full  of  interest.  In  the  western 
part  of  Massachusetts  was  the  small  Housatonnoc  tribe,  so  named 
from  a  river,  which  signifies  over  the  mountains,  flowing  through 
that  section.  About  1720  the  General  Assembly  of  Massachusetts 
purchased  two  townships,  Sheffield  and  Stockbridge,  with  a  reserva- 
tion of  two  tracts  for  the  exclusive  occupancy  of  the  Indians,  Skate- 
kook  and  Wahktiikook.  When  the  English  commenced  their  settle- 
ments near  them,  Kunkapot,  the  principal  Indian  personage  at  the 
latter  place,  was  soon  discovered  to  be  a  worthy,  industrious  man, 
and  favorably  inclined  toward  Christianity.  The  Commissioners  for 
Indians  Affairs  at  Boston,  hearing  this,  sent  Revs.  Messrs.  Bull,  of 
Westfield,  and  Williams,  of  Longmeadow,  to  confer  with  the  Indians 
in  reference  to  the  establishment  of  a  mission  among  them.     The 

»  American  Quarterly  Register,  February,  1832,  p.  203. 


184  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

conference  took  place  in  July,  1734,  resulting  in  an  agreement  to 
receive  a  minister.  In  the  following  October  Mr.  John  Sargeant,  a 
tutor  in  Yale  College,  left  New  Haven  to  enter  upon  this  mission 
field. 

Immediately  on  his  arrival  he  delivered  a  discourse  through  an 
interpreter,  named  Ebenezer,  to  an  interested  audience.  This  Indian, 
having  already  some  knowledge  of  Christianity,  expressed  a  desire 
to  make  an  open  profession,  and  was  baptized  in  his  wigwam  the 
following  day.  An  intermediate  spot  between  the  two  reservations, 
which  were  eight  or  ten  miles  apart,  was  agreed  upon,  where  the 
Indians  should  live  together  for  the  greater  convenience  of  Sabbath 
worship  and  the  instruction  of  their  children.  In  addition  to  other 
difficulties  attending  such  work  among  untutored  savages  he  encoun- 
tered trouble  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  The  Dutch  traders  on 
the  Hudson  sold  rum  to  the  Indians,  taking  advantage  of  their  fits 
of  intoxication  to  make  dishonest  and  extravagant  bargains.  The 
introduction  of  Christianity  these  traders  regarded  as  unfavorable  to 
their  business,  and  hence  they  exerted  their  influence  to  resist  the 
establishment  of  the  mission.  By  wise  management,  however,  Mr. 
Sargeant  effectually  neutralized  the  base  influence  of  the  traders. 

In  January,  1735,  deputies  from  the  several  clans  which  consti- 
tuted the  tribe  of  River  Indians  met  in  council,  nearly  two  hundred 
in  number,  under  Corlair,  the  chief  sachem,  and  after  repeated  con- 
ferences approved  of  the  action  of  their  Housatonnoc  brethren  in  con- 
senting to  be  taught  the  Christian  religion.  In  the  autumn  a  con- 
siderable number  were  baptized.  The  year  following  the  land  grants 
to  the  Indians  were  reconstructed  by  the  State  so  as  to  accommodate 
the  Indians  and  the  work  of  the  mission  also,  and  they  were  settled 
in  one  village,  at  Stockbridge,  in  1737. 

No  missionary  ever  exceeded  Mr.  Sargeant  in  his  devotion  to  these 
red  men.  When  they  went  into  the  woods  for  some  weeks  at  a  time 
every  year,  to  make  maple  sugar,  Mr.  Sargeant,  unwilling  that  they 
should  remain  so  long  without  instruction,  accompanied  them,  in 
their  own  language  prayed  with  them  morning  and  evening,  and 
preached  on  the  Sabbath.  In  the  day-time  he  taught  their  children 
to  read,  and  in  the  evening  the  adults  to  sing,  sleeping  at  night 
upon  boughs  and  blankets.  Several  prayers  and  Dr.  Watts's  first 
catechism  for  the  use  of  children  were  translated  into  their  language, 
and  another  mission  station  eighteen  miles  to  the  north-west  was 
opened,  into  which  a  few  years  later  David  Brainerd  entered.  So 
zealous  was  Mr.  Sargeant  to  extend  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  that 
he  made  extended  tours  to  Indians  occupying  an  island  in  the  Hud- 


THE  STOCKBRIDGE  MISSION.  185 

son  River,  and  even  visited  the  Shawanoos,  two  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  distant,  on  the  Susquehanna. 

At  length  Mr.  Sargeant  became  convinced  that  the  best  results 
could  not  be  accomplished  until  the  Indians  should  be  in  some 
degree  civilized,  and  exchange  their  barbarous  language  for  the 
English.  He  therefore  formed  a  plan  for  the  education  of  Indian 
children  which  would  more  thoroughly  affect  their  habits  of  thought 
and  life.  The  plan  included  study,  manual  labor,  and  a  knowledge 
of  agriculture;  for  the  girls,  besides  study,  training  in  the  duties  of 
domestic  life ;  and  for  all,  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  Christianity. 
By  great  exertion  Mr.  Sargeant  carried  his  plan  into  effect  before 
his  death.  Mr.  Sargeant's  annual  salary  of  $125  from  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Indian  Affairs  at  Boston  was  supplemented  by  individual 
donations,  the  General  Court  building  the  school-house  and  the  house 
of  worship.  When  he  entered  upon  the  field  he  found  fifty  Indians 
on  the  ground ;  when  he  died,  in  1749,  the  number  had  increased  to 
two  hundred  and  nineteen,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
had  been  baptized  and  forty-two  were  communicants. 

In  175 1,  through  the  joint  action  of  the  church  at  Stockbridge 
and  the  **  Society  in  London  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New 
England  and  the  parts  adjacent,"  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  had  just 
been  dismissed  from  his  church  at  Northampton,  entered  upon  the 
Stockbridge  mission.  Here  he  continued  six  years,  but  his  more 
important  labors  were  performed  in  his  study,  elaborating  his  great 
works  on  Original  Sin  and  the  Freedom  of  the  Will.  When  Edwards 
was  called  to  the  presidency  of  Princeton  College,  he  was  followed 
at  Stockbridge  by  Rev.  Samuel  West.  Rev.  John  Sargeant,  son  of 
the  preceding  missionary,  soon  followed  Mr.  West,  and,  after  many 
years  of  labor  among  the  red  men,  died  in  1824.  The  Indians,  how- 
ever, under  the  westward  migration,  gradually  disappeared  from  their 
old  haunts.  Some  were  absorbed  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  ; 
some  went  to  western  New  York,  thence  to  White  River,  Indiana, 
thence  to  Green  Bay,  thence  to  Lake  Winnebago,  etc. 


Section  2,— In  tlie  Middle  Colonies. 

In  the  New  York  Colony  Rev.  Joannes  Megapolensis  preceded 
Rev.  John  Eliot,  by  three  years,  in  labors  for  the  religious  welfare 
of  the  Indians.  At  Albany,  then  an  extreme  outpost  of  civiliza- 
tion, he  interested  himself  in  the  Indians  who  came  thither  to  trade, 
and    so  learned  their  "  heavy  language "  as  to  speak  and  preach 


186  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

fluently  in  it.  The  early  records  of  the  First  Reformed  Church  in 
Albany  contain  many  names  of  Indians  converted,  baptized  and 
reeeived  into  the  communion  under  his  labors.  During  his  stay  in 
Albany,  the  celebrated  Jesuit  missionary,  Isaac  Jogues,  was  cap- 
tured on  the  St.  Lawrence  by  the  Mohawks,  and  subjected  to  horrible 
cruelties.  The  Dutch  at  Albany  tried  to  ransom  him.  At  length 
escaping  from  his  captors  he  was  kept  in  close  concealment  by  the 
Dutch  for  six  weeks.  During  this  time  Megapolensis  was  his  con- 
stant friend  and  rendered  him  every  kindness  in  his  power.  Another 
Jesuit  father,  Simon  Le  Moyne,  also  became  intimate  with  this 
Dutch  parson  at  Fort  Orange,  and  wrote  three  polemical  essays  to 
convert  him  to  the  papal  faith ;  but  the  stanch  dominie  wrote  a 
vigorous  reply. 

At   Schenectady. 

Almost  all  the  early  Dutch  churches  in  New  York  and  on  the 
Delaware  performed  missionary  work  among  the  Indians,  and  their 
old  records  contain  many  names  of  Indian  neophytes.  The  Dutch 
Church  founded  in  1680,  in  Schenectady,  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
Mohawks,  with  whom  they  held  friendly  relations.  One  of  their  pas- 
tors, in  1700,  speaks  of  thirty-six  of  them  as  having  received  the 
Christian  faith.  Rev.  Bernardus  Freeman  became  well  versed  in 
the  Indian  tongue,  speaking  fluently  and  writing  in  it.  The  Liturgy 
of  the  Dutch  Church  was  translated  into  the  Indian  language,  par- 
ticularly the  morning  and  the  evening  prayers,  the  Creed  of  St. 
Athanasius  and  portions  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  When 
they  heard  them  read  in  their  own  tongue  the  natives  were  "  mightily 
affected."  The  Dutch  fathers  at  Albany  and  Schenectady  looked 
upon  the  Mohawks  as  "  something  more  than  brutes  from  whom 
bcaver-skins  could  be  obtained."  Three  of  the  pastors  at  the  latter 
place  were  missionaries  to  the  Indians,  and  the  records  of  that  church 
show  that  hundreds  of  the  red  men  became  proselytes  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  worshiping  with  the  fathers  in  the  old  churches. 

There  they  partook  of  the  same  communion  together.  There  the  Indian  pap- 
pooses  were  held  in  the  arms  -of  their  dusky  mothers,  who  stood  in  beads  and 
blankets  before  the  same  baptismal  font  at  which  awaited  the  white  lady  and  her 
infant  in  christening  quilt  of  silk  and  embroidery.  There,  too,  the  Indian  lover  stood 
with  his  Indian  bride,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  vowed 
to  love  and  cherish  one  wife  in  his  wigwam.  And  when  the  fathers  came  annually 
to  pay  their  pew  rent  or  subscriptions  in  beaver-skins,  the  Christianized  Indian 
came  with  like  gifts  for  the  sanctuary.* 

*  Memorial  volume  commemorating  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  First  Reformed 
Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  Schenectady,  in  1880  p.  j8. 


AMONG    THE  MOBAWKS.  187 

Under  the  Episcopal  Church  in  New  York,  at  an  early  date,  mis- 
sions were  undertaken  among  the  Mohawks.  Rev.  Thoroughgood 
Moore  arrived  in  New  York  in  1704  and  proceeded  to  Albany  as 
missionary  among  the  Mohawks.  Owing  to  the  influence  of  the 
fur  traders  his  labors  proved  fruitless,  and  he  returned  to  New 
York.  Rev.  Thomas  Barclay,  missionary  at  Albany  under  the 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  often  visited 
the  Indians  beyond  Schenectady,  as  early  as  1708.  He  was  fol- 
lowed in  17 12  by  Rev.  William  Andrews,  who  was  welcomed  with 
great  formality  and  respect.  Next  Rev.  Thomas  Barclay  and  Rev. 
John  Miles,  successively  rectors  at  Albany,  extended  their  labors 
to  the  Mohawks.  In  1734  Rev.  Henry  Barclay  was  appointed 
catechist  to  these  Indians,  at  Fort  Hunter.  He  found  them  docile 
and  attentive,  and  catechised  them  Sunday  evenings.  Called  away 
a  few  years,  on  his  return  he  was  received  by  his  Indian  neophytes 
with  tears  of  joy.  On  an  occasion  "of  gathering  of  the  Six 
Nations,  to  renew  their  league  of  friendship  with  the  English,  he 
preached  to  a  large  number  of  them,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  hear- 
ing the  Mohawks  make  their  responses  regularly  in  the  service. 
In  1 741  Mr.  Barclay  reported  500  Indians  settled  in  two  towns, 
thirty  miles  from  Albany,  and  58  Indian  communicants.  In  1743 
only  two  or  three  of  the  whole  tribe  remained  unbaptized,  and  two 
Mohawks  were  employed  as  school  masters.  But  his  work  was 
checked  by  the  hostile  intrigues  and  invasions  of  the  French  Indians. 

In  1739  a  zealous  Moravian  Christian,  Henry  Rauch,  began  a 
mission  in  New  York  State,  not  far  from  Kingston,  but  in  five 
years  he  was  compelled  to  move  his  converts  to  Pennsylvania. 
Numerous  other  Moravian  missions  were  started. 

Brainerd. 
In  1742  Rev.  David  Brainerd,  a  young  man  of  quenchless  zeal  and 
superior  purity,  was  appointed  missionary  to  the  Indians  by  the 
British  Society.  At  Kaunameek,  an  Indian  village  fifteen  miles  from 
Kinderhook,  N.  Y.,  he  opened  his  commission.  The  following  year 
he  visited  Indian  villages  on  the  Delaware  River,  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  favored  with  remarkable  success,  his  congregation 
often  being  in  tears  under  his  fervent  appeals,  and  in  less  than  one 
year  seventy-seven  persons  were  baptized.  Many  who  had  been 
debased  and  profligate  seemed  wholly  reformed.  In  1746  he  visited 
the  Indians  on  the  Susquehanna  River.  During  this  trip  he  con- 
tracted disease,  which  soon  ended  his  life,  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty  years. 


188  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Among  the  Six  Nations. 

Rev.  Gideon  Hawley  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1749,  early 
resolving  to  devote  himself  to  labors  among  the  Indians.  First  he 
assisted  Edwards  as  a  teacher  at  Stockbridge.  Later,  the  commis- 
sioners at  Boston  engaged  him  to  establish  a  mission  in  the 
country  of  the  Iroquois,  a  hundred  miles  at  least  beyond  the 
remotest  boundary  of  civilization.  Mr.  Timothy  Woodbridge,  a 
gentleman  of  high  character  and  great  influence  among  the  Indians, 
accompanied  him.  On  their  way  they  secured  the  influence  and 
aid  of  Sir  William  Johnston  at  Albany.  After  encountering  various 
perils  and  some  hostility  from  wandering  Indians,  one  of  whom 
attempted  to  shoot  Mr.  Hawley,  they  reached  Onohoghgwage,  on 
the  Susquehanna,  where  they  were  welcomed,  In  1756  he  was 
obliged  to  withdraw  on  account  of  the  French  and  Indian  war. 
Subsequently  he  settled  among  the  Maeshapee  Indians,  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1758,  where  he  spent  the  residue  of  his  long  life  in 
the  most  benevolent  and  self-denying  labors  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Indians,  dying  in  1807. 

In  1762,  at  the  request  of  the  commissioners  at  Boston,  Rev.  Eli 
Forbes,  D.D.,  of  Brookfield,  Mass.,  undertook  a  mission  to  the 
Oneida  Indians,  the  chief  tribe  of  the  Six  Nations  in  New  York. 
With  a  colleague  and  an  interpreter  he  set  out  for  the  distant 
field,  reached  the  Mohawk  River,  which  he  followed  for  seventy 
miles,  then  turned  southward  to  the  Otsego  Lake,  then  down  one 
of  the  branches  of  the  Susquehanna  River,  a  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  to  a  town  called  Onoquagie,  containing  three  hundred  inhab- 
itants. Here  he  preached,  established  two  schools  and  gathered  a 
church.  After  tarrying  three  months  he  left  them  in  the  care  of 
his  colleague,  Rev.  Asaph  Rice,  and  brought  home  several  Indian 
children  to  be  educated,  some  of  whom  became  highly  respectable 
and  useful  persons. 

Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland,  after  long  study  of  the  dialects  of  the  Six 
Nations,  in  1771  undertook  a  mission  to  the  Oneidas.  The 
troubled  condition  of  the  country  prevented  Mrs.  Kirkland  from 
accompanying  her  husband  and  occasioned  many  interruptions  in 
his  labors.  During  the  Revolution  his  mission  was  virtually  dis- 
continued and  he  was  long  absent  from  Oneida,  sometimes  serving 
as  a  chaplain  in  the  Continental  Army,  and  sometimes  negotiating 
with  the  Indians  in  behalf  of  the  Continental  Congress.  He  was 
especially  active  in  endeavoring  to  preserve  the  neutrality  of  the 
Six    Nations  during  the  war,    making   long  journeys  among  the 


MR.  GEORGE  THORPE.  189 

tribes,  and  attending  their  councils.  But  through  the  influence  of 
Brandt,  the  famous  Mohawk  warrior,  the  worst  fears  of  the  colonial 
patriots  were  realized  by  the  rejection  of  overtures  of  peace  and 
friendship  by  most  of  the  Indians.  In  1777  and  1778  he  spent  most 
of  his  time  among  the  Oneidas.  On  the  return  of  peace,  at  the 
earnest  request  of  the  Indians  he  returned  to  Oneida,  and  until  his 
death,  in  1808,  performed  a  large  amount  of  mission  labor,  and 
numerous  valuable  public  services  among  the  Indian  tribes.* 

As  early  as  1748  Rev.  Elihu  Spencer,  one  of  the  ablest  men  in 
Presbyterian  annals,  went  as  a  missionary  among  the  Oneidas.  In 
1752  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  formally  ordained  and  commis- 
sioned a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  and  in  1756  Mr.  John  Brain- 
erd  entered  upon  this  service  and  continued  his  faithful  labors  until 
his  death,  in  1781.  In  1761  a  mission  was  established  by  the 
Presbyterians  among  the  Oneidas,  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Samson 
Occum,  an  Indian  of  the  Mohegan  tribe,  educated  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Wheelock,  at  Lebanon,  Conn.  In  1763  the  New  York  Presbytery 
appointed  a  committee  of  exploration  among  the  Indians  in  the 
West,  consisting  of  Rev.  Drs.  Allison,  Witherspoon,  and  Rodgers, 
and  Messrs.  Brainerd  and  Ewing,  to  devise  and  report  plans  for 
more  extensive  operations. 


Section  5.— In  the  Sontli. 

The  Protestant  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the  aborgines  to 
Christ  date  from  the  beginning  of  their  settlements.  The  charter  of 
the  Virginia  Colony  enjoined  that  "  all  persons  should  kindly  treat 
the  savage  and  heathen  people  in  those  parts,  and  use  all  proper 
means  to  draw  them  to  the  true  service  and  knowledge  of  God." 
The  first  minister,  Mr.  Hunt,  entered  upon  the  work  of  propagating 
the  Gospel  among  "  such  people  as  live  in  darkness."  f  Mr.  Whit- 
aker,  his  successor,  was  not  backward  in  this  work,  and  Pocahontas 
was  the  first  Indian  convert.  In  the  infancy  of  the  colony  ;^5C)0 
were  sent  from  England  to  be  expended  "in  instructing  the 
young  Indians  in  the  faith  in  Christ."  Ten  thousand  acres  of  land 
were  set  apart  for  this  institution,  which  was  to  comprise  both 
English  and  Indian  youth,  and  other  large  sums  of  money  were 
contributed.  The  Colonial  Legislature  in  1619  and  1620  showed 
commendable  zeal  in  this   movement.     Mr.   George  Thorpe,  who 

♦For  fuller  account  see  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  Trinitarian  Pulpit.     Vol.  I,  p.  621,  etc. 
t  Hazard's  State  Papers. 


100  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

accepted  the  headship  of  the  school,  visited  the  Indian  chiefs  in 
their  own  haunts,  to  win  them  to  Christ.  The  treatment  of  the 
natives  was  mild  and  friendly.  The  settlers'  houses  and  tables 
were  open  to  them,  and  Mr.  Thorpe  and  his  co-laborers  fondly 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  the  Indian  tribes  should  obtain 
salvation.  But  jealousies  were  secretly  working  in  the  minds  of 
the  Indians,  and  out  of  the  apparent  calm,  suddenly,  in  1622,  there 
arose  a  fearful  hurricane.  The  Indians  sprang  at  once  upon  the 
slumbering  colony,  and  within  one  hour  three  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  persons,  including  Mr.  Thorpe,  were  slaughtered.  The  mas- 
sacre would  have  been  complete  but  for  the  disclosure  of  the  plot 
the  night  before  by  a  converted  Indian.  A  spirit  of  distrust  and 
deadly  hostility  thenceforward  prevailed  ;  and  for  many  years  no 
more  efforts  were  made  by  the  Virginia  colonists  to  convert  the 
natives. 

I"  1735  John  and  Charles  Wesley  went  to  Georgia,  the  latter  as 
a  missionary  to  the  Indians  ;  but  his  efforts  were  unsuccessful. 
Whitefield  soon  followed,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  frame 
a  grammar  of  their  language,  and  became  satisfied  that  his  call  was 
not  to  them.  But  the  Moravians  were  on  the  ground  achieving 
success  among  the  Creeks.  They  founded  a  mission  the  same  year 
that  Sargeant  went  to  Stockbridge. 


Section   ^.—Jesuit    and    Protestant  Missions    Com- 
pared. 

From  the  first,  Protestant  missionaries  to  the  Indians  worked 
upon  a  plan  very  different  from  the  Jesuits,  involving  more  radical 
treatment  and  attended  with  greater  difficulties.  The  Jesuits  only 
slightly  interfered  with  the  native  habits,  wild  ways  and  impulses 
of  the  savages.  For  the  most  part,  the  French,  lay  and  clerical, 
compromised  themselves  and  their  own  civilization  by  meeting  the 
Indians  more  than  half  way,  by  living  with  them  on  easy  if  not 
equal  terms,  carefully  avoiding  any  thing  that  might  cross  their 
inclinations  or  shock  their' prejudices.  The  French  Jesuits  did  not 
seek  to  settle  them  in  fixed  residences,*  to  make  them  cleanly,  and 
improve  their  dress,  but  shared  the  native  wigwam  and  loathsome 
cookery,  regardless  of  filth,  vermin,  and  immodesty.     The  religion 

*  The  Spanish  Jesuits  did  promote  local  settlements  of  Indians;  but  the  French  encouraged 
their  roving,  hunting  life,  in  deference  to  the  secular  interests  of  the  French  fur  traders,  who 
were  eager  for  peltries. 


SAMSON  OCCUM.  191 

they  taught  consisted  of  a  few  simple  ritual  ceremonies,  the  repeti- 
tion of  a  prayer  or  chant,  and  the  baptismal  rite.  Thus  the  doomed 
heathen  was  easily  turned  into  a  professed  Christian  and  an  enfran- 
chised citizen  of  France.  Didactic  moral  and  intellectual  training 
was  deemed  unessential.  The  simplest  assent  of  a  savage  to  a  few 
dogmas  of  the  Church  was  sufficient.*  Such  was  their  converting. 
Christianizing  process. 

Quite  otherwise  with  Eliot  and  other  Protestant  missionaries. 
They  aimed  to  establish  communities  of  Indians  in  fixed  settle- 
ments, exclusively  their  own,  with  changed  habits  of  life,  dependent 
no  longer  upon  roaming  and  hunting,  but  pursuing  industrious 
occupations,  with  lands  cleared  and  fenced,  modestly  clothed,  living 
in  houses,  regarding  property  and  decency.  Ultimately  they  were 
to  have  local  magistrates,  mechanics,  teachers,  and  preachers  of 
their  own  race,  with  all  the  comforts  and  securities  of  the  towns  of 
the  white  men,  and  organized  and  covenanted  churches.  Eliot 
wrote,  "  I  find  it  absolutely  necessary  to  carry  on  civility  with 
religion." 

The  educational  efforts  of  Protestantism  among  the  Indians 
in  this  early  period  were  very  considerable,  some  of  which 
have  been  already  mentioned.  But  much  more  was  done  for  the 
education  of  the  Indian.  Under  the  lead  of  the  Apostle  Eliot  free 
tuition  was  provided  for  Indian  children  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  Massachusetts  Colony,  the  expense  to  be  defrayed  by  a 
yearly  contribution — voluntary,  or  by  rate  if  any  refused  ;  and  the 
order  was  confirmed  by  the  general  court.  Eliot  also  planted 
schools  among  the  converted  Indians,  and  sent  their  brightest  lads 
to  English  schools  to  learn  Latin  and  Greek.  The  Connecticut 
code  of  1650  ordered  that  the  teaching  elders  should  go  among  the 
Indians  and  give  them  religious  instruction.  Schools  were  also 
established  among  them.  A  very  successful  one,  at  Farmington, 
was  taught  from  1648  to  1697  by  the  minister  of  the  parish,  and 
as  late  as  1736  notices  of  this  school  are  found  in  the  colonial 
records. 

In  December,  1743,  Rev.  Eleazar  Wheelock  of  Lebanon,  Conn., 
was  induced  to  receive  into  a  school  which  he  kept  in  his  own  house 
Samson  Occum,  a  Mohegan  Indian,  aged  about  nineteen.  Occum 
was  under  Mr.  Wheelock's  tuition  about  five  years,  and  subse- 
quently became  a  preacher  of  distinction.     Encouraged  by  this  suc- 

*  The  Jesuit  Biard,  in  Acadia,  says  he  was  satisfied  with  translating  into  Indian  "  ye 
Lord's  Prayer,  ye  salutation  of  ye  Virgin,  ye  Commandments  of  God,  and  of  ye  Church,  with  a 
short  explanation  of  ye  Sacraments,  and  some  prayers  ;  for  this  is  all  ye  theology  they  need." 


192  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

cess  Mr.  Wheelock  formed  a  plan  of  an  Indian  mission  school.  He 
thought  that  educated  Indians  would  be  more  successful  than  white 
men,  as  missionaries  among  the  red  men.  Gradually  his  plan  was 
carried  out,  until,  in  1762,  he  had  more  than  twenty  youths,  chiefly 
Indians,  under  his  care.  Funds  for  their  maintenance  were 
obtained  from  benevolent  individuals,  from  the  legislatures  of  Con- 
necticut and  Massachusetts,  and  from  the  Scotch  Society  for  Prop- 
agating Christian  Knowledge.  Joshua  Moor,  a  farmer  in  Mansfield, 
Conn.,  having  about  the  year  1754  made  a  donation  of  a  house  and 
two  acres  of  land  in  Lebanon,  contiguous  to  Mr.  VVheelock's  house, 
the  institution  was  called  "  Moor's  Indian  Charity  School."  Sev- 
eral gentlemen  were  associated  with  Mr.  Wheelock  as  trustees. 
Here  Brandt  the  Mohawk  chief  received  his  education,  and  also  Rev. 
Samuel  Kirkland,  an  eminent  missionary  among  the  Oneidas,  from 
1764  to  1808.  In  1765  the  Scotch  Society  sent  white  missionaries 
and  Indian  school-masters  to  the  Mohawks  in  New  York.  Occum 
had  preceded  them  among  the  Oneidas. 

In  1766  Mr.  Wheelock  sent  Mr.  Occum  and  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Whitaker  to  Great  Britain,  to  solicit  benefactions  for  the  school. 
Mr.  Occum  made  a  favorable  impression.  He  was  the  first  Indian 
preacher  from  America  that  had  visited  Great  Britain,  and  he 
preached  several  hundred  times  to  large  assemblies.  The  king  sub- 
scribed i^200,  Lord  Dartmouth  fifty  guineas,  and,  in  all, 
£7,000  were  collected  in  England  and  more  than  £2,000  in  Scot- 
land. After  conducting  Moor's  school  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  fourteen 
or  fifteen  years.  Dr.  Wheelock,  in  order  to  increase  its  usefulness, 
removed  it  to  Hanover,  N.  H.,  in  1770,  where  it  became  the  foun- 
dation of  Dartmouth  College. 


Section  5.— Results. 

Later  results  do  not  correspond  with  the  noble  beginnings. 
Before  King  Philip's  war  it  was  estimated  that  *'  about  a  fourth 
part  of  all  the  Indians  in  New  England — those  of  Massachussetts 
being  3,CXX)  of  that  quarter — had  been  more  or  less  influenced  by 
civilization  and  Christianity,  and  that  had  these  been  in  full  league 
with  Philip  the  whites  would  have  been  exterminated."  That  ter- 
rible war  very  seriously  affected  the  mission  work.  *'  After  the 
war  the  stated  places  for  Indian  church  settlements  were  reduced 
to  four,  while  there  were  other  temporary  stations.  There  were 
ten  stations  in  Plymouth   Colony,  the   same  number  on  the  Vine- 


DEC  A  Y  OF  INDIAN  RACES.  193 

yard,  and  five  on  Nantucket.  President  Mather,  writing  in  1687,  said 
there  were  in  New  England  6  regular  churches  of  baptized 
Indians,  18  assemblies  of  catechumens,  24  Indian  preachers,  and  4 
English  ministers  who  preached  in  Indian.  A  committee  to  visit 
Natick  in  1698*  reported  a  church  there  of  7  men  and  3  women 
(Indians),  a  native  minister  ordained  by  Eliot,  59  native  men,  51 
women,  and  70  children.  Up  to  1733,  all  the  town  officers  were 
Indians.  The  place  was  incorporated  as  an  English  town  in  1762. 
In  1792  there  was  but  a  single  Indian  family.  At  a  local  celebration, 
in  1846,  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  Eliot's  first  service,  a  girl 
of  sixteen  was  the  only  known  native  descendant."  f  There  were 
places  in  Massachusetts  where  feeble  remnants  of  partially  civilized 
natives  remained  longer  than  at  Natick.  On  Martha's  Vineyard 
some  still  exist. 

A  strange  fatality  has  overhung  the  Indian  races.  They  had 
been  decimated  by  disease  before  the  Pilgrims  landed,  and  they 
have  dwindled  ever  since,  from  natural  causes  inhering  in  the  races, 
which  unfriendly  influences  from  without  have  accelerated.  The 
Pequot  wars,  the  King  Philip's  war,  the  French  and  Indian  wars, 
the  war  of  strong  liquors  and  debauchery,  the  wars  of  rapacious 
greed,  and — may  we  not  add  ? — civilization  itself  have  terribly  wasted 
them.  How  forlorn  the  spectacle  of  these  poor  pensioners  and 
vagabonds,  crushed  in  abject  abasement  before  the  white  man,  tac- 
iturn, retrospective,  and  without  heritage,  name  or  progeny ! 

*  Eight  years  after  Eliot's  death,  at  the  age  of  86, 

t  Rev.  Mr.  Ellis,  in  Memorial  History  0/  Boston.     Vol.  I,  p.  274. 

13 


194  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


DIVERSE   CURRENTS. 


Sec  I.  Inception  of  American  I        Sec.  2.  Inception  of  Unitarianism. 

Skepticism.  |  "      3-  Inception  of  Universalism. 

AN  inspection  of  the  religious  life  of  the  colonial  era  reveals  new 
currents  of  theological  sentiment,  silently  but  steadily  setting 
in,  at  various  points,  against  the  long  accepted  theories.  In  the 
subsequent  periods  they  will  appear  as  more  active  assailing  forces, 
openly  antagonizing  the  old  beliefs  and  seriously  engaging  the 
attention  of  the  world. 

As  to  their  origin,  they  were  chiefly  exotic,  out-growths  from  the 
modern  spirit  of  inquiry  in  Europe,  evoked  by  the  revival  of 
learning,*  and  the  bold  revolutions  inaugurated  by  Luther  and 
Descartes.  Those  great  and  devout  minds  never  dreamed  of  the 
reckless  extravagances  which  followed  their  action.  Not  contented 
with  freedom  from  hierarchical  and  scholastic  intolerance,  many  wild 
spirits  broke  loose  from  all  moorings,  threw  overboard  anchor, 
compass  and  chart,  and  recklessly  sailed  out  into  the  stormiest  seas. 
Investigation  extended  to  all  departments  of  inquiry;  the  meta- 
physics of  religion  became  a  disputed  domai  n  ;  errors  were  disclosed 
in  natural  science  ;  skeptical  criticism  was  fostered  and  incredulity 
was  accepted  as  a  token  of  superior  wisdom.  "  Speculation  glided 
into  doubt,  as  all  morbid  conditions  of  the  body  sometimes  glide 
into  the  prevailing  contagion.  Not  a  land  nor  a  church  in  Western 
Europe  was  exempt  from  the  pestilence.  Theologians  felt  the 
influence,  many  yielding  to  it  seemingly  without  consciousness."  f 

However  varied  in  its  minor  phases,  there  was  one  point  of 
unity  in  this  movement — a  disposition  to  break  from  the  traditional 
theology  and  adopt  rationalistic  methods.:}: 

♦The  Neo-Platonic  philosophy,  Arianism,  etc.,  were  brought  to  the  surface,  in  the  Renais- 
sance in  Italy,  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

t  Bishop  Burgess,  in  Pages  from  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England. 

X  See  Problem  of  Religious  Progress.  By  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  D.D.  Phillips  &  Hunt, 
New  York  City,  i83i.  Pp.  55-70.  Ueberweg's  History  0/  Philosophy.  Vol.  II.  History  0/ 
the  Reformation.     By  Prof.  Fisher,  of  Vale  College. 


ENGLISH  DEISM.  193 

Section  i.— Ttie  Inception  of  American  Skepticism. 

As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  symptoms  of 
this  great  revolt  appeared,  in  the  English  mind,  in  the  gradual  un- 
folding of  the  princi[)le  that  the  natural  consciousness  of  the  Divine 
existence  and  man's  conscience  are  all  the  materials  necessary  for 
the  construction  of  a  perfect  religion,  and  that  Christianity  is  of  no 
value  except  as  containing  germs  of  this  natural  religion.  In  the 
course  of  the  following  century  these  sentiments  obtained  a  formal 
recognition  under  the  name  of  English  deism,  accompanied  often 
with  a  denial  of  the  historic  verity  of  the  Christian  records  and  a 
denunciation  of  the  Christian  system  as  priestcraft.  The  history 
of  English  deism  covers  a  period  of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  years  (1625-1800)*  from  Herbert  to  Gibbon,  embracing  groups 
of  essayists,  poets  and  novelists  distinguished  for  splendid  talents 
and  extensive  acquisitions.  A  large  portion  of  the  English 
mind  was  tainted  with  these  ideas,  and  a  serious  deterioration  in 
faith  and  morals  became  apparent. 

Introduced  into  America. 

Down  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  common  American 
mind  had  known  but  little  of  the  produc  ions  of  these  men;  only  a 
few  of  the  more  learned  or  curious  and  some  of  the  later  emigrants. 
But  the  celebrated  French  and  Indian  war,  extending  through  a 
period  of  nine  years  (1754-1763),  afforded  an  opportunity  for  their 
inculcation.  During  this  war  American  citizens  were  brought  into 
close  relations  with  English  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  accepted 
deistical  sentiments.  "  Most  of  their  American  companions  had 
never  heard  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures  questioned,  and  their 
minds  were,  of  course,  unprovided  with  answers  even  to  the  most 
common  objections.  To  such  objections  as  were  actually  made 
was  added  the  force  of  authority.  The  British  officers  were  from 
the  mother  country — a  phase  of  high  import — until  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolution.  They  came  from  a  country  renowned 
for  arts  and  arms,  and  regarded  by  the  people  of  New  England  as 
the  birth-place  of  science  and  wisdom.  These  gentlemen  were  also, 
at  the  same  time,  possessed  of  engaging  manners :  they  practiced 
all  those  genteel  vices  which,  when  recommended  by  such  manners, 
generally  fascinate  young  men  of  gay,  ambitious  minds,  and  are 

*  Herbert  died  1648;  Hobbes,  1679;  The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  X713;  Toland,  1722;  Man- 
deville,  17.V3;  Collins,  1729 ;  Woolston,  1733 ;  Morgan,  1743;  Tindal,  1733;  Chubb,  1747; 
Bolingbroke,  1751;  Hume.  1776;  Gibbon,  1794. 


196  CHRISTIAMTY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

often  considered  as  conferring  an  enviable  distinction  on  those  who 
adopt  them.  Many  of  the  Americans  were  far  from  being  dull 
proficients  in  this  school.  The  vices  they  loved,  and  soon  found 
the  principles  necessary  to  quiet  their  consciences.  When  they 
returned  home  they  had  drunk  too  deeply  of  the  cup  to 
exchange  their  new  principles  and  practices  for  the  sober  doc- 
trines and  lives  of  their  countrymen.  The  means  that  had  been 
pursued  to  corrupt  them  they  now  employed  to  corrupt  others. 
From  this  prima  mali  labes  the  contagion  spread,  not  indeed 
through  very  great  multitudes,  but  in  little  circles  surrounding  the 
individuals  originally  infected.  As  these  amounted  to  a  consider- 
able number,  and  lived  in  a  general  dispersion  through  the  country, 
most  parts  of  it  shared  in  the  malady."  * 

The  period  intervening  between  the  French  war  and  the  Revo- 
lution was  characterized  by  a  perceptible  relaxation  of  morals,  and 
it  is  certain  that  religion  suffered  serious  decline. 


Section  2,—Th.e  Origin  of  American  Unitarianism. 

Simultaneously  with  these  more  radical  departures  from  Chris- 
tianity, as  a  system,  there  appeared  a  revolt  against  some  of  its 
vital  doctrines  by  those  who  still  clung  to  its  records  and  institutions. 
Arian  and  Socinian  sentiments  had  their  advocates  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe  from  an  early  period  of  the  Reformation, f  and  in  En- 
gland as  early  as  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.;}:  In  the 
following  century  they  became  more  common.  Near  its  close 
Unitarians  had  places  of  worship  in  London,  and  the  great  Trini- 
tarian controversy  was  waged  by  South.  Sherlock,  Howe,  etc. 


♦  Travels  in  New  England  and  Nerv  York.  By  Rhv.  Timothy  Dwight.  S.T.D.,  LL.D. 
Vol.  IV,  p.  365. 

t  Before  1500  Arian  sentiments  were  revived  in  Italy.  Among;  the  early  continental 
advocates  of  these  views  may  be  mentioned  John  Dork,  who  died  1528  ;  Hitzer.  a  learned  friend 
of  Zwingle,  beheaded  in  1529;  Servetus,  burned  1553;  Campanus,  died  in  prison,  at  Cleves, 
1578;  Gentilis,  a  Calabrian,  died  1566;  Daniel  Jarvis,  died  at  Basle,  1556:  Laelius  Socinus,  "an 
inquiring  but  skeptical  man  of  letters,"  died  1562  ;  Faustus  Socinus,  who  organized  the  Uni- 
tarians in  Poland  and  gave  them  a  system  of  theology,  died  1604.  A  printing  office  was 
established  at  Racon.  Poland,  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  for  the  publication  of  the 
writings  of  Faustus  Socinus. 

JFrom  1550  to  1612  Arians  and  Socinians  perished  in  the  fires  of  Smithfield.  John  Biddle 
(1615-1652)  has  been  styled  "The  father  of  modern  Unitarianism."  In  1653  copies  of  the 
Raconian  catechism  were  burned  in  London.  In  1655  Dr.  Owen  wrote,  "  there  is  not  a  city  or 
town  where  some  of  this  poison  has  not  been  poured  forth." 


THE  "LIBERAL"    THEORIES.  107 

The  English  Sources. 

Unitarian  sentiments  invaded  the  English  Church,  and  some 
distinguished  ministers  became  Arians  or  Socinians.*  Whitby, 
Emelyn,  Whiston,  Samuel  Clarke,  all  strongly  tended  that  way, 
some  of  them  avowedly.  Emelyn  was  a  decided  Arian,  and  advo- 
cated those  views  in  an  "  Inquiry  into  the  Character  of  Jesus 
Christ ; "  Whitby  sifted  them  into  his  Commentary  on  the  New 
Testament ;  and  Clarke  was  an  opposer  of  creeds,  especially  the 
Athanasian,  and  a  decided  Arian  To  such  an  extent  had  those 
views  pervaded  the  Established  Church  that  it  was  stated,  in  1705, 
that  there  were  "  troops  of  Unitarian  and  Socinian  writers,  and  not 
one  dissenter  could  be  found  among  them." 

Natural  religion  was  the  favorite  study  of  the  English  clergy 
and  of  the  learned  generally.  While  Collins  and  Tindall  pro- 
nounced Christianity  to  be  priestcraft,  Whiston,  learned,  intrepid, 
and  earnest,  declared  the  miracles  to  be  Jewish  impositions,  and 
Woolston  called  them  allegories.  In  David  Hartley  these  two 
tendencies  were  combined,  and  "  the  publication  of  his  book.  Obser- 
vations on  Man,  based  on  the  sensational  philosophy,  gave  rise  to 
a  new  school,  of  which  Joseph  Priestley  was  the  head."  "Of  this 
stamp  was  the  Unitarianism  that  first  made  its  appearance  in 
America  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century."  f  Traces  of  it  are 
very  perceptible  in  the  writings  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  D.D., 
of  Boston,  the  champion  of  the  new  and  then  unnamed  tendency 
in  America,  who  held  correspondence  with  several  English  writers 
of  this  class.  Drs.  Gay,  of  Hingham  ;  Chauncy,  of  Boston  ;  West, 
etc.,  etc.,  also  patronized  these  productions.  The  high  literary  and 
scientific  reputation  of  Clarke,  Whitby,  Whiston,  Woolston,  etc., 
gave  their  numerous  writings  great  currency.  They  exerted  a 
leading  influence  upon  the  thinking  minds  of  that  age,  among 
whom  the  rising  divines  of  New  England  occupied  prominent 
positions.  It  will  not  seem  strange,  therefore,  with  these  facts 
before  us,  that  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  there  was  a 
very  perceptible  change  in  the  theological  opinions  of  some  of  the 
New  England  clergy.  The  same  thing  was  also  to  some  extent 
apparent  in  Virginia  and  New  York.  "  The  liberal  theories  "  in 
philosophy  and  religion  in  Europe  exerted  a  great  influence  upon 
many  leading  minds  in  America.     They  were  important  factors  in 

*  Revs.    Daniel   Whitby,    D.D.,    1638-1726;     Thomas  Emelyn,   1663-1743;    Rev.  William 
Whiston,  D.D.,  1667-1752;  Rev.  Samuel  Clarke,  D.D.,  1675-1729. 
t  Appieton's  Cyclopedia.     Article  :  "  Unitarianism." 


198  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  development  of  the  "  Liberal  Christianity,"  which,  under  various 
minor  designations,  has  come  down  to  the  present  time. 

The  American  Sources. 

But  the  origin  of  this  defection  was  not  altogether,  nor  even 
chiefly,  foreign.  The  most  potent  and  far- reaching  causes  were 
engendered  in  the  New  England  mind,  and  hence  this  great  de- 
parture made  its  first  appearance  in  that  section,  while  it  was 
generally  withstood  elsewhere.  Local  causes  prepared  the  way, 
but  the  process  of  development  was  slow.  The  vital  and  conserving 
elements  of  ecclesiastical  life  were  gradually  eliminated  before  the 
most  far-sighted  minds  even  conjectured  the  result.  The  Unitarian 
departure  had  its  inception  in  the  introduction  of  the  famous  "half- 
way covenant,"  *  which  was  adopted  in  the  infancy  of  the  colonies, 
only  forty-two  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  This 
measure  was  a  politico-religious  expedient  resorted  to  for  the  pur- 
pose of  relieving  themselves  from  embarrassments  growing  out  of 
an  extreme  and  impracticable  application  of  Christianity  to  the 
relations  of  the  Church  and  the  civil  power. 

"  The  founders  of  the  chief  colonies  of  New  England  were  of 
one  heart  and  of  one  mind,  and  this  was  a  source  of  a  great  error 
in  their  ecclesiastical  system.  They  forgot  that  never  again  could 
the  community  which  they  founded  be  what  it  was  at  first ;  that 
they  had  collected  and  brought  into  the  wilderness  a  peculiar 
people,  but  that  they  must  afterward  meet  human  nature  as  it 
arose  in  all  its  varieties.  They  could  exclude  from  their  communion 
or  banish  from  their  territory  the  man  who  would  not  share  their 
faith,  but  they  could  not  decide  the  character  nor  annul  the  birth- 
right of  the  children  who  should  succeed  to  their  own  places.  The 
apostolical  conception  of  the  Church,  as  an  assembly  of  believers 
received,  on  the  profession  of  their  faith,  to  the  sacraments  and  to 
the  fellowship  of  the  saints,  and  seeking  there  the  grace  by  which 
they  might  be  trained  for  heaven,  and  subject  to  exclusion  on  proof 
of  willful  and  persevering  sin,  till  they  should  furnish  the  fruits  of 
penitence,  was  not  at  all  obscure  or  difficult.  It  was  no  objection 
that  it  might  be  compared  with  the  net  of  a  fisherman,  which 
gathers  up  all  alike,  or  with  a  field  in  which  tares  are  nightly 
sown  by  an  enemy.  The  settlers  of  New  England,  however,  had 
learned  to  dread  chiefly  the  ills  of  a  church  which  was  identical  with 
a   nation  ;  and  it  was  their  endeavor  so  to  fence  round   their  own 

•See  Chapter  IV,  on  Church  and  State ;   also  Chapter  V,  on  Religious  Life. 


PERVASIVE  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS.  199 

that,  as .  far  as  might  be,  it  (the  civil  power)  should  embrace 
none  but  spiritual,  accepted  followers  of  the  Captain  of  Salva- 
tion." * 

It  has  been  already  observed  that  the  early  churches  of  New 
England  held  very  strictly  to  the  necessity  of  saving  faith  and 
spiritual  regeneration  as  conditions  of  membership.  And  their 
religion  was  not  a  dreamy  speculation,  or  a  mere  sentiment,  or  an 
abstraction,  but  it  was  carried  out  in  concrete  forms  in  the  practical 
details  of  life.  Religion  was  the  stock  upon  which  every  thing  must 
be  ingrafted,  and  that  which  could  not  bear  the  process  must  be 
rejected.  Hence  we  find  the  State  growing  out  of  the  Church. 
Under  their  regimen  no  person  could  hold  public  office,  or  vote  in 
elections,  or  enjoy  any  of  the  ordinary  privileges  of  citizenship,  who 
was  not  a  member  of  the  Church. 

In  1633  Rev.  John  Cotton  preached  a  sermon  in  Boston,  entitled. 
"^  Discourse  About  Civil  Government,  in  a  New  Plantation,  whose 
Design  is  Religion!"  Its  object  was  "  to  prove  the  expediency  and 
necessity  of  intrusting  free  burgesses,  who  are  members  of  churches, 
gathered  amongst  them  according  to  Christ,  with  the  power  of 
choosing  from  among  themselves  magistrates  and  men  to  whom  the 
managing  of  all  public  and  civil  affairs  of  importance  is  to  be  com- 
mitted." This  was  in  accordance  with  the  general  usages  of  the 
New  England  colonies.f 

Religious  ideas  were  carried  into  every  thing  they  did.  The 
recluses  of  the  Middle  A^es  had  removed  religion  from  practical 
life,  into  caves  and  cloisters,  but  the  Puritans  reversed  the  order  and 
carried  it  into  the  most  common  affairs.  Thus  actuated,  they  made 
the  franchise  of  the  Commonwealth  dependent  upon  church 
membership,  and  the  latter  upon  a  genuine  religious  experience. 
A  solemn  form,  too,  was  observed  in  the  relation  of  religious  ex- 
perience before  the  Church,  and  inquiries  were  made  into  the 
previous  conviction  for  sin  and  the  radical  character  of  the  change. 
Thus  were  the  membership  of  the  Church  and  the  franchise  of  the 
State  hedged  in  with  impressive  and  uncompromising  religious 
ideas  and  usages. 

It  is  not  strange  that  in  a  few  years  this  system  should  be  felt 
to  be  unjust.  Appeals  were  made  to  the  Crown,  petitions  were 
sent  to  the  General  Court,  and  a  strong  agitation  was  carried  on  in 
the  principal  towns.     Favorable  responses  were  given  by  the  En- 

*  Pages   from   the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England.      A  pamphlet.      By   Bishop 
Burgees.    Pp.  lo,  ii. 

t  The  Ecclesiastical  History  0/ New  England.     By  Joseph  B.  Felt.    Vol.  1,  p.  169. 


200  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

glish  Government,  and  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  adoption  of  a 
new  measure  to  remedy  the  evil. 

The  Half-way  Covenant. 

In  1662,  by  the  recommendation  of  the  General  Synod,  the  half- 
way covenant  was  introduced  into  the  churches.  This  celebrated 
measure  provided  that  persons  baptized  in  infancy  were  to  be 
regarded  as  members  of  the  church  to  which  their  parents  belonged, 
although  they  were  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  communion  without 
giving  evidence  of  regeneration  ;  and,  that  such  persons,  on  arriving 
at  maturity,  **  understanding  the  doctrine  of  faith  and  publicly  pro- 
fessing their  assent  thereto,  not  scandalous  in  life,  and  solemnly 
owning  the  covenant  before  the  Church  wherein  they  give  them- 
selves up  and  their  children  to  the  Lord,  and  subject  themselves  to 
the  government  of  Christ  in  the  Church,"  had  a  right  to  baptism 
for  their  children. 

This  was  a  great  change ;  it  relieved  the  applicant  for  church 
membership  from  the  necessity  of  giving  evidence  of  regeneration, 
and  it  compelled  the  Church,  if  it  would  exclude  him,  to  convict 
him  of  heresy  or  of  a  scandalous  life.  The  object  was  to  confer  so 
much  of  church  membership  as  would  bring  men  fairly  within  the 
State,  and  so  little  as  would  leave  them  short  of  full  communion 
with  the  Church.  They  hoped  thus  to  conserve  both  the  purity  of 
the  Church  and  the  Christianity  of  the  State.  Events  have  since 
proved  that  it  would  have  been  better  not  to  have  yielded  any  thing 
in  respect  to  the  membership  of  the  Church,  but  for  the  Church  to 
have  relinquished  to  the  State  the  full  control  of  the  right  of 
suffrage.  But  they  hoped,  how  vainly  will  hereafter  appear,  that 
such  a  concession  would  promote  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their 
children.  This  measure,  however,  in  its  practical  results,  proved  to 
be  full  of  evil  to  the  churches,*  an  inlet  for  dangerous  errors  and  the 
most  disastrous  consequences,  which  spread  through  generations. 
It  was  the  "  wooden  horse  "  admitted  within  the  walls  of  Troy. 

The  adoption  of  this  measure  was  soon  followed  by  a  very 
marked  religious  decline.f    Ten  years  later  the  declension  was  a  sub- 

•  The  half-way  covenant  was  not  adopted  by  all  the  churches  at  once.  Some  delayed  many 
years,  a  few  more  than  thirty  years,  and  theie  was  much  strife  and  debate  over  it.  The  writing;s 
of  those  who  ftvored  the  action  of  the  Synod  were  called  Synodalia,  and  of  those  opposed,  Anti- 
Synodalia.  The  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  sprung  into  being  out  of  this  division,  being  an 
off-shoot  of  the  first  Church,  a  majority  of  which  opposed  the  Synod,  This  majority  formed  the 
Old  South.  In  Connecticut  the  opposition  was  more  extensive.  In  the  New  Haven  colony  it 
was  general.  In  1664  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut  seeing  no  movement  toward  adopting  the 
action  of  the  Synod,  took  the  matter  in  hand  and  urged  its  acceptance, 

t  See  Chapter  V,  Religious  Life,  Section  2, 


THE  HALF-WAY  COVENANT.  201 

ject  of  frequent  remark  and  was  deeply  deplored  by  many.  The 
published  sermons,  ecclesiastical  reports,  and  other  religious  litera- 
ture of  the  next  seventy  years  in  New  England  are  full  of  con- 
fessions, lamentations,  and  pungent  appeals  on  account  of  the  low 
state  of  the  churches  and  the  increase  of  immorality,  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  first  forty  years  of  their  history.  It  has  been 
already  noticed  that  during  the  seventy-three  years  following  the 
adoption  of  this  measure,  down  to  the  great  Edwardsian  revival,  the 
average  condition  of  the  churches  was  very  low. 

Another  Departure. 

Forty-five  years  later  another  departure  still  more  seriously 
aggravated  the  downward  tendency,  and  the  predecessor  of  Rev. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  at  Northampton,  was  the  innovator.  Rev. 
Timothy  Dwight  has  said  of  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  that  "  he 
probably  possessed  more  influence  than  any  other  clergyman  in  the 
province  during  a  period  of  thirty  years."*  In  1707  Mr.  Stoddard 
preached  that  "  sanctification  is  not  a  necessary  qualification  for  par- 
taking of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  that  "  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  con- 
verting ordinance,"  "  a  means  of  regeneration,"  and,  therefore,  "  unre- 
newed persons  ought  to  be  permitted  to  partake  of  it  as  a  means 
of  procuring  that  desirable  change."  He  contended  that  it  was 
"especially  important,  since  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  the  regen- 
erate from  the  unregenerate  so  as  to  admit  only  the  former  and 
exclude  only  the  latter.''  To  this  sermon  Dr.  Increase  Mather 
replied  the  following  year,  and  in  1709  Mr.  Stoddard  rejoined.  After 
strenuous  opposition  the  new  view  prevailed  in  Northampton,  and 
quite  extensively  in  other  parts  of  New  England,  and  thenceforth 
persons  who  had  been  baptized  in  infancy,  not  convicted  of  "  scan- 
dalous conduct  or  of  heresy  "  were  in  full  communion  in  the  Church. 

Religious  experience,  being  no  longer  a  test  of  Church  member- 
ship, disappeared  from  the  pulpits  as  a  theme  of  discourse,  and  the 
ministry — as  well  as  the  churches — was  filled  with  unregenerate  men. 
The  cognate  doctrines  were  also  set  aside,  and  moralizing  and  spec- 
ulation constituted  the  topic  of  pulpit  ministrations.  Church  dis- 
cipline, too,  was  relaxed,  for  unregenerate  men  would  not  call  others 
to  an  account.  Laxity  of  belief  and  morals  prevailed,  creeds  and 
confession  of  faith  were  discarded,  and  candidates  for  the  ministry 
often  refused  to  answer  inquiries  in  regard  to  both  faith  and  experi- 
ence.    In  the  "Convention  Sermon  "  in   1722,  Rev.  Cotton  Mather 


*  Travels  in  New  England.    Vol.  I,  p.  333. 


202  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

lamented  "  the  threatened  banishment  from  the  ministry  of  the 
truths  which  all  real  and  vital  piety  lives  upon."  Thus  was  a  state 
of  things  currently  called  "dead  orthodoxy"  developed,  in  which 
truth  had  little  hold  on  the  conscience,  and  many  abandoned  them- 
selves to  frivolity  and  corrupt  practices. 

In  the  meantime  New  England  thinkers  were  drawn  into  sym- 
pathy with  English  non-conformists,  and  English  literature  was 
infiltrated  through  the  compact  structure  of  New  England  social  and 
religious  life.  The  great  Trinitarian  controversy  of  South,  Sherlock, 
etc.,  was  studied  in  Boston  scarcely  less  than  in  London.  The  sub- 
sequent writings  of  Emelyn,  Whiston,  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke,  etc.,  found 
ready  readers  in  New  England.  About  1720  Cotton  Mather  wrote 
of  "  the  most  grievous  apostasy  of  so  many  of  our  English  brethren, 
going  off  to  Arianism,  Gentileism,  etc.,  and  the  Laodicean  temper 
of  many  more  who  have  withheld  the  testimonies  which  the  labor- 
ing truth  has  called  for." 

While  this  great  spiritual  declension  was  going  on,  God  was  pre- 
paring on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  great  counter  movements  for 
the  preservation  of  spiritual  Christianity — the  Methodistic  revival  in 
England,  and  the  Edwardsian  revival  in  New  England — the  latter 
accomplishing  a  great,  though  temporary,  work,  to  be  supplemented 
in  due  time,  and  carried  steadily  forward,  by  the  introduction  of 
Methodism. 

The  Great  Revival. 

In  Chapter  V  the  revival  under  Edwards  and  Whitefield 
was  sketched.  The  revival  brought  into  new  prominence  the 
subject  of  Christian  experience  and  the  doctrine  of  the  insufficiency 
of  works  done  without  grace  as  a  fitness  for  heaven.  Wherever, 
therefore,  it  went,  it  awakened  opposition,  chiefly  in  the  churches 
and  the  ministers  favoring  the  "liberal"  tendencies.  White- 
field's  first  visit  to  the  Puritan  metropolis  was  warmly  welcomed, 
and  multitudes  waited  with  deepest  interest  upon  his  power- 
ful ministrations.  Within  two  years  he  was  followed  by  Revs. 
Gilbert  Tennent,  Wheelock  and  Davenport,  who  visited  Boston  and 
other  New  England  towns.  Tennent  was  bold  and  unsparing,  pro- 
ducing "a  wide  and  tumultuous  swell  of  religious  emotion,"  under 
the  influence  of  which  many  professed  conversion,  and  "  towns  were 
invested  with  a  new  aspect."  Davenport  "  was  not  afraid  to  pro- 
nounce publicly  the  names  of  unconverted  ministers,"  and  every 
Congregational  pulpit  in  Boston  was  soon  closed  against  him. 
Whitefield  and  Tennent   had  also  "  disowned  the  prevailing  rever- 


THE  "NEW  lights:'  203 

ence  for  authorities,"  and  had  quite  distinctly  intimated  their  opin- 
ions of  the  spiritud  state  of  many  of  the  clergy.  Whitefield  pro- 
nounced the  college  at  Cambridge  to  be,  "  as  far  as  he  could  gather, 
not  far  superior  to  the  English  universities  in  piety  and  true  godli- 
ness." A  tide  of  censorious  enthusiasm  set  in  and  seriously  marred 
the  revival  work;  but  it  grew  out  of  the  stern  resistance  which 
spiritual  religion  every-where  met — often  the  effect,  and  perhaps  as 
often  the  cause  of  the  opposition. 

Amid  the  prevailing  excitement  in  1743  a  convention  was  held, 
soon  followed  by  another.  In  the  first  a  "Testimony"  was  drawn 
up  against  the  new  movements,  which  was  sustained  by  a  majority 
of  thirty-eight.  The  minority  called  the  second  convention  and 
put  forth  a  cautious  and  discriminating  paper — decided  and  solemn 
— warning  the  people  against  being  drawn  into  Arminianism  and 
Antinomianism  through  fear  of  the  opposite  errors.  The  latter 
paper  received  the  signatures  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  ministers 
in  New  England.  About  half  of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  Congregational  ministers  in  Massachusetts  were  opposers  of  the 
revival  measures.  This  was  the  first  marked  division  of  the  two 
parties  in  the  New  England  churches. 

When  Whitefield  returned  in  1744  he  encountered  a  wide-spread 
prejudice,  entire  Associations  declining  to  receive  him  to  their  pul- 
pits. Coleman,  of  the  Brattle  Street  Church,  invited  him  to  assist 
in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  contrary  to  the  remon- 
strance of  his  ministerial  brethren.  Chauncy  and  others  preached 
against  him,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  characterize  the  revival  as  an 
unmixed  evil.  The  faculties  of  Yale  and  Harvard  colleges  entered 
the  lists  against  him.     Counter  statements  also  appeared. 

The  exciting  point  of  this  conflict  was  the  question  of  *'  a  change 
of  heart."  The  old  doctrine  of  the  fathers  had  declined  and  the 
churches  were  dead.  They  were  filled  with  men  who  had  never 
been  regenerated,  who,  according  to  the  new  theology,  were  to  be 
regarded  as  Christians  needing  instruction ;  but,  according  to  the 
revivalists,  they  were  impenitent  persons,  enemies  to  God,  far  from 
righteousness,  and  must  be  converted  or  perish  forever.  Such 
preaching,  as  might  be  expected,  provoked  resistance,  and  nowhere 
more  than  in  the  churches.  The  "  New  Lights,"  as  the  revivalists 
were  called,  were  accused  of  censoriousness  and  extravagances. 
Edwards  went  on,  however,  and  attempted  to  fully  revolutionize  the 
system  which  had  been  introduced  by  his  predecessor,  wrote  a  trea- 
tise upon  it,  and  would  not  practice  it.  In  a  sharp  contest  which 
finally  arose  upon   it  in  his  parish  he  was  dismissed,  in  1750-     But 


204  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  friends  of  the  revival  generally  adopted  his  theory,  and  the 
system  of  Stoddard  gradually  fell  into  disuse  in  those  churches 
which  did  not  subsequently  become  Unitarian.  Those  who  rejected 
the  views  of  Edwards  continued  to  admit  men  to  the  communion 
without  regeneration  if  moral  in  life. 

The  remaining  steps  of  the  transition  were  easy  and  natural. 
Thus  were  the  leading  elements  of  the  so-called  "  Liberal  Chris- 
tianity "  engendered  long  before  the  formal  separation  took  place. 
Such  were  the  local  causes  in  the  New  England  churches  which  con- 
spired with  the  latitudinarianism  of  the  English  mind  to  produce 
the  great  defection  which  has  been  so  marked  in  more  recent 
times.  The  change  that  had  been  going  on  before  the  "  Great 
Awakening  "  was  hastened  *  by  it.  Calvinism  f  was  fading,  and  men 
were  becoming  accustomed  to  the  charge  of  "  Arminianism,"  :|: 
and  a  word  of  more  radical  significance — Socinianism — was  brought 
into  use. 

"  Thus,"  says  Mr.  William  C.  Gannett,  "  the  first  stage  in  the  rise 
of  Unitarianism  was  completed  so  far  as  this,  that  now  Arminianism, 
or  anti-Calvinism,  was  an  established  fact  in  Massachusetts.  The 
change  toward  Rationalism  had  been  long  and  gradual — first  crum- 
bling away  certain  Church  rites,  then  silently  affecting  doctrine,  till 
toward  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  it  grew  yearly  into  clearer 
recognition.  The  new  name,  however,  was  very  vaguely  used.  .  .  . 
No  split  in  the  church  was  thought  of  yet.  But  from  this  time 
forward  the  two  parties  constantly  and  consciously  diverged  and 
watched  each  other."  § 

Extent  of  the  Movement  in  the  Middle  of  the  last  Century. 

Having  traced  the  inception  and  progress  of  this  defection  down 
to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  it  is  desirable  to  briefly  set  forth 
its  proportions  and  its  character  in  the  period  intervening  before 
the  Revolution. 

A  considerable  number  of  distinguished  and  very  excellent  min- 
isters who  did  not  favor  the  movements  of  the  "  New  Lights  "  were, 

*  In  1750  Edwards  said,  rife  as  the  dangerous  doctrines  were  before  the  revival,  "Within 
seven  years  (that  is,  from  its  crisis)  they  have  made  vastly  gfreater  progress  than  ever  before  in 
the  like  space." 

t  Some  New  Hampshire  ministers  revised  the  Catechism  by  leaving  Calvinism  out  of  it. 

X  Really  Pelagianism.  They  evidently  did  not  use  the  word  Arminian  in  its  strict  historical 
sense.  They  meant  by  it  a  system  of  doctrine  in  opposition  to  Calvinism,  without  due  discrim- 
ination in  regard  to  all  the  phases  of  the  case.  The  new  departure  then  going  on  was,  indeed, 
a  revolt  against  Calvinism  ;  but,  more  than  that,  it  was  also  a  revolt  against  the  Trinitarian  and 
sacrificial  theolog^y  to  which  Arminius  and  his  followers  closely  adhered. 

%  Lecture  on  the  rise  of  Unitarinism  in  New  England.     Index,  Feb.  15,  1873. 


PROGRESS   TOWARD    UNITARIANISM.  205 

nevertheless,  still  faithful  in  their  adherence  to  the  old  Calvinistic 
theology.  One  *  every  way  qualified  to  speak  upon  this  matter 
has  expressed  the  opinion  that  there  were  in  1750  not  less  than 
forty-six  ministers  who  either  "  openly  opposed  or  did  not  teach 
and  advocate  the  Calvinistic  doctrines,  and  whose  orthodoxy  was 
either  denied  or  suspected." 

President  John  Adams,t  writing  May  15,  181 5,  said,  "Sixty 
years  ago  (1755)  my  own  minister,  Rev.  Lemuel  Bryant,  Dr.  Jona- 
than Mayhew,  of  the  West  Church,  Boston ;  Rev.  Mr.  Shute,  of 
Hingham;  Rev.  John  Brown,  of  Cohassett ;  and,  perhaps  equal  to 
all,  if  not  above  all,   Rev.  Dr.  Gay,  of  Hingham,  were  Unitarians. 

.  Among  the  laity  how  many  could  I  name,  lawyers,  physicians, 
tradesmen,  farmers,"  , 

In  1754  Whitefield  was  again  in  Boston,  but  his  advent  awak- 
ened no  enthusiasm.  The  spirit  of  freedom  of  inquiry  so  rife  in 
England  was  the  burden  of  the  leading  minds.  Under  this  bi^oad 
and  specious  shield  doubt  found  ample  shelter,  and  slyly  pushed  its 
attacks  upon  the  citadel  of  faith.  Creeds  and  confessions  were 
abhorred  and  freely  denounced  in  sermons,  particularly  on  ordina- 
tion occasions.  Mayhew  called  the  Athanasian  creed  "a  riddle, 
still  somewhat  enigmatical,  notwithstanding  all  the  labors  of  the 
pious  and  metaphysical  Waterland,"  and  jested  on  the  Canticles. 
A  little  later,  in  1769,  Rev.  John  Lathrop  declared  to  a  friend  that 
creeds  and  confessions  had  been  generally  laid  aside,  and  that  it  was 
impossible  to  get  a  vote  in  the  Convention  for  their  revival.  In 
1756  Emelyns's  Inquiry  into  the  Scriptural  Account  of  Jesus  Christ 
was  republished  in  Boston  at  the  suggestion,  it  is  said,  of  Dr.  May- 
hew, to  which  President  Burr,  of  Princeton,  replied.  In  1768  Rev. 
Samuel  Hopkins,  D.D.,:{:  preached  a  sermon  in  the  Old  South  Church, 
Boston,  on  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  which  was  composed  for  that 
occasion,  as  he  said,  "  Under  the  conviction  that  the  doctrine  was 

*  Hon.  Alden  Bradford,  LL.D.,  biographer  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  D.D.,  was  personaUy 
acquainted  with  Drs.  Gay,  Chauncy,  Cooper,  Shute,  Turner,  West  and  other  prominent  actors 
in  this  movement.  He  mentions  in  this  class  {Memoir  of  Mayhew,  p.  24),  Revs.  Nathaniel  Apple- 
ton,  D.D.,  of  Cambridge ;  Ebenezer  Gay,  D.D.,  of  Hingham;  Charles  Chauncy,  D  D.,  of  Bos- 
ton'; William  Rand,  of  Kingston  ;  Nathaniel  Ellis,  of  Scituate  ;  Edward  Barnard,  of  Haver- 
hill !  Samuel  Cooke,  of  West  Cambridge ;  Jeremiah  Fogg,  of  Kensington,  N.  H. ;  Andrew 
Elliot,  D.D.,  of  Boston;  Samuel  Webster,    D.D.,  of  Salisbury;  Lemuel   Bryant,  of  Braintree ; 

Stevens',  D.D.,  of  Kittery,  Me.  ;  Tucker,    D.D.,  of  Newbury;    Timothy    Harrington, 

of  Lancaster;  Jonathan  Mayhew,  of  Boston,  and  nineteen  others.  A  little  later  he  speaks  of 
twelve  others,  making  forty-six  in  all.  Some  of  them,  however,  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Appleton,  of 
Cambridge,  did  not  finally  go  over  to  this  party,  and  have  been  ranked  with  the  "Orthodox  "  por- 
tion, although  they  had  been  at  times  somewhat  shaken  by  the  prevailing  tendencies. 

t  Letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Jedediah   Morse,  of  Charlestown,  .Mass. 

X  Autobiographical  Sketches  0/ Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  D.D.,  p.  95- 


206  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

much  neglected,  if  not  disbelieved,  by  a  number  of  the  ministers  in 
Boston." 

A  few  of  the  leading  minds  of  this  period  deserve  more  extended 
notice : 

Dr.  Gay  was  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Hingham,  a  town  about 
fifteen  miles  from  Boston,  for  a  period  of  seventy  years  (1717-1787). 
He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Chauncy  and  Mayhew.  Dr.  Brad- 
ford thinks  that  Dr.  Mayhew  was  indebted  to  him  for  some  of  his 
"  liberal  and  rational  views."  He  was  a  man  of  consummate  pru- 
dence, especially  in  expressing  his  opinions  publicly.  Hon.  Solomon 
Lincoln  says,  "  By  some  who  fully  understood  the  position  of  Dr. 
Gay,  after  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  he  has  been  claimed  to 
have  been  the  father  of  modern  Unitarianism.  This  must  be  con- 
ceded— that  his  discourses  will  be  searched  in  vain,  after  that  point 
of  time,  for  any  discussions  of  controversial  theology,  any  advocacy 
of  the  peculiar  doctrines  regarded  as  orthodox,  or  the  expression 
of  any  opinions  at  variance  with  those  of  his  distinguished  successor 
in  the  same  pulpit,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Ware."* 

Dr.  Chauncy  was  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Boston,  sixty 
years  (1727-1787).  In  him  were  singularly  combined  great  frank- 
ness, courage  and  prudence,  with  a  mind  remarkably  acute  and  vig- 
orous. He  was  not  an  orator,  but  he  wrote  with  transparent  clear- 
ness and  extraordinary  facility,  and  published  more  volumes  than 
any  other  New  England  minister  of  his  time,  although  none  of  them 
were  very  extensive  or  elaborate.  He  employed  vigorous  argu- 
ments with  exceptional  ability,  writing  against  Whitefield  and  the 
revivalists,  and  resisting  their  measures  for  promoting  the  spirituality 
of  the  churches  with  all  his  might.  He  was  also  a  strenuous  oppo- 
nent of  episcopacy.  It  has  been  said.  "To  him,  among  all  the 
eminent  divines  of  New  England,  belongs  the  unhappy  pre-eminence 
of  having  been  the  first  to  take  the  spirit  of  doubt  to  his  bosom," 
that  he  **  questioned  the  consciousness  of  the  soul  between  death 
and  the  resurrection,"  and  that  he  *'  nourished  that  sarcastic  hos- 
tility to  the  sentiments  of  past  ages,  and  the  determination  of  ven- 
erable bodies  on  doctrines  which,  like  a  light  troop  of  scouts,  pre- 
cede the  main  assault  and  explore  the  danger.  Deeply  significant 
was  his  sneer  against  the  '  Homoousianity'  of  the  Nicene  Coun- 
cil." f 

Dr.  Mayhew  was  pastor  of  the  West  Church,  Boston,  from  1747 
to  1766.     Younger  than  Gay  and  Chauncy,  and  shorter  lived,  he  ran 

*  Sprague's  Annals  a/  the  American   Pulpit.      The  Unitarian  Pulpit,  p.  7. 
t  Pages  from  the  Ecclesiastical  History  0/  New  England,  p.  25. 


JONATHAN  MAYHEW.  207 

a  more  brilliant  career.  He  was  a  man  of  great  talents,  of  exten- 
sive learning,  of  remarkable  frankness  and  boldness,  somewhat 
eccentric,  and  sometimes  rash  and  impetuous.  The  most  open  and 
undisguised  of  all  the  clergymen  referred  to  in  opposing  the  pre- 
vailing system  of  theology,  he  became  the  champion  of  the  "  lib- 
eral "  tendency  in  his  day.  He  was  the  third  in  a  line  of  ministers, 
the  Mayhews  of  Martha's  Vineyard,  who  labored  for  the  conversion 
of  the  Indians  upon  that  island.  His  father,  Rev.  E.xperience 
Mayhew,  A.M.,  is  described  as  a  man  of  great  independence  and 
vigor  of  mind,  writing  against  the  extreme  Calvinistic  tenets  in  a 
volume  entitled  Grace  Defended,  and  also  conducting  a  controversy 
with  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson,  President  of  Princeton  College,  New 
Jersey,  against  necessity. 

Jonathan  Mayhew  was  regarded  as  unsound  in  his  theological  opin- 
ions at  the  time  of  his  settlement,  on  which  account  some  of  his 
ministerial  brethren  refused  to  participate  in  the  services  of  that 
occasion.  Dr.  Bradford  says,  "  He  early  gave  his  views  on  most  of 
the  doctrines  then  called  orthodox,  and  expressed  his  opinions  with 
unwonted  clearness  and  decision.*  He  was  accustomed  to  speak 
out  his  sentiments  freely,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  ridicule  many 
things  which  had  long  been  held  as  sacred  by  the  Church.  It  was 
to  him,  doubtless,  that  Bellamy  referred  when  he  said,  "  Come  from 
New  Hampshire  along  to  Boston,  and  see  there  a  celebrated  doctor 
of  divinity  at  the  head  of  a  large  party!  He  boldly  ridicules  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  denies  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  alone,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  country  in  his  Book  of  Ser- 
mons!' 

He  was  a  man  of  extensive  personal  acquaintance,  numbering 
among  his  intimate  friends  Hons.  John  Hancock,  John  Winthrop, 
for  forty-one  years  Professor  in  Harvard  College  ;  Stephen  Sewall, 
Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts;  Samuel  Adams,  James  Otis,  James 
Bowdoin,  Rev.  Oxenbridge  Thatcher,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  John 
Adams,  Samuel  Dexter,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Appleton,  D.D.,  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  many  others.  Among  his  correspondents  in  Great 
Britain  were  such  names  as  Lardner,  Benson,  Kippis,  Blackburne 
and  HoUis.  In  this  wide  circle  Dr.  Mayhew  exerted  a  powerful 
influence,  contributing  more  than  any  other  American  clergyman  in 
his  lifetime  to  spread  "liberal  sentiments."  His  enthusiastic 
biographer  says,  "  By  the  influence  of  his  elevated  theological 
views  a  new  era  commenced  in  the  Christian  Church  among  the 
descendants  of  the  Puritans.     And  from  his  day  men  have  no  longer 

*  Memoir,  p.  25. 


208  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

been  obliged  to  discard  reason  to  be  religious,  either  as  to  their  belief 
or  practice."  * 

Dr.  Bradford  also  sheds  some  light  upon 

The  Character  of  the  Movement. 

He  says  that  at  this  early  period  "  It  was  not  wanton  nor  extrav- 
agant," although  it  was  strong  and  decided.  It  did  not  boldly  assert 
itself,  except  in  opposition  to  Whitefield,  yet  it  was  quietly  work- 
ing. The  more  liberal  clergy  of  that  period  "  bowed  as  reverently 
as  ever  before  the  majesty  of  divine  truth,  accepting  and  advocat- 
ing zealously  and  ably  the  moral  government  of  God,  his  overruling 
providence,  and  many  other  cardinal  doctrines,  while  they  either 
denied  or  doubted  the  Trinity,  total  depravity,  personal  election 
and  reprobation  irrespective  of  moral  character,  miraculous  and 
instantaneous  conversion,  the  inability  of  man  to  become  religious 
without  special  and  irresistible  grace,"  etc. 

As  yet  only  "  a  few  had  either  expressly  denied  or  openly 
opposed  these  doctrines."  "  But  many  refrained  from  inculcating 
them,  without  denying  man's  moral  freedom  or  accountability,  or 
endeavoring  to  show  that  the  trinitarian  tenet,  as  they  held  it,  was 
not  inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  unity.  These  were 
called  "  Arminians,"  or  "  moderate  Calvinists,"  and  "  Arians,"  or 
"  semi-Arians,"  as  they  deviated  more  or  less  from  the  orthodox  or 
Calvinistic  creed.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  approached  with 
caution  and  reluctance,  for  most  considered  it  of  difficult  interpreta- 
tion, and  as  involved  in  mystery  which  could  not  be  fully  explained 
or  comprehended,  and  had,  therefore,  better  not  be  discussed  ;  and 
thus  they  contented  themselves  with  the  phraseology  of  the  Script- 
ures on  the  subject.  That  of  total  depravity,  and  others  flowing 
from  it  or  connected  with  it  were  more  openly  opposed."! 

The  controversy  in  regard  to  the  Trinity  came  on  at  a  later 
period.  It  was  not  openly  debated  until  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century.  So  great  was  the  impulse  given  to  the  new  theo- 
logical tendencies  by  the  spirit  of  freedom  in  inquiry  which  per- 
vaded the  literary  circles  of  England,  and  also  by  the  bold  and  able 
leadership  of  Mayhew,  that  it  has  been  said  that  the  rupture  in 
the  New  England  churches  would  have  occurred  thirty  or  forty 
years  earlier  than  it  did  had  not  the  exciting  topics  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary period  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  people. 

*  \femotr.     Preface,  p.  i. 

^  Memoir  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  D.D.      By  Alden    Bradford,    LL.D.      Boston,  C.  C. 
Little  &  Co.,  1838.     P.  33. 


RESTORATIONISM.  209 

Section  5.— Inception  of  UniYersalism. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  leaven  of  Unitarianism  was  silently- 
working,  another,  and,  in  some  respects,  very  similar  movement  was 
going  on,  which  was  also  destined,  in  due  time,  to  attract  attention. 

The  origin  of  Universalism  in  America  has  generally  been 
traced  to  Rev.  John  Murray,  who  landed  in  this  country  in  1770, 
But  a  careful  observation  of  the  field,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
will  afford  evidence,  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  of 
the  existence  of  tendencies,  entirely  independent  of  any  influence 
which  Mr.  Murray  exerted,  toward  the  adoption,  in  some 
form,  of  the  doctrine  of  the  final  salvation  of  all  men.  It  was  a 
revulsion  from  the  old  and  repulsive  dogmas  of  "  High  Calvin- 
ism." The  writings  of  Siegvolck,  Whitby,  Law,  and  other  Euro- 
pean authors  abound  in  traces  of  that  sentiment.  In  1741  Dr. 
George  De  Benneville,  a  refugee  from  persecution  in  Europe, 
appeared  in  Germantown,  Pa.,  and  became  extensively  and 
favorably  known  as  a  skillful  physician  and  a  lay  preacher.  Occa- 
sionally, for  many  years,  he  made  extensive  tours  through  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  preaching  the  doctrine  of  the  final 
restoration  of  all  men  to  holiness  and  happiness.  In  1753  an  edi- 
tion of  Paul  Siegvolck's  Everlasting  Gospel  was  published  in  Ger- 
mantown, in  which  the  doctrine  of  restorationism  was  inculcated. 
In  this  place  there  was  a  society  of  German  Baptists,  descendants 
from  the  Anabaptists  of  Germany,  who  held  those  sentiments. 
Rev.  Philip  Clarke,  rector  of  St.  Philip's  Church,  Charleston,  S.  C, 
1754-1759,  was  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation. 
It  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  this  doctrine  to  be  preached  by 
the  Virginia  clergy  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  Rev.  Mr. 
Yancy,  of  Louisa,  published  a  sermon  on  the  subject,  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Talley,  of  Gloucester,  Va.,  also  inculcated  it.* 

In  the  old  churches  of  New  England  the  same  tendency  existed. 
Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  D.D.,  of  Boston  (1747-1766)  preached  the 
doctrine  of  the  final  restoration  of  all  men  to  holiness  and  happiness.f 
Rev.  Charles  Chauncy.  D.D..  of  Boston  (1727-1787).  wrote  a 
book  entitled.  The  Mystery  Hid  from  Ages;  or,  the  Salvation  of 
All  Men  the  Grand  Thing  Aimed  at  in  the  Scheme  of  God,  in  which 
the  doctrine  of  restorationism  was  advocated.  It  was  not  pub- 
lished until  1784.  but  it  was  written  more  than  twenty  years  before, 
and   shows  the  tendency  of  religious  inquiry  in  the  middle  of  the 

*Old  Families.  Ministers,  and  Churches  of  Virginia.   By  Bishop  William  Meade.  VoL  I,  p.  183. 
t  See  Sermon  on  "  The  Goodness  «if  God,"  published  in  1762. 
14 


210  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

century.  The  delay  in  the  publication  of  the  volume  has  been 
attributed  to  the  extreme  cautiousness  of  Dr.  Chauncy.* 

Rev.  Joseph  Huntington,  D.D., 

of  Coventry,  Conn.  (1763- 1794),  a  clergyman  in  the  Congregational 
Church,  is  another  striking  example  of  this  tendency.  According 
to  Rev.  Abiel  Abbott,  D.D.,  he  was  one  of  the  most  popular 
preachers  of  his  day,  a  man  of  superior  talents,  a  laborious  student, 
and  at  one  time  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. During  his  lifetime  he  sometimes  introduced  in  public  and 
private  discourses  inquiries  in  reference  to  the  final  salvation  of  all 
men  ;  but  at  his  death  a  manuscript  volume,t  entitled  Calvinism 
Improved,  was  found  among  his  papers,  containing  a  vigorous 
defense  of  the  doctrine  of  the  salvation  of  all  men  in  the  article  of 
death.  In  the  preface  the  author  says  that  this  volume  was 
'•  a  small  part  of  a  system  of  divinity  which  he  had  been  meditating 
for  more  than  twenty  years,"  showing  that  as  early  as  about  1770, 
his  mind  had  adopted  those  views. 

Drs.  Huntington  and  Chauncy  agreed  in  recognizing  the  literal 
resurrection  of  the  body  and  the  future  general  judgment.  Dr. 
Huntington  denied  all  future  misery,  but  Dr.  Chauncy  held  to 
future  punishment,  in  its  strict  penal  form,  "  for  ages  of  ages,"  in  a 
local  hell  and  in  literal  fire.  The  latter  wholly  revolted  from  the 
old  doctrine  of  predestination,  but  the  former  construed  it  so  as  to 
embrace  all  men  among  the  elect.  Dr.  Chauncy  held  to  Arian 
views  of  depravity  and  atonement,  but  Dr.  Huntington  accepted 
the  "  evangelical  "  doctrines,  except  in  regard  to  the  salvation  of 
all  men. 

Three  Other  Preachers  of  Universalism 

appeared  before  the  American  public  about  the  time  of  Mr.  Mur- 
ray— Revs.  Adam  Streeter,  Caleb  Rich,  and  Thomas  Barnes.     Mr. 

*  Dr.  Bradford  in  his  Memoir  of  Afayhew,  said  :  "  When  Dr.  Chauncy  had  written  on  the  finaJ 
salvation  of  all  men,  which  he  chose  not  to  publish  for  many  years  after  the  work  was  prepared 
for  the  press,  he  showed  it  to  Dr.  Gay  and  a  few  other  particular  friends.  Dr.  Gay  inquired  if 
Dr.  Mayhew  had  seen  it.  "  No,"  said  Dr.  Chauncy  ;  "  he  cannot  keep  a  secret.  I  am  not  yet 
ready  to  determine  to  publish  it ;  but  if  he  sees  it,  such  is  his  frankness  that  all  the  world  will 
soon  know  it." 

tThis  volume  was  published  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Huntington's  will,  in  1796,  in  New  Lon- 
don, Conn.,  by  Samuel  Green  (8vo).  "  It  had  but  a  limited  circulation,  much  the  greater  part 
of  the  edition  being  consigned  to  the  flames  by  one  of  his  daughters,  a  lady  of  rare  excellence, 
who  loved  simple  Calvinism  better  than  Calvinism  Improved,  and  whose  regard  for  orthodoxy 
seems  to  have  been  an  overmatch  for  her  filial  reverence."  See  Sprague's  Annals  0/ the  American 
Pulpit.     Vol.  I,  p.  604. 

In  1796  Rev.  Nathan  Strong,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Hartford,  Conn., 
replied  to  Dr.  Huntington's  volume,  in  a  i2mo  book  of  408  pages. 


RE  V.  JOHN  MURRA  V.  211 

Streeter  was  an  ordained  minister  of  the  Baptist  denomination,  and 
on  becoming  a  Universalist  he  proclaimed  his  new  opinions  very 
freely  in  various  parts  of  New  England.  He  died  in  Smithfield, 
R.  I.,  September  22,  1786.  Mr.  Rich  joined  the  Baptist  church 
in  Warwick,  N.  H.,  in  1771,  but  soon  became  a  Universalist,  and 
preached  those  doctrines  for  many  years.  Mr.  Barnes  was  an  early 
convert  of  Mr.  Rich,  and  subsequently  became  the  founder  of 
Universalism  in  Maine.  These  three  preachers  had  never  seen  or 
heard  of  Rev.  John  Murray  when  they  adopted  these  views. 

Such  were  some  of  the  first  outcroppings  of  a  revulsion  from 
Calvinism,*  which  soon  became  more  general.  In  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  the  revolt  was  in  the  direction  of  Unitarian  and 
Universalist  ideas  ;  in  the  Regular  Baptist  Church  it  took  two 
directions — toward  Universalism  and  the  Frce-Will  Baptist  move- 
ment, the  latter  denomination  having  its  origin  in  1780,  in  the 
midst  of  this  revulsion. 

In  1770  Mr.  Murray  landed  in  this  country  and  immediately 
made  the  doctrine  of  the  final  salvation  of  all  men  the  special  topic 
of  his  preaching,  traveling  extensively  and  organizing  those  who 
accepted  these  views.  He  thus  gave  to  them  the  form  of  a  denom- 
ination and  acquired  the  title  of  the  founder  of  Universalism. 

*A1I  of  the  first  preachers  of  Universalism  were  of  Calvinistic  antecedents.  Murray  himself  was 
a  Calvinistic  Methodist,  of  the  school  of  Whitefield  and  Lady  Huntington,  and  so  was  Rev. 
Thomas  Jones,  his  successor,  in  Gloucester,  Mass.  Messrs.  Streeter,  Rich  and  Elhanan  Win- 
chester were  Reg^ular  Baptists.  In  later  periods.  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  and  his  nephew,  Hosea 
Ballou,  second,  D.D.,  Adin  Ballou,  Walter  Balfour,  Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.D.,  Abner  Kneeland,  and 
many  others  were  Baptists,  reared  under  strong  Calvinistic  influences. 


212 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


MORALS. 


Sec.  I.  The  Drinking  Habits. 
"  2.  Sabbath  Observance.. 
*'  3.  Unchastity,  Lotteries. 
"      4.  Superstitions. 


Sec.  5.  Indentured  Servitude. 
"     6.  African  Slavery. 
"      7.  Anti-Slavery. 


WE  have  noticed  the  influence  of  the  licentious  and  debauched 
court  of  Charles  II.  among  Engh'sh  people  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  the  infusion , into  the  colonial  population  of  new  classes 
of  immigrants,  not  actuated,  like  the  first  settlers,  by  high  religious 
motives,  but  chiefly  by  secular  aims,  and  also  paupers  and  criminals 
from  work-houses  and  jails.  The  corruption  of  manners,  working 
downward  through  English  society  during  the  reigns  of  William 
III.,  Queen  Anne  and  the  first  two  Georges,  extended  to  American 
shores,  changing  the  moral  aspects  of  the  people.  In  the  first  third 
of  the  eighteenth  century  this  deterioration  was  very  apparent. 


Section  J?.— The  Drinking  Habits 

in  the  first  century  were  very  moderate.  Subsequently  they  were 
intensified,  though  they  did  not  reach  their  greatest  virulence  until 
the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century.  West  India  rum  was  intro- 
duced in  connection  with  the  trade  with  those  islands;  but  the 
manufacture  of  rum  in  New  England  in  1700,  reducing  the  price,  led 
to  its  more  general  use.  In  the  period  preceding  the  Edwardian 
revival  there  was  much  hard  drinking;  but  darker  days  followed. 

"  It  is  easy  to  praise  the  fathers  of  New  England,"  says  Theodore  Parker  ; 
"  easier  to  praise  them  for  virtues  they  did  not  possess  than  to  discriminate  and  fairly 
judge  those  remarkable  men.  .  .  .  Let  me  men'ion  a  fact  or  two.  It  is  recorded 
in  the  probate  office  that  in  1678,  at  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Mary  Norton,  widow  of 
tne  celebrated  John  Norton,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  First  Church,  in  Boston, 
fifty-one  gallons  and  a  half  of  the  best  Malaga  wine  were  consumed  by  the  mourn- 
ers. In  1685.  at  the  funeral  of  Rev.  Thomas  Cobbett,  minister  of  Ipswich,  there 
were  consumed  one  barrel  of  wine  and  two  barrels  of  cider;  and,  'as  it  was  cold,' 


DRUNKENNESS  PREVALENT.  213 

there  were  '  some  spice  and  ginger  for  the  cider.'  You  may  easily  judge  of  the 
drunkenness  and  riot  on  occasions  less  solemn  than  the  funeral  of  an  old  beloved 
minister.  Towns  provided  intoxicating  drinks  at  the  funeral  of  their  paupers.  In 
Salem,  in  1728,  at  the  funeral  of  a  pauper,  a  gallon  of  wine  and  another  of  cider 
are  charged  as  'incidentals  ; '  the  next  year  six  gallons  of  wine  on  a  similar  occa- 
sion. In  Lynn,  in  171 1,  the  town  furnished  *  half  a  barrel  of  cider  for  the  widow 
Despau's  funeral.'  Affairs  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  in  1742  the  General  Court 
forbade  the  use  of  wine  and  rum  at  funerals."* 

Among  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  who  settled  in  London- 
derry, N.  H.,  about  1719,  drinking  habits  became  quite  as  bad  as  in 
other  localities.  In  allusion  to  their  inflexible  adherence  to  their 
creed,  and  their  social  irregularities  on  festive  occasions,  it  was  com- 
monly said,  "  The  Derry  Presbyterians  never  gave  up  'a  pint  of 
doctrine  *  or  a  pint  of  rum."  The  "  Derry  Festival,"  introduced 
and  kept  up  for  many  years,  was  "a  sort  of  Protestant  carnival,"  "a 
wild,  drinking,  horse-racing,  frolicking  merry-making,  at  which  strong 
drink  abounded."  Those  who  good-naturedly  wrestled  and  joked 
in  the  morning  not  infrequently  closed  the  day  with  a  fight.  Will- 
iam Stack,  in  describing  his  ancestors,  the  first  settlers  of  Amoskeag 

Falls,  says ; 

Of  the  goodly  men  of  old  Dcrryfield, 
It  was  often  said  that  their  only  care. 
And  their  only  wish  and  their  only  prayer. 
For  the  present  world  and  the  world  to  come, 
Was  a  string  of  eels  and  a  jug  of  rum. 

Rev.  Mr.  Wildman,  of  Southbury,  Conn.,  was  accustomed  to 
sharp  sparring  with  Rev.  Dr.  Bellamy,  of  Bethlehem.  One  day  Mr. 
Wildman  asked  Dr.  Bellamy  what  to  do  to  get  the  people  out  to 
meeting:  "  Put  a  barrel  of  rum  under  your  pulpit,"  said  Belamy. 
"  I  am  afraid  I  should  have  half  of  the  church  of  Bethlehem  down 
here  on  Sunday,"  replied  Wildman.  An  old  minister,  in  a  fast  day 
sermon  in  1775,  said: 

Vast  numbers,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  are  given  to  intemperance,  so 
that  it  is  a  common  thing  to  see  drunken  women  as  well  as  drunken  men,  and  I 
fear  that  many  of  our  youth  are  training  up  for  rank  drunkards. 

The  Consistory  of  Schenectady  supplied  their  dominie  liberally 
with  wood,  the  parishioners  making  "a  bee,"  on  the  occasion  of  cut- 
ting it  up,  which  sometimes  lasted  two  or  three  days.  The  old 
church  records  (January  16,  1748)  show  a  charge  for  "  five  gallons  of 
rum  and  a  half  gallon  of  wine  for  the  Dominie  s  bee."     These  charges 

*  speeches.  Addresses  and  Occasional  Sermons,  by  Theodore  Parker,  pp.  34I-397-  Boston, 
Horace  B.  Fuller,  publisher.   187 1. 


214  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

are  repeated  year  after  year.  On  funeral  occasions  no  woman 
attended  the  body  to  the  grave,  but  after  the  corpse  was  carried 
out  they  remained  to  eat  cakes  and  drink  spiced  wine.  The  women 
retired  before  the  men  returned,  who  resumed  the  feast  and  regaled 
themselves.  Spiced  wine,  cakes  and  pies  were  provided,  and  wine 
and  cakes  were  sent  to  the  friends  of  the  family.  Wealthy  citizens, 
in  anticipation  of  a  death  in  the  family,  were  accustomed  to  procure 
a  cask  of  wine  during  their  lifetime  and  preserve  it  for  this  pur- 
pose. Whole  pipes  of  wine  and  several  hogsheads  of  beer  were 
consumed  at  single  funerals  in  New  York.  In  Pennsylvania  punch 
and  cake  in  large  quantities  were  provided  on  such  occasions.  The 
cost  of  wine  for  one  funeral  in  Virginia  exceeded  4,cx>d  pounds  of 
tobacco.  These  customs  extended  as  far  south  as  the  Carolinas,  and 
the  dissipation  was  so  great  that  here  and  there  individuals  pro- 
tested against  it. 

The  drinking  habits  of  all  classes,  ministers  included,  hung  like  a  dead-weight 
upon  the  churches.  Ordinations  were  seasons  of  festivity  in  which  copious  drink- 
ing had  a  large  share,  and  an  ordination  ball  often  ended  the  occasion.  Not  very 
far  from  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  several  councils  were  held  in  one  of  the 
towns  of  Massachusetts  where  the  people  were  trying  to  be  rid  of  a  minister  who 
was  often  the  worse  for  liquor  even  in  the  pulpit,  and  once  at  least  at  the  com- 
munion table;  but  some  of  the  neighboring  ministers  stood  by  him,  and  the  people 
had  to  endure  him  till  his  death.* 


Section  ^.— SabTDath.  CbserYance. 

In  the  first  century  of  colonial  history  the  Sabbath  laws  were 
very  stringent,  many  of  which  have  reached  our  day  and  are  so 
familiar  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  relate  them.  There  were  also, 
for  a  time,  many  peculiarly  strict  customs  of  Sabbath  observance  in 
most  of  the  colonies.  In  New  England  the  Sabbath  began  at  sun- 
set on  Saturday,  but  labor  usually  ceased  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  the  time  was  generally  spent  in  catechizing  and  pre- 
paring for  the  Sabbath.  Little  food  was  cooked  on  the  Lord's  day 
and  no  labor  but  the  most  necessary  was  done.  A  lunch  of  plain 
bread  was  the  mid-day  repast  at  the  church  on  Sunday.  But  after 
the  long  day,  two  long  walks  to  and  from  the  sanctuary,  and 
two  long  services,  a  more  carefully  prepared  meal  was  deemed 
necessary. 

*  Centennial  Discourse  by  Rev.  I.  N.  Tarbox,  D.D.     1876.     Minutes  0/  General  Association 
of  Massachusetts,  1876,  p.  42. 


SABBATH  OBSERVANCE.  215 

When  the  master  of  a  Dutch  ship  sailed  into  Boston  Harbor,  on 
Sunday,  and  fired  four  shots,  he  was  fined  forty  shillings  a  shot. 
When  it  was  found  that  none  of  his  crew  could  speak  English  the 
penalty  was  remitted  to  forty  shillings  in  all.  The  Indians  hardly 
knew  what  to  make  of  the  Sunday  laws,  and  when  asked  if  they 
would  refrain  from  working  on  the  Sabbath  in  Christian  towns  they 
answered,  "  It  is  very  easy  for  us ;  we  have  not  much  to  do  any  day, 
and  we  can  well  rest  on  that  day."  The  punishment  for  violating 
the  Sabbath  was  usually  a  fine  of  thirty  shillings  and  to  sit  one  hour 
in  the  stocks. 

An  ancient  document  written  in  Danvers,  Mass.,  in  1713,  gives 
an  interesting  case  of  Sabbath  scruples,  which  were  strangely  com- 
mon in  those  days : 

When  ye  services  at  ye  house  were  ended,  ye  Council  and  other  dignitaries  were 
entertained  at  ye  House  of  Mr.  Epes,  on  the  hill  near  by,  and  we  had  a  bountiful 
table,  with  Bear's  meat  and  venison,  the  last  of  which  was  from  a  fine  Buck  shot  in 
the  woods  near  by.  Ye  bear  was  killed  in  Lynn  Woods  near  Reading.  After  ye 
blessing  was  craved  by  Mr.  Garrish,  of  Wentham,  word  came  that  ye  Buck  was 
shot  on  ye  Lord's  day  by  Pequot,  an  Indian.  Like  Ananias  of  old,  ye  council, 
therefore,  refused  to  eat  of  ye  venison,  but  it  was  aftervvard  agreed  that  Pequot 
should  receive  40  stripes  save  one  for  lying  and  profaning  the  Lord's  day,  restore 
Mr.  Epes  the  cost  of  ye  deer;  and  considering  this  a  just  and  righteous  sentence  on 
ye  sinful  Heathen,  and  that  a  blessing  had  been  craved  on  ye  meat,  ye  council  all 
partook  ot  it  but  Mr,  Shepard,  whose  conscience  was  tender  on  ye  point  of 
venison. 

Work  and  recreation  were  forbidden  on  Thanksgiving  and  Fast 
days.  Sabbath  observance  was  under  strict  surveillance,  and  any 
one  had  a  right  to  stop  a  traveler  on  the  Sabbath.  After  bells 
came  into  use,  the  church  bell,  which  on  other  evenings  was  rung 
at  nine  o'clock,  was  rung  on  Saturday  evenings  at  eight  o'clock,  and 
persons  out  after  that  hour  were  liable  to  be  arrested  for  Sabbath 
desecration. 

The  reaction  in  morals  after  the  great  revival  under  Edwards  has 
been  mentioned.  But  before  that  awakening  a  strong  and  general 
downward  tendency  was  very  apparent,  and  the  revival  only  slightly 
and  temporarily  checked  it.  Edwards,  referring  to  the  previous 
period,  said,  "  The  Sabbath  was  extensively  profaned  and  the  decorum 
of  the  sanctuary  not  unfrequently  disturbed."  In  the  Province  of 
Maryland,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Lord's 
day  was  generally  profaned.  In  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Virginia  the  Sabbath  was  more  seriously  disregarded  than 
in  New  England. 


216  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Attendance  Upon  Public  Worship 

was  rigidly  enforced  at  first  in  the  middle  colonies,  as  well  as  in 
New  England,  the  local  laws  being  based  upon  current  English 
statutes. 

The  difference  between  the  legislation  of  Massachusetts  and  England  in  this 
respect  is  illustrated  by  the  statute  of  1692.  compared  with  that  of  the  ".ist  Eliz.," 
in  England.  By  the  first  of  these  a  man  absenting  himself  from  public  worship 
on  the  Lord's  day  for  a  month  was  liable  to  a  fine,  to  be  imposed  by  the  civil  court. 
By  that  of  Elizabeth  he  was  forbidden  to  absent  himself  from  church,  "  on  pain 
of  punishment  by  the  censures  of  the  Church,  and  also  on  pain  of  forfeiting  "  a 
certain  sum  of  money.  One  was  an  injury  and  dishonor  to  the  Church,  which  the 
State  punished  conjointly  with  the  Church  ;  the  other  was  a  violation  of  a  State 
law,  of  which  the  State,  by  its  officers,  alone  took  cognizance. 

Very  few  were  excused  from  attendance  upon  church.  The 
family  went  to  church  '*  bodily,"  though  one  or  more  remained  at 
home — the  very  aged  and  infirm,  the  sick  and  those  caring  for  them, 
and  not  unfrequently  some  younger  and  active  member,  to  see  that 
the  piemises  were  protected,  that  the  cattle  and  other  animals  did 
not  break  away  nor  harm  growing  crops.  The  stay-at-homes  were 
few.  Absentees  from  the  sanctuary  were  looked  after.  In  some  sec- 
tions officers  were  appointed,  each  of  whom  had  the  inspection  of 
ten  families,  to  see  that  every  one  went  to  church.  Sometimes  two 
officials  walked  the  fields  in  search  of  non-worshipers,  who,  if  unable 
to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  themselves,  were  reported  to  the 
magistrates.  In  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  attend- 
ance upon  public  worship  was  so  rigidly  enforced,  that  persons  stand- 
ing outside  of  the  "  meeting-house  "  during  divine  service  were  set 
in  the  stocks.  Inn-keepers  were  obliged  to  clear  their  houses  of  all 
persons  able  to  go  to  meeting,  excepting  strangers  in  town.  All 
absentees  without  good  excuse  were  fined.  During  the  eighteenth 
century  these  customs  lost  much  of  their  rigidity,  especially  in  the 
larger  towns  and  the  new  settlements. 

In  comparing  church  attendance  in  these  early  times  with  that 
of  the  present  day,  as  indicating  the  relative  condition  of  morals 
in  the  two  periods,  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  attend- 
ance in  our  days  is  purely  voluntary,  and,  therefore,  a  moral 
act ;  but  in  the  olden  times  it  was  enforced  under  heavy  pen- 
alties, and  consequently  largely  void  of  moral  qualities.  As 
late  as  1740- 1750,  persons  in  Boston  were  fined  for  non-attend- 
ance upon  public  worship.  This  law  continued  on  the  statute- 
book  of  Massachusetts  as  late  as  1820,  and  the  habit  of  church 
attendance  which  had  been  inwrought  in  the  communities  by  such 


ATTENDANCE  AT  CHURCH.  217 

protracted  discipline  conserved  attendance  upon  worship  long  after 
the  statute  ceased  to  be  enforced.  It  was,  probably,  not  enforced 
after  1775,  and  very  much  neglected  in  large  areas  after  1750. 

In  the  year  1776  there  were  353*  churches  of  all  denominations 
in  Massachusetts,  in  a  population  of  295,080,  or  one  church  for  835 
inhabitants.  In  1876  there  were  1,884  churches,  or  one  for  876  per- 
sons. But  the  churches  of  our  day  are,  as  a  whole,  several  times 
larger  than  those  of  the  former  period.  As  to  the  apparent  emp- 
tiness of  the  churches  in  these  days,  to  which  there  is  frequent 
allusion,  it  is  a  just  query  whether,  if  the  audiences  of  1776  were 
put  into  the  churches  of  our  day,  there  would  not  be  as  much  empty 
space.  And  yet  their  churches  were,  relatively  to  the  population, 
as  numerous  as  ours.  Such  discrimination  is  necessary  in  forming  a 
judgment  in  regard  to  church  attendance  in  the  two  periods. 


Section  5.— IJncliastity— Lotteries. 

The  character  of  the  early  settlers  and  their  first  descendants  in 
respect  to  chastity  has  doubtless  been  greatly  overrated.  We  find 
Jonathan  Edwards  describing  the  moral  condition  of  Northamp- 
ton, Mass.,  near  the  beginning  of  his  ministry  in  that  place,  saying 
that  "  licentiousness  for  some  years  has  greatly  prevailed  among  the 
youth."  This  is  believed  to  have  been  a  fair  sample  of  many  New 
England  towns  ;  while  the  average  morality  in  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  some  other  sections,  was  even  lower,  not  having  so  many  con- 
serving elements  as  New  England.  The  clergy  of  the  Virginia  Col- 
ony, following  the  style  of  many  in  England,  were  morally  low,  and 
the  people  lower  still.  Bishop  Meade  said,  "  As  to  the  unworthy 
hirelino-  clergy  of  the  colony,  there  was  no  ecclesiastical  discipline 
to  correct  or  punish  their  irregularities  and  vices."  In  the  Province 
of  Maryland,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  in 
the  eighteenth  century  also,  "  all  notorious  vices  were  committed, 
so  that  it  had  become  a  Sodom  of  uncleanliness  and  a  pest-house 
of  iniquity."  "  The  clergy  were  remarkable  for  their  laxity  of 
morals  and  scandalous  behavior."  In  the  forty  years  following  the 
establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  as  the  State  Church,  in 
Mar>'land,  in  1692,  there  was  no  improvement,  but  rather  a  decline, 
as  letters  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  quoted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks, 
fully  show.  _ 

♦Congregational,  289;  Baptist,  38  ;  Episcopal,  12;  Quaker,  10;  Presbyterian,  4. 


2  18  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  Consociation  of  Litchfield  County,  Conn.,  in  its  address  to 
the  churches  in  1752,  deplored  the  low  state  of  religion  and  morals, 
the  want  of  family  government,  the  neglect  of  family  prayer,  the 
profanation  of  the  Sabbath,  intemperance,  licentiousness,  rioting, 
wantoning,  cheating,  extortion,  etc.,  which  like  a  deluge  overflowed 
the  land.  It  called  upon  the  churches  to  stop  the  abominations 
committed  on  ordination  occasions,  in  the  form  of  ordination  balls, 
"  frolicking  at  ordinations,"  etc. 

In  other  respects  the  morals  in  the  churches  were  low.  "  A  sen- 
tence," says  Dr.  I.  N.  Tarbox,  "  from  the  Andover  Manual,  (Mass.,) 
shows  the  real  condition  of  the  churches  in  the  last  century.  We 
are  told,  as  part  of  the  history  of  that  Church,  that  '  the  chief  causes 
of  discipline,  for  125  years,  were  fornication  and  drunkenness.* 
And  the  writer  adds,  *  He  who  investigates  the  records  of  this 
or  any  other  church  for  the  same  period  will  be  astonished  at  the 
prevalence  of  these  vices  as  compared  with  the  present  time.' 
To  find  such  items,  however,  we  must,  as  a  general  rule,  go  to  those 
records  which  yet  remain  in  manuscript." 

The  historian  of  a  small  town  within  twenty  miles  of  Boston 
said,  "  I  carefully  examined  the  records  of  the  parish  church  and 
found  numerous  instances  of  discipline  on  account  of  maternity  too 
soon  after  matrimony.  The  usual  course  of  discipline  in  the 
church  was  to  require  such  persons  to  make  a  confession, 
before  again  receiving  the  communion.  There  were  twenty-six 
cases  in  twelve  jears  in  that  church."  Such  offenses  were  gen- 
erally more  common  then  than  now,  as  might  be  demonstrated  by 
the  citation  of  numerous  testimonies. 

The  mode  of  courtship  known  as  "bundling"  or  "tarrying" 
then  prevalent  in  certain  portions  of  New  England,  and  which  deli- 
cacy forbids  us  to  explain,  doubtless  promoted  unchastity.  It  was 
brought  over  by  some  of  the  early  emigrants,  and  strangely  flour- 
ised  side  by  side  with  Puritan  morals  through  a  considerable  part 
of  the  colonial  era.  Such  is  the  power  of  traditional  custom. 
Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards  boldly  assailed  it  and  met  formidable 
opposition  among  his  people.  Besides  the  Connecticut  valley,  it 
prevailed  in  Pennsylvania  among  people  of  English  and  German 
extract,  and  in  some  sea-coast  towns. 

Lotteries. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  this  form  of  gambling,  now  so 
strongly  disapproved  and  so  rapidly  passing  away  under  the  ban 
of  Christian  sentiment,  could  have  had  so  general  and  high  recogni- 


LOTTERIES.  219 

tion  a  century  and  a  half  ago  in  New  England.  In  March,  1744, 
lotteries  were  officially  authorized  in  Massachusetts;  in  1757  the 
town  of  Boston  instituted  a  lottery  to  raise  money  to  pay  for 
paving  the  streets;  in  1763  Faneuil  Hall  was  repaired  by  the  aid 
of  a  public  lottery  ;  in  June,  1771,  there  was  an  extensive  drawing 
of  lottery  prizes  in  the  same  building;  and  in  1803  the  sign  of 
the  horn  of  plenty  was  adopted  as  a  symbol  over  the  doors  of 
houses  where  lotteries  were  held. 


Section  4.— StLperstitions. 

Superstitions  were  rife.  The  witchcraft  delusions  have  passed 
fully  into  history.  They  were  not,  however,  peculiar  to  the  Amer- 
ican colonies.  Indeed,  they  only  slightly  existed  here,  as  compared 
with  the  older  countries  across  the  Atlantic,  where  tens  of  thou- 
sands, during  the  century  from  1620-1720  were  put  to  death  as 
witches.  But  the  affair  at  Salem,  Mass.,  was  a  grievous  matter  and 
the  action  of  the  civil  powers  a  gross  offense,  though  they  treated  the 
cases  more  leniently  than  they  were  treated  by  the  best  jurists  in  the 
Old  World.  All  through  the  eighteenth  century  strange  supersti- 
tions abounded.  What  stories  have  reached  us  of  Captain  Kidd's 
hidden  treasures  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  for  which  numerous 
deluded  parties  digged  !  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe's  Old-Town  Folks  gives 
a  clear  view  of  some  of  the  superstitions  of  the  last  century.  Witch- 
hazel  and  sweet  apple  rods  were  supposed  by  many  to  have  a  mar- 
velous virtue;  but  these  were  only  smaller  specimens*  of  current 

delusions. 

In  Boylston,  Mass.,  about  thirty  persons  from  that  and  the  adjoin- 
ing towns,  on  the  impulse  and  authority  of  dreams,  began  to  dig 
on^'the  lands  of  Nathaniel  Davenport.  Esq.,  continuing  their  labors 
for  several  weeks,  excavating  to  the  depth  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  and 
forty  feet  in  circumference.     The   labor  was  principally  performed 

*The  following  advertisement  in  the  Connecticut  Gazette  (New  Haven),  October  i,  1757, 
•will  show  the  superstition  of  that  period  : 

To  BE  Sold  by  the  Printers  Hereof. 

A  True  and  Wonderful  Relation  of  the  appearance 

Of  Three  Angels 

(Clothed  in  white  raiment)  to  a  Young  Man  in  Medford,  in  New  England,  at  night  :-together 

with   the  substance  of  the  Discourse,  delivered  by  one  of  the  Angels,  from  the  3d  Chapter  of 

Colos.  and  the  4th  Verse.  ... 

The  Public  may  depend  that  the  above  Narrative  is  no  imposition,  but  that  it  is  a  true  account 
as  related  by  the  young  man  himself  to  numbers  of  people,  many  of  whom  can  attest  he  is  a 
person  of  good  character. 


220  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

in  moonlight  evenings,  with  a  table  on  the  ground,  with  an  open 
Bible  and  a  rusty  sword  upon  it,  one  man  sitting  upon  the  bank, 
with  sweet  apple  or  witch-hazel  rods  in  his  hands,  to  inform  the 
working  men  in  what  particular  spot  the  money  was.  As  it  was 
believed  the  money  had  the  power  of  locomotion  it  was  uncertain 
whether  it  would  remain  stationary  for  any  length  of  time.  This 
money,  for  what  reason  is  unknown,  was  supposed  by  these  credu- 
lous and  avaricious  fortune-hunters  to  have  been  placed  there  by 
pirates,  and  that  some  person  was  murdered  and  buried  there  to 
take  care  of  it.  To  appease  the  spirit  of  this  person,  a  dove  was 
one  day  procured  and  bled  over  the  spot  where  the  money  was  sup- 
posed to  be,  and  the  blood  was  sprinkled  around  the  excavation. 
Profound  silence  was  believed  to  be  a  sine  qua  non  in  obtaining  the 
treasure.  One  man  while  at  work  alone  in  the  evening  struck  the 
point  of  his  bar,  as  he  reported,  under  the  bail  of  the  kettle  which 
contained  the  money,  and  heard  very  distinctly  the  sound  of  the' 
specie,  but  unfortunately  at  that  moment  he  heard  the  sound  of 
musketry,  looked  up,  and,  in  his  excited  imagination,  saw  on  the 
brow  of  the  hill  an  army  firing  upon  him.  The  bail  of  the  kettle 
took  this  opportunity  to  slip  off  the  point  of  the  bar  and  could  be 
found  no  more.  The  writer  *  of  this  sketch  said  he  recollected, 
when  a  youth,  going  to  see  the  money-diggers  operate. 


Section  <?.— Indentured  SerYitude. 

Human  serfdom  antedates  reliable  history.  A  system  of  villein- 
age of  immemorial  duration  prevailed  all  over  Europe  at  the  time 
America  was  first  settled.  "  The  first  Virginia  tenants  were  little 
better  than  villein  ;  they  were  bound  to  remain  seven  years  on  the 
land,  and  to  pay  one  half  of  the  whole  produce  for  rent."  But  this 
rigid  system  did  not  long  continue.  Under  such  severe  conditions 
many  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Maryland,  and  from  the  New 
York  Colony  to  New  Jersey,  to  escape  the  exactions  of  the  great 
proprietors,  who  held  their  thousands  of  acres. 

In  the  earliest  traces  of  the  tribes  occupying  the  British  Isles- we 
find  slaves  or  serfs.  Under  the  beneficent  influence  of  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Magna  Charta,  the  preaching  of  VVicliffe  and  the  Lol- 
lards, and  the  later  stages  of  the  Reformation,  English  serfdom  was 
greatly  modified  ;  but  some  relics  of  this  form  of  ancient  villeinage, 

*  Mathew  Davenport's  Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  Town  of  Boylston,  Mass. 


INDENTURED  SERVITUDE.  221 

which  involved  bondage  to  the  soil,  survived  the  Restoration.  Long 
terms  of  service,  with  wages  arbitrarily  fixed  by  authority,  took  the 
place  of  the  more  ancient  serfdom,  and  any  resistance,  shrinking  or 
evasion  was  rigorously  repressed  by  law.  Many  servants  bound 
for  long  terms,  and  treated  as  property,  were  brought  to  the 
English  colonies  in  America.  Poor  children,  vagrants,  unfortu- 
nates, criminals,  debtors,  etc.,  became  stock  in  the  colonial  market 
and  suffered  monstrous  abuses.  A  Dutch  writer  called  the  English 
"  a  villanous  people,  who  would  sell  their  own  fathers  for  servants." 
The  victims  of  privateers  were  sold  into  bondage  in  the  colonies. 
English  laborers,  despairing  of  bettering  their  condition  at  home, 
men  in  domestic  troubles,  runaway  husbands,  runaway  wives,  run- 
away children,  prison-breakers,  etc.,  bound  themselves  to  serve  a 
term  of  years  and  took  their  chances,  hoping  to  find  a  better  estate 
in  the  New  World.  Little  lads  were  '  inveigled  and  by  lewd  sub- 
'tleties  '  enticed  aboard  vessels  on  the  Thames  and  carried  to  the 
colonies.  The  furnishing  of  servants  to  the  colonies  became  a  specu- 
lation. The  capturing  and  selling  persons  into  servitude  was  a 
common  traffic  in  English  cities. 

In  the  most  paradoxical  scene  in  judicial  history  the  worst  of  judges,  George 
Jeffreys,  himself  reeking  with  corruptions  and  cruelties  incredible,  is  found  arraign- 
ing the  aldermen  of  Bristol,  England,  for  their  share  in  tliis  trade.  Ordering  the 
scat  let-robed  mayor  from  his  seat  on  the  bench  to  a  place  in  the  prisoner's  dock,  he 
cried  with  brutal  exultation.  "See  how  tjie  kidnapping  rogue  looks!  "  He  ranted 
at  the  aldermen  in  words  too  vile  to  be  reprinted.  Yet  the  selling  of  condemned 
men  and  the  condemning  of  men  that  they  might  be  sold  were  practiced  openly  in 
the  court  of  James  II.  at  this  very  time.  The  ladies  of  the  queen's  bed-chamber, 
and  the  queen  herself,  eagerly  snatched  at  the  profits  from  the  sale  of  the  rebels 
of  Monmouth's  Rebellion,  whom  Jeffreys  had  just  then  condemned.  Even  William 
Penn  begged  for  twenty  of  them  for  the  Philadelphia  market. 

To  Philadelphia,  in  the  later  periods,  were  brought  great  numbers  of  Germans 
inveigled  by  artful  agents  to  sell  themselves  through  brokers  at  the  Dutch  ports. 
.  .  .  Many  hardy  Germans,  having  money  enough  to  pay  their  fare,  preferred  to 
sell  themselves  for  a  term  of  years,  in  order  to  learn  the  language  and  the  ways  of 
the  country.  Others  paid  half  the  fare  and  were  sold  for  the  remainder  ;  and  some 
paid  the  passage  of  the  family  by  selling  one  or  two  of  their  suri)lus  children  into 
bondage  during  minority.  One  reads  in  the  Philadelphia  papers,  in  1729,  of 
"choice  maid-servants  fit  for  town  and  countr)',"  to  be  had  of  a  certain  wine- 
cooper,  and  of  '•  a  parcel  of  likely  servant-men  and  boys  for  sale  "  about  the  same 
time  The  development  of  the  back  coimtiy  produced  the  "soul-drivers,"  as  they 
were  contemptously  called — men  who  peddled  servants  in  droves  of  fifty  or  more. 
.  .  .  The  sending  over  the  dissolute  and  criminal  hai  begun  in  the  reign  of  James 
I.  The  severity  of  English  penal  laws,  by  which  sometimes  "  twenty  were  hanged 
up  at  a  clap,"  occasioned  evasions  of  all  kinds,  .  .  .  The  need  for  men  in  the 
colonies  offered  a  new  opportunity  for  merciful  evasions  of  the  death  penalty  in 


222  CHRISTIAMTY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

cases  of  minor  felony.  It  became  common  to  pardon  thieves  on  condition  of  their 
accepting  a  seven-years'  term  of  service  in  the  colonies.  .  .  .  Franklin  proposed 
to  send  a  present  of  rattlesnakes  for  the  king's  garden  as  a  fit  return  for  the  con- 
victs out  of  English  jails.  The  number  of  bond  servants  even  in  New  England 
seems  to  have  been  large,  and  the  supply  was  much  greater  in  the  wheat  and  to- 
bacco countries.  Every  kind  of  business  in  Pennsylvania  depended  upon  the  labor 
of  indentured  servants.  In  1670  Virginia  had  6,000  English  servants,  while  there 
were  yet  but  2,000  negroes. 

The  treatment  of  servants  was  as  various  as  the  character  of  their  masters. 
...  It  was  an  age  of  flogging  ;  criminals,  soldiers,  sailors,  pupils,  children,  and 
now  and  then  even  wives,  were  thought  the  better  for  scourging.  One  ought 
hardly  to  be  surprised,  therefore,  at  the  numerous  and  cruel  whippings  of  English 
servants,  women  as  well  as  men,  who  were  scourged  naked,  with  hickory  rods,  and 
^washed  with  brine,  the  punishment  continuing  sometimes  at  intervals  for  hours  or 
being  renewed  day  after  day.  There  were  also  in  use,  by  masters  and  overseers, 
thumt)-screws,  sweatings,  and  other  such  devil's  devices.  The  food  allowed  was 
sometimes  a  scant  diet  of  Indian  meal.  The  sick  servant  was  neglected  lest  the 
doctor's  charge  should  exceed  the  value  of  his  remaining  service ;  and  one  thrifty^ 
master  required  a  servant,  sick  of  a  mortal  disease,  to  dig  his  own  grave  in  ad- 
vance in  order  to  save  the  other  men's  time.  In  1705  Virginia  prohibited  the 
secret  burial  of  servants  and  the  whipping  of  "  Christian  white  servants  "  naked 
without  the  consent  of  a  justice;  and  m  171 5  Maryland  made  several  protective 
provisions,  one  forbidding  the  giving  of  more  than  ten  lashes  for  one  offense,  unless 
with  approval  of  a  magistrate.  In  New  England,  where  servants  were  often  re- 
garded as  Christian  brethren,  and  where  settlements  were  more  dense,  care  could 
be  and  was  exercised  to  prevent  injustice  and  cruelty  ;  but  there  were  instances  of 
brutal  hardships  notwithstanding,  and  even  of  a- servant's  dying  from  a  master's 
cruelty.* 

The  servile  classes  were  a  source  of  moral  corruption,  especially 
to  the  young.  Many,  however,  were  of  excellent  character  and 
rose  to  good  positions.  Some  bond-maids  were  married  to  those 
who  purchased  them.  Through  industry  and  frugality  some  serv- 
ants acquired  wealth  and  founded  families  that  rose  to  respecta- 
bility and  honor  ;  but  others  were  the  basis  of  criminal  and  pauper 
classes  of  later  years. 


Section  f?.— African  Slavery. 

But  a  more  radical  form  of  personal  bondage — human  chattel- 
ship — was  introduced  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  colonial  era. 
As  early  as  about  1450,  thousands  of  African  negroes  were  annually 
brought  into  Europe,  and  as  early  as  1553  we  find  them  in 
England.  The  Spaniards  employed  them  in  their  colonies  to  work 
the  mines.     The  English  colonists  in  America  followed,  and  four- 

*  Edward  Eggleston,  in  The  Century,  Oct.,  1884,  pp.  854-856. 


NEGRO  SLAVERY  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  '2.'2.Z 

teen  "  negroes  "  were  introduced  into  the  Jamestown  Colony,  in 
1619,  by  a  Dutch  frigate.  Others  were  soon  brought  from  the 
West  Indies,  and  also  many  directly  from  Africa.  "  The  Royal 
African  Company  "  in  England  promoted  the  African  slave  traffic, 
and  publicly  advocated  the  business  before  Charles  II.,  in  1663,  as 
necessary  to  the  development  of  the  Anglo-American  "  planta- 
tions." All  the  American  colonies  shared  in  this  form  of  servitude. 
Ifi  1735  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade  said  that  without  the 
advantage  of  slave  labor  the  colonies  "  could  not  possibly  subsist." 
In  1646  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  whose  fundamental 
law  prohibited  villeinage  and  other  feudal  servitudes,  undertook  to 
Send  back  to  Africa  negroes  who  had  been  kidnapped  by  a  slaver, 
_so  flagrant  in  their  eyes  seemed  the  offense  of  "  man-stealing," 
Nevertheless  the  Puritan  conscience  did  not  hesitate  to  sell  Indians 
captured  in  war  into  chattel  slavery,  or  to  buy  slaves  who  came 
into  bondage  otherwise  than  by  stealing.  Thousands  of  negro 
slaves  were  sold  into  New  England.  Boston  merchants  engaged 
in  the  Guinea  trade,  but  Newport  R.  I.,  was  the  great  center  of  this 
traffic.  In  i;oo  the  '*  free  colored"  and  slaves  in  all  the  colonies 
were  estimated  at  32,000;  in  1750,  220,000;  in  1775,  500,000;  or 
10  per  cent.,  16  per  cent,  and  19  per  cent.,  respectively,  of  the  whole 
population. 

In  Massachusetts  a  few  negro  slaves  were  owned  prior  to  1639, 
but  the  African  slave  trade  was  never  prosecuted  by  the  inhabitants 
of  this  colony  to  any  extent,  and  a  degree  of  infamy  attached  to 
the  character  of  those  engaged  in  it.  As  early  as  1700  there  were 
few  African  slaves  in  the  whole  province.  The  official  report  of 
the  governor  to  the  Board  of  Trade  states  the  whole  number  to  be 
550,  o^  which  all  but  150  were  in  Boston.  In  1720  the  official 
returns  show  2,000  in  the  whole  province;  in  1765  the  number 
was  5,779,  which  was  never  exceeded.  Slaves  were  imported  into 
Connecticut  direct  from  Africa  during  the  middle  of  the  last  cent- 
ury. The  following  advertisements  taken  from  the  Connecticut 
Gazette  (New  Haven)  October  i,  1757,  will  tell  the  story  of  the 
African  slave  trade  in  Connecticut  at  that  time  ; 

To  BE  Sold,  several  likely  Negro  Boys  and  Girls  :  arrived  from  Coast  of  Africa. 

Samuel  Willis,  at  Middletown. 

A  Likely  Negro  Wench  and  Child  to  be  sold  :— Inquire  of  the  Printer. 

To  BE  Sold  by  the  subscriber,  of  Branford,  a  likely  Negro  Wench,  18  years  of 
age,  is  acquainted  with  all  sorts  of  House  work  ;  is  sold  for  no  fault. 


224  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

Fresh  from  Africa,  they  were  received  and  treated  as  untamed 
barbarians.  Some,  whose  backs  had  been  long  "  bent  to  the  burden 
of  their  inheritance,"  were  patient  and  submissive  ;  others,  unaccus- 
tomed to  authority  and  warfare,  captured  in  recent  wars,  were 
defiant,  scorning  obedience  and  despising  toil.  Savage  dances 
constituted  their  amusement  and  strange  mummeries  their  funeral 
ceremonies.  Their  fetich  superstitions  and  sorceries  linked  them, 
in  the  alarmed  imaginations  of  their  masters,  with  evil  spirits. 
The  Salem  witchcrafts  grew  out  of  the  juggleries  of  African  serv- 
ants domesticated  in  the  households.  Severe  treatment  and  extra- 
ordinary penalties  were  inflicted  under  a  legislation  which  in  those 
iimes  was  full  of  harshness  even  toward  white  people.  Death  was 
a  frequent  penalty  for  offenses  of  slight  criminality.  Thirty  lashes, 
and  even  more,  cutting  off  an  ear,  ham-stringing,  branding  in  the 
face,  slitting  the  nose,  and  even  worse  mutilations  were  inflicted 
upon  these  children  of  the  Dark  Continent. 

Driven  to  desperation,  negro  insurrections  and  incendiary  fires 
occurred.  In  the  period  from  1730- 1740  there  was  general  alarm 
in  some  sections,  and  many  slaves  were  tortured  and  put  to  death. 
Few  women  were  imported  from  Africa  in  the  earlier  period,  and 
the  men  lived  together  in  gangs,  in  brutal  vice,  with  none  of  the 
ameliorations  of  family  life.  Some  time  elapsed  before  the  slave 
women  came  to  bear  a  fitting  proportion  to  the  slave  men.  Even 
then  for  a  long  time  marriage  and  family  life  were  only  faint  sem- 
blances. Gradually  the  negro  became  domesticated,  more  gentle 
and  tractable,  and  the  relations  between  the  races  more  kindly. 

Efforts  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Slaves. 

Some  efforts  were  made  to  convert  the  slaves  to  Christianity. 
James  II.  had  his  attention  called  to  the  pagan  condition  of  the 
negroes,  and  resolved,  in  1685,  that  all  slaves  on  the  English  plan- 
tations should  be  christened  ;  but  the  purpose  was  never  executed. 
William  Penn,  in  1700,  had  "a  concern  for  the  souls  of  the  blacks." 
Elias  Neau,  a  catechist  for  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  1704  to  17 18,  labored  among  the  negroes  in  New  York 
city.  About  1728  a  widely  extended  but  feeble  movement,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  for  the  Christian  instruc- 
tion of  the  slaves,  was  attempted,  in  which  the  clergy  and  ladies  of 
South  Carolina  were  most  successful.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
in  Boston  a  negro  school,  and  ministers  preached  to  them  special 
sermons.     In  1743  a  school  for  negroes  was  founded  in  Charleston, 


ANTISLAVERY  PROTESTS.  225 

S.  C.  In  Maryland  they  were  sometimes  taught  with  white  chil- 
dren in  the  parish  schools.  Under  the  Whitefieldian  revivals 
greater  attention  was  given  to  the  blacks.  Rev.  Samuel  Davies, 
subsequently  President  of  Princeton  College,  while  pastor  in  Vir- 
ginia, in  1756,  received  forty  or  fifty  to  the  communion  and  gave 
them  Sabbath  instruction.  Gradually  humane  restrictions  were 
imposed  by  legislation  upon  the  master. 


Section  7.— AntislaYery. 

*  It  was  with  the  common  consent,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
common  practice,  of  Christian  nations  that  African  slavery  was 
introduced  and  became  domesticated  in  America.  A  half  century 
passed  in  some  of  the  colonies  before  any  scruples  in  regard  to  it 
appeared.  The  negroes  were  "  heathen,"  "  infidels,"  and  instruc- 
tion in  the  Christian  religion  was  resisted  by  planters  lest  baptism 
should  emancipate  them.  In  process  of  time  some  colonies  found 
themselves  in  danger  of  being  overrun  by  the  blacks,  liable  to  insur- 
rection and  other  evils.  They,  therefore,  sought  to  check  the 
importation  of  negroes.  South  Carolina  placed  a  duty  upon  slaves. 
Bristol  merchants  protested  against  such  laws.  The  crown  sustained 
the  complainants,  and  the  royal  governors  were  told  that  the  col- 
onists must  not  "discourage  a  traffic  so  beneficial  to  the  nation." 

In  Massachusetts  negro  slavery  came  into  existence  without  legis- 
lative action.  As  early  as  1641  the  General  Court  adopted  this  order ; 
"  It  is  ordered  by  this  court  and  the  authority  thereof  that  there 
shall  never  be  any  bond  slavery,  villeinage  or  captivity  among  us, 
unless  it  be  lawful  captives  taken  in  just  wars,  as  willingly  sell  them- 
selves or  are  sold  to  us."  Subsequently  the  colonial  legislature, 
finding  the  evil  had  gained  a  foothold,  recognized  and  undertook  to 
regulate  it. 

Rev.  John  Eliot,  the  Quakers,  etc.,  Protest. 

In  1675  Rev.  John  Eliot,  the  apostle  to  the  Indians,  memorial- 
ized the  governor  and  council  of  Massachusetts  against  selling 
captured  Indians  into  slavery,  because  "  the  selling  of  souls  is  dan- 
gerous merchandise."  He  also,  "  with  a  bleeding  and  burning  pas- 
sion," says  Cotton  Mather,  remonstrated  against  "  the  abject  condi- 
tion of  the  enslaved  Africans."  As  early  as  1688  a  body  of  Quakers 
in  Germantown,  Pa.,  presented  to  their  Yearly  Meeting  a  protest 
against  "  buying,  selling  and  holding  men  in  slavery  ;  "  and  five 
15 


226  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

years  later  Mr.  George  Keith,  also  a  Pennsylvania  Quaker,  denounced 
slavery  as  "  contrary  to  the  religion  of  Christ,  the  rights  of  man," 
etc. ;  and,  three  years  later  still,  the  Yearly  Meeting  took  formal 
action  against  the  introduction  of  slaves.  In  the  year  1700  Samuel 
Sevvall,  Esq.,  subsequently  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  published  a  tract  entitled,  The  Selling  of  Joseph,  in 
which  he  characterized  with  singular  boldness  the  system  of  slavery 
as  an  outrage,  and  enunciated  "  the  primal  truth  of  human  equality 
and  obligation."  In  the  year  1700  the  public  mind  was  agitated  in 
relation  to  slavery,  and  the  next  year  the  town  of  Boston  instructed 
its  representatives  "  to  promote  the  encouraging  and  the  bringing 
of  white  servants,  and  to  put  a  period  to  negroes  being  slaves." 
In  17 16  the  Quakers  in  Dartmouth,  Mass.,  memorialized  the  Rhode 
Island  Quarterly  Meeting  on  the  evil  of  slavery,  and  the  Nantucket 
Society  of  Friends  declared  it  to  be  repugnant  to  the  truth  to  pur- 
chase and  hold  slaves.  In  1729  the  same  society  sent  a  serious 
address  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meet- 
ing. In  the  same  year  William  Burling,  in  the  Yearly  Meeting  on 
Long  Island,  bore  faithful  testimony  against  slavery,  and  Elihu 
Coleman  and  Ralph  Standifred  published  pamphlets  condemning 
the  institution  of  slavery  as  "  iniquitous  and  anti-Christian."  Eight 
years  later  Benjamin  Lay,  another  Quaker,  pleaded  the  cause  of 
the  bondmen  in  a  volume  published  in  Philadelphia. 

Rev.  John  Wesley  and  Others  Protest. 

In  1736  Rev.  John  Wesley,  during  his  residence  in  Georgia,  pro- 
tested against  slavery  ;  and  in  1739  ^.^v.  George  Whitefield  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  Southern  colonies,  denouncing  the  system  and  its  bar- 
barities. In  the  years  1755,  '56,  '57,  a  correspondence  on  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery  was  carried  on  between  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  Rev.  John  Wesley,  the  latter  donating  books  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  colored  people  in  Mr.  Davies's  parish.  From  1746  to  1767 
Mr.  John  Woolman,  a  distinguished  Friend  in  New  Jersey,  trav- 
eled extensively  through  the  Middle  and  Southern  colonies,  preach- 
ing against  the  practice  of  holding  men  in  bondage. 

In  1767  an  attempt  was  made  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
to  abolish  the  slave  trade,  by  introducing  a  bill  "  to  prevent  the 
unnatural  and  unwarrantable  custom  of  enslaving  mankind  and  the 
importation  of  slaves  into  the  province."  Owing  to  some  disagree- 
ment between  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature,  and  the  absolute 
certainty  of  a  veto  from  the  loyal  governor,  the  measure  was  not 


AN  TISLA  VER  Y  L  EGISLA  TION  DESIRED.  227 

passed.  The  bill  finally  passed  both  houses  in  January,  1774,  but 
Governor  Hutchinson  refused  his  assent,  his  "  instructions,"  he  said, 
"  forbidding."  His  successor,  Governor  Gage,  refused  for  the  same 
reason.  The  blacks  had  better  success  in  the  judicial  courts.  Slaves 
brought  action  against  their  masters  for  detaining  them  in  bondage. 
Between  1770  and  the  Revolution  several  of  these  suits  were 
brought,  and  the  juries  invariably  gave  their  verdict  in  favor  of 
liberty. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  period  Anthony  Benezet,  of  Huguenot 
parentage,  a  man  of  practical  piety,  appeared  in  the  field  toiling 
for  the  oppressed. 

'  During  the  ten  years  preceding  the  Revolution  a  desire  for 
emancipation  and  the  extinction  of  the  slave  trade  became  very 
general,  and  found  frequent  utterance  in  pulpits  and  pamphlets. 
Nor  were  these  efforts  without  apparent  fruit.  Many  towns  passed 
resolutions  praying  the  colonial  legislatures  to  take  action  at  once 
in  the  interest  of  humanity  ;  and  many  slave  masters,  who  subse- 
quently aided  in  inaugurating  the  Revolution  and  fighting  its  bat- 
tles, became  hostile  to  the  slave  trade,  and  even  to  the  existence  of 
slavery  itself.  The  general  agitation  of  questions  relating  to  the 
rights  of  man,  and  particularly  the  colonial  rights,  aided  this 
movement,  and  made  the  sinfulness  and  wrong  of  slavery  more 
apparent. 

Benezet,  Rush,   Hopkins,  etc. 

But  this  great  work  was  not  advanced  chiefly  by  the  efforts  of 
statesmen  and  philanthropists.  The  prime  impulse  and  support 
came  from  Christian  laymen  and  divines,  who  furnished  its  pabulum 
and  inspiration.  In  the  six  years  from  177010  1776  the  antislavery 
efforts  of  several  Christian  gentlemen  attracted  particular  attention. 
In  Pennsylvania  that  sterling  Christian  nobleman,  Anthony  Benezet, 
was  still  in  the  midst  of  his  indefatigable  labors—"  /ew  men,"  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  "  ever  lived  a  more  disinterested  life  ; " 
the  supreme  objects  of  his  enthusiastic  philanthropy  were  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave  trade  and  the  emancipation  and  instruction  of  the. 
negroes.  He  conducted  evening  schools  in  Philadelphia  for  their, 
benefit,  and  wrote,  published  and  distributed  throughout  the  col- 
onies, at  his  own  expense,  tracts  against  slavery.  In  1771  he  pub- 
lished his  Historical  Account  of  Guinea,  and  an  Inquiry  into  the 
Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Slave  Trade,  which  enlightened  and  quick- 
ened the  youthful  mind  of  Hon.  Thomas  Clarkson,  the  great  English 
antislavery  reformer,  and  imparted  the  impulse  to  his  great  life-work. 


228  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  1773  another  eminent  Philadelphian,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush, 
conspicuous  as  a  Christian,  a  physician,  a  philanthropist  and  a  states- 
man, in  whose  home  Asbury  and  other  early  Wesleyan  evangelists 
often  received  hospitality,  published  an  address  on  the  injustice  and 
inhumanity  of  slavery.  The  following  year,  under  his  advocacy, 
the  First  Continental  Congress  determined  that  the  United  Colonies 
should  "  neither  import  nor  purchase  any  slaves,  and  would  wholly 
discontinue  the  slave  trade."  Soon  after  the  North  Carolina,  Vir- 
ginia and  Georgia  conventions  pledged  their  "  utmost  endeavors 
for  the  manumission  of  the  slaves  in  their  colonies."  April  6,  1776, 
Congress  resolved,  without  opposition,  that  "  no  slaves  be  imported 
,into  the  thirteen  United  Colonies."  All  these  movements  are  largely 
credited  to  Dr.  Rush. 

One  of  the  most  decided  and  resolute  champions  of  abolition 
in  this  period  was  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  D.D.,  of  Newport,  R.  I., 
famous  for  the  phase  of  theology  which  bore  his  name.  A  frequent 
witness  of  the  landing  of  slaves  from  Africa,  near  his  church  and 
home,  he  became  deeply  stirred  with  the  abominations  of  the  sys- 
tem. As  early  as  1770  he  boldly  attacked  the  infamous  trade  in  his 
own  congregation  (deeply  involved  in  the  guilt  of  slave  trading  and 
slave  holding),  sharply  rebuked  the  sin,  and  pleaded  the  cause  of  its 
victims.  Through  his  efforts  in  1774  the  further  importation  of 
negroes  w^as  prohibited  in  Rhode  Island.  In  1776  he  published  a 
famous  pamphlet  against  slavery — the  ablest  document  that  had 
then  appeared  on  the  subject — dedicated  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, "  urging  the  duty  and  interest  of  the  American  States  to 
emancipate  all  the  African  slaves." 

At  their  Yearly  Meeting  in  Philadelphia,  in  1774,  the  Friends 
enacted  regulations  against  slaver}^  more  stringent  than  any  that 
had  preceded,  and  in  1776  they  resolved  that  "  owners  of  slaves  who 
refused  to  enact  proper  instruments  for  giving  them  their  freedom 
shall  be  disowned."  In  1774  Rev.  John  Wesley's  celebrated  tract. 
Thoughts  on  Slavery,  subsequently  sown  broadcast  throughout 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  during  the  great  English  emancipa- 
tion movement,  was  published  and  circulated  among  his  societies  in 
America.  His  first  American  itinerants  were  active  disseminators 
of  his  antislavery  views,  suffering  persecution  in  some  quarters  on 
account  of  them. 

The  Revolution,  with  its  exciting  events,  was  at  hand.  In 
another  place  consideration  of  the  antislavery  movement  will  be 
resumed. 


EDUCATIONAL   SURVEY. 


229 


CHAPTER  X. 


EDUCATION  UNDER  PROTESTANTISM. 


Sec.  I.  The  Common  School  System. 
"     2.  The  Colleges. 


Sec.  3.  Education  of  the  Ministry. 


THE  schools  ofjudeaand  Egypt  were  ecclesiastical,  conven- 
ience and  gratitude  confirming  the  monopoly  of  the  clergy. 
The  schools  of  the  Nile  gave  character  and  direction  to  those  of 
Greece  and  Rome.  Education  became  secular  only  in  countries 
where  the  priesthood  did  not  exist  as  a  separate  body.  At  Rome 
children  were  trained  for  the  duties  of  life  in  the  forum  and  the 
senate  house.  The  literary  education  of  the  first  Christians  was 
obtained  in  pagan  scho^s,  which  flourished  down  to  the  fourth  cent- 
ury, in  Southern  Europe,  Western  Asia,  and  Northern  Africa.  The 
first  attempt  to  provide  a  special  education  for  Christians  was  made 
at  Alexandria,  under  Clement  and  Origen.  The  education  of  the 
Middle  Ages  was  either  that  of  the  cloister  or  the  castle,  the  one 
aiming  to  form  a  monk  and  the  other  a  knight.  Those  illustrious 
monasteries,  Monte  Cassino,  Fulda  and  Tours,  kept  the  torch  of 
learning  ablaze  during  the  Dark  Ages,  and  should  not  be  ungrate- 
fully forgotten,  though  the  character  and  value  of  the  teachings 
they  imparted  should  not  be  exaggerated.  Both  of  these  forms 
of  education  disappeared  under  the  brighter  illuminations  of  the 
Renaissance  and  the  Reformation. 

The  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  witnessed  the  rise  of  uni- 
versities and  academies  almost  all  over  Europe.  For  one  hundred 
years  no  part  of  Europe  shone  with  brighter  luster  than  the  North- 
ern Netherlands.  But  even  in  this  advanced  era  education  was  not 
dissociated  from  ecclesiastical  influence.  The  name  of  Erasmus 
best  represents  the  education  of  the  Renaissance,  and  Luther  and 
Melanchthon  that  of  the  Reformation.  Luther  introduced  the 
school-master  to  the  cottage,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  system 
which  is  the  chief  honor  and  strength  of  modern  Germany. 
Melanchthon,    with   his   numerous    editions   of    school-books    and 


230  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

practical  labors  in  education,  earned  the  title  of  Preceptor  Ger- 
manicB.  The  purification  and  widening  of  education  kept  pace 
with  the  purification  of  religion.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  trace 
a  picture  of  the  education  which  the  Reformation  furnished  to  the 
middle  classes  of  Europe,  if  the  limits  of  this  brief  preliminary 
sketch  allowed  it.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Protestant  schools 
became  the  best  in  Europe  and  the  monkish  institutions  were  left  to 
decay,  until  the  Jesuits  arose  and  to  some  extent  redeemed  them 
for  a  season;  but  the  Jesuits  were  liable  to  the  charge  of  taking 
too  rigid  possession  of  the  pupils  in  body  and  soul.  The  great 
universities  of  England  and  Scotland,  in  which  the  founders  of  the 
,  Anglo-American  colonies  received  their  education,  had  their  origin 
and  growth  in  close  relations  with  the  Christian  Church. 

Thus  it  appears  that,  in  both  ancient  and  modern  times,  educa- 
tion has  been  almost  wholly  an  outgrowth  from  ecclesiastical  life. 
Pre-eminently  has  this  been  true  since  the  Christian  era  was  inau- 
gurated. The  educational  beginnings  and  growth  in  the  American 
colonies,  we  shall  soon  see,  conspicuously  illustrate  this  rule. 


Section  :?.— The  Common  Scliool  System. 

It  has  already  been  noticed  that  the  Protestant  colonists  in 
America  were  actuated  primarily  by  religious  aims,  and  that  the  first 
companies  of  settlers  represented  church  organizations. 

Southern  Colonies. 

Almost  at  the  beginning  of  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  the 
Bishop  of  London  raised  ^i,ooo  toward  a  college,  and  it  was  resolved 
that  "  each  town,  borough,  and  hundred,  ought  to  procure  by  just 
means  a  certain  number  of  children  (natives)  to  be  brought  up  ; 
that  the  most  towardly  of  these  should  be  fitted  for  college."  Ten 
thousand  acres  of  land  were  laid  off  for  the  "  University  of  Hen- 
rico," for  the  education  of  the  English  as  well  as  the  Indians.  The 
minister  of  Henrico,  Rev.  Mr.  Bargrave,  gave  his  library.  Prepar- 
atory to  the  college,  an  institution  was  about  to  be  established  at 
St.  Charles  City  ;  but  the  whole  project  received  its  death-blow 
from  the  terrible  Indian  massacre  in  March,  1622.  Long  and  dis- 
astrous Indian  wars  followed,  and  the  project  of  founding  a  college 
was  deferred  until  the  establishment  of  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, in  1692.     We  find  no  traces  of  common  schools  in  the  colony. 


FREE  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  COLONIES.  231 

In  the  South,  the  sons  of  the  great  planters  were  liberally  edu- 
cated and  polished  in  manners,  while  the  scattered  common  people 
had  no  schools  and  were  very  rude  and  ignorant ;  but  the  masses 
in  New  England,  with  few  exceptions,  had  some  rough  schooling, 
besides  the  advantages  for  intellectual  culture  afforded  by  the 
meeting-house  and  the  debates  of  the  town  meeting.  Such  advan- 
tages were  not  appreciated  in  Virginia.  One  of  the  governors  of 
Virginia,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  in  1670,  replying  to  inquiries 
addressed  to  him  by  the  Lords  of  Plantations,  said,  "  I  thank  God 
there  are  no  schools  nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have 
them  these  hundred  years  ;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience 
•and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged 
them,  and  libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us  from 
both  !  "  * 

In  Maryland  the  Legislature  made  provisions  for  high  schools  in 
all  the  counties  as  early  as  1723,  and  lands  and  money  were 
appropriated  in  their  aid.  A  poll  tax  for  the  aid  of  education  was 
laid  on  negroes  and  Irish  Catholic  servants  coming  into  the  prov- 
ince. 

In  the  Carolinas  no  efficient  system  of  education  was  provided 
for  a  long  time,  and  meager  results  were  therefore  reached.  The 
constitution  of  North  Carolina  in  1776  made  it  the  duty  of  the 
Legislature  "  to  establish  schools  for  the  convenient  instruction  of 
youth,"  and  "  one  or  more  universities  ;  "  but  no  adequate  pecun- 
iary provision  for  the  latter  was  furnished.  South  Carolina  was  some- 
what more  alive  to  this  work,  and  as  early  as  1700  the  Legislature 
provided  for  a  free  school  at  Charleston,  and  gave  aid  to  the  country 
schools.  It  is  said  that,  during  the  first  three  fourths  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  a  larger  number  of  students  from  South  Caro- 
lina than  from  any  other  colony  went  to  Europe  for  a  university 
education.  In  1769  a  bill  for  founding  a  college  was  introduced 
into  the  Legislature,  but  it  failed.  The  Constitution  of  Georgia 
adopted  in  1777  provided  that  every  county  should  "  establish  and 
keep  a  school  at  the  public  expense."  The  first  school  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  1683,  was  private — tuition,  eight  shillings  per  annum. 

New  York. 

Those  three  Protestant  peoples,  the  Dutch,  the  Huguenots, 
and  the  Puritans,  all  brought  the  Church,  the  Bible  and  the  school- 
master with  them.     In  1626  two  school-masters  arrived  on  Manhat- 

*  Hening's  Laws  of  Virginia.     Appendix. 


232  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tan  Island  to  instruct  the  young,  to  comfort  the  sick,  to  read 
sermons  on  Sunday,  and  to  teach  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  The 
name  of  Adam  Roelansen  figures  prominently  as  a  pedagogue  in 
the  early  history  of  that  colony  ;  but  the  progress  of  education  was 
slow,  there  being  in  1656  only  three  schools  in  the  whole  province. 
In  1659  a  Latin  school  was  started  which  was  soon  resorted  to  by 
students  as  far  south  as  Delaware  and  Virginia.  After  the  province 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  in  1664,  a  better  impulse  was 
given  to  education.  In  1670  we  find  schools  at  Albany,  and  family 
schools  sprang  up  elsewhere  without  any  system  of  law. 

New  England. 

Students  of  the  genesis  of  the  New  England  States  are  impressed 
with  the  intelligence,  mental  grasp  and  wise  foresight  of  the  founders 
of  these  colonies.  They  loved  the  State,  the  Church  and  the  school, 
and  by  organized  voluntary  action  in  individual  towns  a  school 
system  was  generated  which  was  subsequently  incorporated  into 
law.  The  leading  founders  of  the  New  England  colonies  were  well 
educated  men,  who  believed  and  asserted  "  that  the  good  education 
of  children  is  of  singular  behoof  and  benefit  in  any  Common- 
wealth." 

In  the  year  1636  there  were  living  in  Massachusetts  between 
three  thousand  and  four  thousand  emigrants,  domiciled  in  log  huts 
and  wretched  hovels  often  little  better  than  Indian  wigwams.  Even 
their  first  house  of  worship  in  Boston  was  built  with  a  thatched 
roof  and  mud  walls.  But  no  sooner  had  they  built  their  rude 
dwellings  and  simple  temples  for  divine  worship  than  they  began 
to  instruct  their  children,  first  around  their  own  firesides,  but  very 
soon  in  public  schools,  under  a  system  in  which  the  families  of  the 
poor  and  unlearned,  as  well  as  those  of  better  circumstances,  equally 
shared. 

The  Plymouth  Colony  having  a  smaller  population,  the  first 
schools  were  feeble,  and  came  more  slowly  into  a  system.  As  early 
as  1623  the  children  of  Plymouth  were  "  catechised  and  learned  to 
read,"  though  they  had  "  no  common  school  or  means  to  maintain 
one "  till  some  years  later.  The  Massachusetts  Colony  led  the 
way.     A  Boston  record  of  April  13,  1635,  says: 

"  It  was  generally  agreed  upon  that  our  brother,  Philemon  Pormont,  shall  be 
entreated  to  become  a  school-master  for  ye  teaching  and  nourishing  of  children 
with  us."  * 

*  Snow's  History  of  Boston,  p.  348. 


BOSTON  LATIN  SCHOOL.  233 

In  August,  1636,  Daniel  Maude  was  chosen  to  the  office  of  '*  free 
school-master,"  and  a  subscription  was  made  "  toward  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  free  school-master,  Mr.  Daniel  Maude  being  now  chosen 
thereunto."  Forty  pounds  were  raised,  a  sum  then  equal  to  the  sal- 
ary "of a  Reverend  Pastor."  In  1641,  Deer  Island  was  set  apart 
and  rented  "  for  the  maintenance  of  a  Free  Schoole  for  the  Towne." 
This  island  was  thus  leased  for  thirty-one  years,  after  which  Long 
Island  and  Spectacle  Island  were  also  leased  for  the  same  purpose. 
Thus  was  established,  first  by  voluntary  subscriptions,  and  after- 
ward by  the  action  of  the  town,  the  first  public  school  in  Boston, 
and  probably  in  New  England,  which  abides  to  this  day  under  the 
title  of  the  "  Public  Latin  School  of  Boston."  This  school  was 
the  only  place  of  instruction  in  Boston  for  forty-seven  years.  In 
1682  two  other  schools  were  established,  for  instruction  principally 
in  writing  and  arithmetic.  During  this  period  the  only  reading- 
book  used  was  the  Bible. 

Next  came  the  formation  of  a  department  since  called  "  Gram- 
mar Schools."  In  1686,  ^200  were  expended  for  three  public 
schools.  The  earliest  record  of  a  public  school  in  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  is  June  3,  1636;  in  Salem,  1637;  in  Beverly,  1656;  in 
Roxbury,  1645  ;  in  Dorchester,  1639 ;  in  Watertown,  1649.  In 
Salem,  in  1641,  when  a  subscription  was  raised  for  school  expenses, 
it  was  ordered  : 

"  If  any  poor  bodie  hath  children  or  a  childe  to  be  put  to  schoole,  and  is  not  able 
to  pay  for  their  schooling,  that  the  town  shall  pay  it  by  a  rate." 

This  is  the  seed  from  which  sprang  the  public  free  schools  of 
Massachusetts  and  America. 

In  the  records  of  the  New  Haven  Colony,  at  a  session  of  the 
General  Court  in  1641,  it  was  ordered  that 

"  A  free  school  be  set  up  in  this  town,  and  our  pastor,  together  with  the  magis- 
trates, shall  consider  what  yearly  allowance  shall  be  given  to  it  out  of  the  com- 
mon stock  of  the  town,  and  also  what  rule  or  laws  are  meet  to  be  observed  in 
and  about  the  same." 

In  1642  the  first  school  was  established  in  Hartford,  and  an 
appropriation  of  ;^30  was  settled  upon  it.  Parents  able  to  pay 
were  required  to  pay  "  twenty  shillings  the  year  ;  "  others  had  their 
children  instructed  at  the  town's  charge. 

In  subsequent  legislation  the  pastors  are  often  referred  to  as 
superintending  the  school.  In  May,  1714,  the  General  Court  recom- 
mended the  general  association  of  the  churches  to  inquire  into  the 


234  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

State  of  religion  and  education,  in  accordance  with  which  an  act 
was  passed  designed  to  secure  the  due  execution  of  the  law  for  the 
education  of  children.  After  the  establishment  of  the  parish  socie- 
ties within  the  limits  of  incorporated  towns  the  common  schools 
were  under  the  supervision  of  officers  appointed  by  school  socie- 
ties coterminous  with  the  parishes.*  The  minister  was  almost 
always  one  of  these  officers.  As  early  as  1701,  the  year  of  the  found- 
ing of  Yale  College,  the  General  Court  established  "  a  grammar 
school,  in  the  four  chief  counties,  to  fit  pupils  for  college,"  and  also 
granted  an  annual  appropriation  for  their  benefit. 

The  author  of  Ntzv  England's  First  Fruits, \  after  giving  an 
account  of  Harvard  College  and  its  "  appointment  to  be  at  Cam- 
bridge (a  place  very  pleasant  and  accommodate),"  says,  "And  by 
the  side  of  the  colledge  a  faire  grammar  schoole  for  the  training  up 
of  young  schollars  and  fitting  of  them  for  academical  learning,"  etc. 
In  this  school,  besides  English  scholars,  several  Indians  were  fitted 
for  college.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  present  Cambridge  High 
School.  By  the  will  of  Governor  Edward  Hopkins  (d.  1657)  ;^500 
was  given  to  the  college  and  school  at  Cambridge,  in  order  "  To 
give  some  encouragement  to  those  foreign  plantations  for  the  breed- 
ing up  of  hopeful  youths  in  a  way  of  learning,  both  at  the  grammar 
school  and  college,  for  the  service  of  the  country  'in  future  times.'" 
The  original  agreement  at  the  founding  of  the  school  in  Roxbury 
shows  the  convictions  under  which  the  work  of  education  was  under- 
taken. It  was  "  in  consideration  of  a  relligeous  care  of  posteritie," 
and  "  how  necessarie  the  education  of  theire  children  in  literature 
will  be  to  fitt  them  for  public  service,  both  in  churche  and  common- 
wealth, in  succeeding  ages."  They  therefore  agreed  *'  to  erect  a 
free  schoole."  May  30,  1639,  the  town  of  Dorchester,  by  vote, 
imposed  a  rent  of  i^20  a  year  upon  Thompson's  Island,  to  be  paid 
'*  by  every  person  who  hath  proprietie  in  said  island,"  "  towards  the 
mayntenance  of  a  schoole  in  Dorchester,"  and  "to  such  a  school- 
master as  shall  undertake  to  teach  English,  Latine  and  other  tongues, 
arid  also  writing,  the  said  school-master  to  be  chosen  from  tyme  to 
tyme  by  the  freemen  ;  and  it  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  elders 
and  the  '  seven  men'  for  the  time   being,  whether  majdesX  shall  be 

*  David  N.  Camp  in  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  249,  etc. 

t  Published  in  London,  in  1643. 

X  "  It  if  acurious  fact  in  the  history  of  our  schools  that  not  until  1789  were  girls  admitted,  and 
then  only  on  account  of  a  peculiar  circumstance,  which  also  shows  us  the  primitive  character  of 
the  times.  From  the  middle  of  April  to  the  middle  of  October  so  large  a  number  of  boys  were 
engaged  in  agricultural  or  industrial  labor  that  the  schools  becam- greatly  deserted  ;  and  to  occupy 
in  some  way  this  incidental  vacancy  girls  were  allowed  during  the  interval  to  attend  the  schools. 


COMMON  SCHOOLS.  233 

taught  with  the  boyes  or  notr  The  town  of  Dorchester  is  claimed 
by  those  who  have  closely  investigated  the  matter  to  have  been 
two  years  ahead  of  similar  action  in  Boston,  which  is  "  the  first  pub- 
lic provision  in  the  world  for  a  free  school  supported  by  a  direct 
taxation  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  town." 

The  Common  School  System  Begun. 

Inasmuch  as  we  have  here,  in  the  action  of  the  people  of  Dor- 
chester, the  beginning  of  the  common  school  system  which  has 
characterized  New  England,  and  has  spread  throughout  so  vast  an 
area  beyond  her  borders,  it  will  be  a  matter  of  interest  and  profit 
to  reproduce  in  this  place  some  of  "  the  rules  and  orders  "  adopted 
March  14,  1645,  for  the  regulation  of  these  schools.  They  com- 
prise seven  articles.  Article  first  provided  for  the  election  of  the 
"  school  committee  ;  "  the  second  gave  the  power  to  collect  and  raise 
money;  the  third  authorized  and  directed  them  in  employing 
teachers ;  the  fourth  instructed  them  to  pay  the  teachers  ;  the  fifth 
required  them  to  keep  the  school-house  in  repair  and  instructed 
them  how  to  provide  for  such  expenses ;  the  sixth  required  them  "  to 
take  care  that  every  yeare,  at  or  before  the  end  of  the  9th  month,  there 
bee  brought  to  the  school-howse  12  sufficient  cart  or  wayne  loads 
for  fewell,"  the  cost  to  be  borne  by  the  scholars.  The  seventh 
article  pertains  to  the  mode  of  conducting  the  school  and  is  too 
precious  a  curiosity  to  be  omitted  :  * 

Lastly.— 'Y\\^  sayd  Wardens  shall  take  care  that  the  Schoolm^  fo^  the  tyme 
beeing  doe  faythfuUy  p'  forme  his  dutys  in  his  place,  as  schoolm'  ought  to  doe,  as 
well  in  other  things  as  in  these  wh"^*-  are  hereafte^  expressed,  viz.,  First,  That  the 
Schoolm^  shall  dilligently  attend  his  Schoole.  and  doe  his  vtinost  indeavo'  fo^  Ben- 
efiiting  his  scholle'  s  according  to  his  best  discretion,  w ' "  out  vnnecessar>'ly  absent- 
ing himself  to  the  p'iudice  of  his  scholie^"  and  hindering  their  learning. 

°2'J'.  That  from  the  beginning  of  the  first  moneth  vntill  the  end  of  the  7"',  he 
shall  eu^y  day  beginn  to  teach  at  seaven  of  the  Clock  in  the  morning  and  dis- 
misse  his  schole"  atfyue  in  the  afternoon^.  And  for  the  othe'  fyue  months,  that 
is.  from  the  begin?  of  the  8'"  moneth  vntill  the  end  of  the  12"'  month  he  shall 
eu'  y  day  beginn  at  8  of  the  Clock  in  the  morning,  and  [end]  at  4  in  the  afternoon. 

3'y.  Eu'^y  day  in  the  yeere  the  vsuall  tyme  of  dismissing  at  noon  shall  be  at 
1 1,  to  beginn  agayne  at  one.  excel  t  that  

This  summer  privilege  for  girls  was  continu  d  for  thirty  years,  when  it  was  found  to  be  so  satis- 
factory in  its  results  that  the  time  was  extended  to  eight  months  ;  but  not  until  thirty-nine  years 
after  they  were  first  admitted  to  the  schools,  and  not  until  ninety-three  years  after  the  earliest 
public  school  for  boys  was  established,  were  the  girls  admitted  to  a  full  and  equal  share  m  all  the 
privileges  of  the   public  x'hoo]s."— Annual  Report  o/  Massachusetts  Board  0/ EducaUon /or 

1868,  p    15.  ^  , 

*  See  Fortieth  Annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Massachusetts,  1875,  1870.  PP- 

114,  etc. 


236  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

4'y.  Eu'y  second  day  in  the  weeke  he  shall  call  his  scholle's  togeithe' betweene 
12  and  one  of  the  Clock  to  examine  them  what  they  haue  learned  on  the  saboath 
day  p' ceding  at  w«h  tyme  also  he  shall  take  notice  of  any  misdemeano'  or  outrage 
that  any  of  his  schoUe"^'  shall  have  committed  on  the  saboath,  to  the  end  that  at 
somme  convenient  tyme  due  Admonition  and  Correction  may  be  administe'*''  by 
him  according  as  the  nature  and  qualitie  of  the  offence  shall  require,  at  w'""  sayd 
examination  any  of  the  Elde"  or  othe'  Inhabitants  that  please  may  bee  present, 
to  behold  his  religious  care  herein,  and  to  give  ther»  Countenance  and  app '  bation 
of  the  same. 

5''.  Hee  shall  equally  and  impartially  receive  and  instruct  such  as  shal  be 
sent  and  committed  to  him  fo'  that  end,  whithe*^  there  parents  bee  poore  or  rich, 
not  refusing  any  who  have  Right  and  Interest  in  the  schoole. 

6'y.  Such  as  shall  be  committed  to  him  he  shall  diligently  instruct,  as  they 
shalbe  able  to  learne,  both  in  humane  learning  and  good  litterature,  and  lykewyse 
in  poyntofgood  marine  ■■•  and  dutiful!  behaviou""  towards  all,  specially  their  supio" 
as  they  shall  have  occasion  to  bee  in  their  presence,  whithc  by  meeting  them  in 
the  streete  or  otherwyse. 

7 ''.  Every  six  day  of  the  weeke  at  2  of  the  Clock  in  the  afternoone,  he  shall 
catechise  his  scholle"  in  the  principles  of  Christian  religion,  eithe'  in  some  cat- 
echisme  w'""  the  Wardens  shall  p^vide  and  p'sent,  or  in  defect  thereof  in  some 
othe^ 

S'y.  And  because  all  man's  indeavc  w""  out  the  blessing  of  God  must  needs 
bee  fruitlesse  and  vnsuccessfull,  theirfore.  It  is  to  be  a  chief  p''te  of  the  school- 
m  "  religious  care  to  commend  his  scholle'''  and  his  Labours  amongst  them  vnto 
God  by  praye'  morning  and  evening,  taking  Care  that  his  scholle  ""s  doe  reui'endly 
attend  during  the  same. 

9'y.  And  because  the  Rodd  of  Correction  is  an  ordinance  of  God,  neces- 
sary sometymes  to  be  dispensed  vnto  Children,  but  such  as  may  easily  be  abused 
by  oue  *■  much  seu  ■■  itie  and  rigou''  on  the  one  hand,  or  by  oue  ■■  much  indulgence  and 
lenitye  on  the  othe*";  It  is  therefore  ordered  and  agreed  that  the  schoolemaste'  for 
the  tyme  beeing  shall  have  full  powe'  to  ministc  Correction  to  all  or  any  of  his 
scholle"  w"'out  respect  of  pe''sons,  according  as  the  nature  and  qualitie  of  the 
offence  shall  require;  whereto  all  his  scholle"  must  bee  duely  subject ;  and  no 
parent  or  othe'  of  the  Inhabitants  shall  hinde"^  or  go  about  to  hinde'  the  maste' 
therein  :  neu  'theless  yf  any  parent  or  othe"^  shall  think  there  is  iust  cause  of  Com- 
playnt  agaynst  the  maste'  for  too  much  seue""  itie  such  shall  have  liberty  friendly  and 
louingly  to  expostulate  w  '  ^  such  maste^  about  the  same;  and  yf  they  shall  not  attayne 
to  satisfaction,  the  matte'  is  then  to  be  referred  to  the  wardens,  who  shall  imp  '  tially 
Judge  betwixt  the  maste'  and  such  Complaynants.  And  yf  yt  shall  appeare  to 
them  that  any  parent  shall  make  causelesse  Complaynt  against  them'  in  his  behalfe, 
and  shall  p'sist  in  and  Continue  so  doeing,  in  such  case  the  wardens  shall  have 
powe'  to  discharge  the  m'  of  the  care  and  charge  of  the  Children  of  such  parents. 

But  yf  the  thing  Complayned  of  be  true,  and  that  the  m'  have  indeed  bene 
guiltie  of  ministering  excessive  Correction,  and  shall  appeere  to  them  to  continue 
therein,  notwithstanding  that  they  have  advised  him  otherwise,  in  such  case,  as 
also  in  the  case  too  much  lenitye  or  any  othe'  great  neglect  of  dutye  in  his  place 
persisted  in,  It  shall  be  in  the  powe""  of  the  Wardens  to  call  the  Inhabitants 
together  to  conside'  whithc  it  be  not  meet  to  discharge  the  m'  of  his  place,  that 
so  somme  other'  more  desirable  may  be  provided.     And  because  it  is  difficult,  yf 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOLS.  237 

not  Impossible,  to  give  p'ticula'  rules  yt  shall  reach  all  cases  w'""  may  fall  out, 
therefore,  fo'  a  Conclusion,  It  is  ordered  and  agreed  in  generall,  that,  where 
p'ticula'  rules  are  wanting,  there  it  shall  be  a  p  Me  of  the  office  and  dutye  of  the 
Wardens  to  orde'  and  dispose  of  all  things  that  Concerne  the  schoole.  in  such  sort 
as  in  thei'  wisdome  and  discretion  they  shall  Judge  most  Conducible  fo'  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  trayning  up  of  the  Children  of  the  Towne  in  religion,  learning  and 
Civilitie:— And  these  ordc^s  to  bee  continued  till  the  maio'  p'teof  the  Town  shall 
see  cause  to  alte'  any  p'te  thereof. 

The  foresfoingr  facts  show  what  were  the  methods  of  the  fathers 
in  founding  the  common  schools  of  this  country.  The  example  of 
these  towns  was  followed  by  others,  and  in  all  cases  we  see  the 
schools  growing  up  out  of  the  influence  of  the  churches  and  fos- 
tered by  them.  These  schools  were  grammar  schools,  in  some  of 
which  **  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  "  were  taught,  and  in  all  of 
which  there  was  instruction  in  reading,  writing  and  keeping  of 
accounts  and  a  careful  training  in  the  principles  of  Christianity,  as 
the  only  sure  foundation  of  public  and  private  morality.  The 
teachers  were  often  continued  in  the  same  school  twenty,  thirty 
and  even  fifty  years,  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Hence  Cotton  Mather,  alluding  to  some  of  these 
old  teachers,  wrote : 

'Tis  Corlet's  pains,  and  Cheever's  we  must  own. 
That  thou.  New  England,  art  not  Sythia  grown. 

The  management  of  the  schools  was  confided  by  the  towns  to  a 
body  of  men  known  under  different  titles,  "  Prudentials,"  "  War- 
dens," "  Foeffees,"  and,  later,  the  "  School  Committee."  Other 
schools  sometimes  existed,  of  lower  grades,  kept  by  private  persons, 
those  by  elderly  women  being  called  "dame  schools."  It  was  not 
until  twelve  years  after  Philemon  Pormont  was  engaged  for  the 
"  nurturing  of  ye  youth  of  Boston,"  that  the  General  Court,  in 
November,  1647,  recognized  and  gave  the  sanction  of  public  law  to 
the  schools  and  made  the  support  of  them  compulsory  upon  every 
town  having  fifty  householders.  This  famous  order  deserves  a  place 
here : 

It  is  therefore  ordered,  that  every  township  in  this  jurisdiction,  after  the  Lord 
hath  increased  them  to  the  number  of  50  householders,  shall  then  forthwith 
appoint  one  within  their  towne  to  teach  all  children  as  shall  resort  to  him  to  write 
and  read,  whose  wages  shall  be  paid  either  by  the  parents  or  masters  of  such  chil- 
dren, or  by  the  inhabitants  in  general  by  way  of  supply,  as  the  major  part  of  those 
that  order  the  prudentials  of  the  town  shall  appoint ;  provided  those  that  send 
their  children  be  not  oppressed  by  paying  much  more  than  in  other  towns. 

And  it  is  further  ordered,  that  where  any  towne  shall  increase  to  the  number  of 
100  families  or  householders,  they  shall  set  up  a   grammar  schoole,  the   master 


238  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STA  TES. 

thereof  being  able  to  instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  University: 
provided  that  if  any  town  neglect  the  performance  hereof  above  one  yeare,  every 
such  towne  shall  pay  five  shillings  to  the  next  schoole  till  they  shall  perform  this  order. 

"This  notable  law,"  says  Hon.  Joseph  White,*  "giving  voice  as  it  did  to  the 
convictions  of  the  people,  was  every-where  cheerfully  obeyed.  On  every  side,  as 
the  ancient  forests  gave  way  before  the  hardy  pioneers,  in  their  slow  but  sure 
advance  from  the  seaboard  into  the  interior,  the  meeting-house  and  the  school- 
house  arose  side  by  side  with  the  log  huts  of  the  settlers,  thus  converting  the  des- 
ol.ite  places  of  the  wilderness  into  the  homes  of  a  Christian  people — the  'seed- 
plots  '  of  a  higher  and  purer  life,  for  ages  yet  to  come. 

"  No  grander  spectacle  is  presented  in  the  history  of  any  people  than  that  of 
these  ancient  men  tlius  struggling  for  a  scanty  subsistence  amid  the  privations  and 
dangers  of  border  life,  and  often  for  life  itself,  against  the  attacks  of  a  stealthy  and 
relentless  foe,  and  yet,  as  if  with  a  prophetic  prevision  of  the  future,  sparing  no 
effort,  and  in  their  deep  poverty  shrinking  from  no  sacrifice  of  time  or  money 
needful  to  plant  the  pillars  of  the  new  Commonwealth — their  beloved  '  New  En- 
gland^' as  they  were  wont  to  call  it — on  the  everlasting  foundations  of  universal 
intelligence  and  virtue. 

"Thus,  within  a  single  score  of  years  from  the  landing  on  the  shores  of  the 
bay,  the  new  State  is  successfully  launched,  fully  equipped  for  the  voyage,  we  trust, 
of  all  the  ages,  with  a  good  array  of  towns,  each  with  a  government  wisely  adapted 
to  its  needs,  and  all  bound  together  by  the  strong  bonds  of  a  vigorous  central  gov- 
ernment of  their  own  creation,  and  administered  for  the  common  good,  while  the 
meeting-house  and  the  school-house  in  every  township,  and  '  y«  Universitie'  at 
Cambridge,  were  all  working  together  '  for  the  building  up  of  hopeful  youths  in  a 
way  of  learning,  ...  for  the  service  of  the  coimtry  in  future  times.'  " 

From  our  present  stand-point  the  school  system  of  New  England 
in  the  colonial  era  seems  very  crude  and  rude,  but  it  was  far  in 
advance  of  other  sections  of  the  country.  In  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York  in  those  times  there  were  no  school-houses  outside  of 
villages  or  town  centers,  and  the  children  walked  to  school  for 
miles  through  regions  infested  with  savage  beasts.f  In  the  south- 
ern States,  and  especially  in  South  Carolina,  according  to  Ramsay, 
education,  outside  of  some  wealthy  families,  was  almost  wholly  neg- 
lected, no  grammar  school  existing  prior  to  1730,  and  from  173 1 
and    1776  only  five. 

The  number  of  newspapers  published  in  any  community  is 
supposed  to  be  no  mean  gauge  of  the  education  of  the  people. 
We  find  in  1775,  in  the  entire  country,  thirty-seven  papers  in  circu- 
lation. Fourteen  of  them  were  in  New  England,  four  in  New  York, 
nine  in  Pennsylvania,  two  each  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  one 
in  Georgia,  and  three  in  South  Carolina.  X 

*  Report  of  Massachusefts   Board  of   Education,  1875,  1876,9.119.      For  fuller  information 
see  also  the  Twenty-ninth  Report,  1866,  pp.  70-87. 

t  See  Li/e  0/  Dr.  Charles  Alexander,  pp.  11,  12.     See  Life  of  Charles  Caldiuell,  p.  64. 

X  McMaster's  History  0/ the  People  0/ the  United  States.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.     1884.     P.  27. 


ACADEMIES.  239 

Down  to  the  dose  of  the  Revolution  only  three  States— Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire— had  town  schools.  * 

Academies. 

The  grammar  schools  in  Boston,  Dorchester,  Roxbury,  Cam- 
bridge, Salem,  New  Haven,  Hartford,  etc.,  soon  rose  to  the  grade 
of  more  advanced  schools.     Mather  says  : 

When  scholars  had  so  far  profited  at  the  grammar  schools  that  they  could  read 
any  classical  author  into  English,  and  readily  make  and  speak  true  Latin,  and  write  it 
in  verse  as  well  as  in  prose,  and  perfectly  decline  the  paradigms  of  nouns  and 
verbs  in  the  Qreek  tongue,  they  were  judged  capable  of  admission  into  Harvard 
College.t 

Such  was  the  standard  of  scholarship  of  this  period.  But  no 
institutions  under  the  distinctive  title  of  academies  arose  in  Mas- 
sachusetts till  a  later  date  : 

Dummer  Academy,  at  South  Byfield,  Mass..  in  1763. 
Phillips  Academy,  at  Andover.  Mass.,  in  1778. 
Leicester  Academy,  at  Leicester,  Mass..  in  1784. 
Derby  Academy,  at  Hingham,  Mass.,  in  1785. 
New  Salem  Academy,  at  New  Salem.  Mass.,  in  1795. 
Bristol  Academy,  at  Taunton,  Mass.,  in  1796. 
Westford  Academy,  at  West  ford,  Mass.,  in  1792. 
Deerfield  Academy,  at  Deerfield,  Mass.,  in  1799. 
''        Westfield  Academy,  at  Westfield,  Mass.,  in  1800. 

Of  the  academies:}:  founded  in  Massachusetts  prior  to  1800,  six 
were  o-iven,  as  an  endowment,  a  township  of  land  each  ;  one  15,000 
acres,  and  others  a  half  of  a  township  each.  These  lands  were 
located  in  Maine,  then  a  province  of  Massachusetts.  "  The  term 
•academy,'  which  in  the  mother  country  had  been  applied  to  semi- 
naries of  learning  established  by  non-conformists,  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the  Church  of  England,  seems  to 
have  been  applied  very  naturally  by  the  sons  of  the  Puritans  to 
similar  institutions  in  this  country,  and  though  not  confined  to 
schools  founded  by  Congregationalists,  was  very  generally  applied 

to  such."  § 

Dr.  Magoun  I  sums  up  as  follows  the  secondary  institutions  of  the 
colonial  period  :  "  Aside  from  those  which  preceded  or  grew  into 
colleges— Moor's    Charity  School  ;    Liberty    Hall,    Pennsylvania ; 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Magoiin  in  New  Englander,  1877,  p.  483. 

t  Mather's  Magnalia.     Vol.  II.  p.  64,  Sec.  4. 

\  See  Fortieth  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education.  Appendix,  pp.  174-347. 

§  David  N.  Camp,  Esq.  I  ^ew  Englander,  1877,  pp.  483.  484- 


240  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Prince  Edward  University  Grammar  School.  Rhode  Island — there 
were  Kingston  (1774),  Rutgers  Grammar  (1770,  coeval  with  the  col- 
lege), Columbia  and  Dunmore  (1763),  Germantown  (1760),  Hope- 
well (1756),  the  three  Hopkins  schools  at  New  Haven,  Hartford, 
and  Hadley  (1660,  1665,  1669),  and  the  Boston  Latin  (1635) — all 
before  the  Revolution.  But  there  were  private  Latin  schools  ear- 
lier than  these ;  and  it  was  common  for  clergymen  to  take  academic 
pupils.  Mr.  Chauncy  did  so  at  Scituate.  Before  Manning  and 
and  Stelle,  in  Warsaw  and  Providence,  Roger  Williams  did  so  in 
1654.  No  public  school  then  existed  in  Rhode  Island,  an  attempt 
at  Newport,  in  1640,  having  failed.  Dorchester  had  a  Latin 
school,  mixed  in  its  support,  in  1639,  and  Hartford  in  163S.  The 
year  before  this  Ezekiel  Cheever  had  arrived  at  New  Haven,  and 
his  school  there  for  twelve  years — preparing  students  for  Harvard 
— was  of  the  same  mixed  character.  That  of  Daniel  Maude,  at 
Boston,  two  years  earlier  still  (1636)  seems  to  have  been  altogether 
private,  supported  by  contributions  of  Winthrop,  Vane,  and  Bel- 
lingham." 


Section  2.—Tlie  Colleges. 
Harvard  College 

was  founded  by  the  Puritans,  or  Congregationalists.  The  propor- 
tion of  the  first  New  England  colonists  who  had  received  a  classical 
education  exceeded  that  in  England.  Not  less  than  twenty  of  the 
4,000  who  came  to  Massachusetts  Bay  in  the  first  five  years 
had  been  educated  at  the  English  universities,  most  of  whom 
were  clergj-men  not  inferior  in  culture  to  those  of  the  mother 
country.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  even  while  struggling  for 
an  existence  in  new  and  scattered  settlements,  under  the  heavy 
expenses  incident  to  laying  the  foundation  of  the  colony,  they 
should  entertain  a  purpose  of  establishing  a  college.  "  It  is  an 
object  near  our  hearts,"  they  said  "  to  have  an  able  and  learned 
ministry  when  those  of  the  present  age  are  laid  in  their  graves." 

The  first  step  toward  founding  Harvard  College  was  a  grant  of 
;^400  by  the  magistrates  and  deputies  of  Massachusetts,  in  1636, 
for  a  "  school  or  college  "  at  Cambridge,  with  an  order  that  ^^200 
more*  should  soon  be  added.     An  able  committee  was  designated 

*  Equivalent  to  a  tax  of  half  a  dollar  to  every  person  in  the  colony.  Governor  Winthrop  said. 
"  It  W21S  equ2il  to  a  year's  rate  of  the  whole  colony."  Such  a  tax  in  Massachusetts  at  the 
present  time  would  yield  $900,000. 


HARVARD  COLLEGE. 


241 


to  carry  out  the  plan.  In  1637,  it  was  denominated  a  college  ; 
Nathaniel  Eaton  was  appointed  principal,  and  on  the  bequest  of 
nearly  ;^8oo  from  Rev.  John  Harvard  of  Charlestown  it  received  the 
name  of  Harvard  College.  In  1639,  the  Legislature  granted  five 
hundred  acres  of  land  to  Mr.  Eaton,  on  condition  that  he  should 
continue  his  labors,  and  ordered  the  income  from  the  Charles- 
town  ferry  {£lo  to  ;^50  yearly)  to  be  appropriated  to  the  institu- 
tion. 

Mr.  Harvard  also  bequeathed  his  library  of  320  volumes,  which 
example  was  followed  by  many  other  clergymen  of  that  time,  and 
other  grants  of  land  were  made  by  the  General  Court.  All  the 
towns  in  the  colony  also  contributed  funds,  which  soon  reached 
i^2,ooo,  in  addition  to  the  first  donations  of  the  Legislature  and  that 
of  Mr.  Harvard. 

In  the  year  1640  Rev.  Henry  Dunster,  a  very  estimable  and 
learned  man,  came  over  from  England  and  was  installed  president 
of  the  college.  He  had  been  educated  at  one  of  the  English  uni- 
versities, and  had  served  as  a  regular  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England.  He  was  at  the  head  of  Harvard  College  from  1640  to 
1654,  during  which  time  many  young  men  were  educated  who 
became  eminent  for  learning  and  piety.  The  first  printing  estab- 
lishment in  America  was  founded  at  Cambridge,  in  1638. 

Presidents  of  Harvard  College  from  1640  to  1775. 


When 
inducted. 


1640 
1654 
1672 
1671; 
1683 
1686 
I7OI 
1707 
1725 
1737 
1770 

1774 


NAMES. 


Rev.  Henry  Dunsler,  A.M 

Rev.  Charles  Cliauncy,  D.  D 

Rev.  Leonard  Hoar.  M.D 

Rev.  Urian  Oakes,  A.M 

Hon.  John  Rogers,  A.M 

Rev.  Increase  Mather.  D. D*.. .... 

Rev.  Samuel  Willard.  A..M.... 

Hon.  John  Leverelt,  A.M.,  F.R.S. 

Rev.  Benj.  Widsworth,  A.M 

Rev.  Edward  Holyoke.  A.M 

Rev.  Samuel  Locke,  LL.D 

Rev.  Samuel  Lanodon,   D.D 


Resigned. 


1654 
1675 

1 701 


1773 
1780 


Died. 


1659 
1672 
1675 
1681 
1684 
1723 
1707 
1724 

1737 
1769 

1777 
1797 


Age. 


81 
45 
50 
53 
84 
67 
62 
68 
80 
44 
75 


In  1652  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  granted  to  the  college 
800  acres  of  land  ;  in  1653,  2, ocxd  acres  ;  in  1658,  2,100  acres  ;  in  1683, 
I, coo  acres.f  In  the  course  of  the  colonial  and  provincial  periods, 
the  Legislature  made  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  three  distinct 
grants  to  this  college.:}:     President  Quincy  declares f  that,  during 

♦First  President  of  American  birth.     ^  Hist,  of  Harvard  Univfrsity.   ByQuincj'.  Vol.  1,  p.  40. 
J  Report  of  Visiting  Committee,  1849,  p.  24. 
16 


242  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  first  seventy  years  of  its  history  '*  its  officers  were  dependent 
for  daily  bread  upon  the  bounty  of  the  General  Court."  Numerous 
presents  and  legacies  were  given  to  the  college,  "toward  establish- 
ing for  learning  a  resting-place,  and  for  science  a  fixed  habitation, 
on  the  borders  of  the  wilderness."  Between  1636  and  1786  the 
colony  gave  Harvard  College  $116,000  in  small  sums,  being  an 
average  of  $773  a  year. 

The  foundation  and  growth  of  the  venerable  seat  of  learning  at 
Cambridge  show  the  high  intellectual  and  religious*  character  of  the 
New  England  colonists.  The  mottos  upon  two  of  its  ancient  seals 
are  " /«  gloriam  ChristV  and  "  Christo  et  Ecclesiae."  Pre-eminent 
among  its  benefactors  was  Thomas  Mollis,  who  sent  numerous 
installments  of  books  from  England  for  the  library.  In  1766  he 
wrote  to  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew.  "  More  books,  especially  on  govern- 
ment, are  going  to  New  England.  Should  these  go  safe  it  is  hoped 
that  no  principal  books  on  this  first  subject  will  be  wanting  in 
Harvard  College,  from  the  days  of  Moses  to  these  times.  Men  of 
New  England,  brethren,  use  them  for  yourselves  and  for  others, 
and  God  bless  you  !  "  f 

Again,  after  expressing  great  affection  for  the  people  of  New 
England  and  his  confidence  in  them  as  good  and  brave,  he  says, 
"  Long  may  they  continue  such,  and  the  spirit  of  luxury,  now  con- 
suming us  to  the  very  marrow  here  at  home,  be  kept  out  from 
them  !  Our  likeliest  means  to  that  end  will  be  to  watch  well  over 
their  youth  by  bestowing  on  them  a  reasonable,  manly  education  ; 
and  securing  thereto  the  wisest,  ablest,  most  accomplished  of  men 
that  art  or  wealth  can  obtain  ;  for  nations  rise  and  fall  by  individ- 
uals, not  numbers,  as  I  think  all  history  proveth.  With  ideas  of 
this  kind  have  I  worked  for  the  public  library  at  Cambridge,  in 
New  England."  The  writings  of  Milton,  Sidney,  Marvell,  Lock, 
and  Harrington,  almost  all  tinctured  with  republican  notions,  were 
included  in  Mr.  Hollis's  collections,  and  doubtless  contributed 
largely  to  the  spread  of  the  spirit  of  republicanism  among  the 
young  men  of  New  England. 

The  College  of  William  and  Mary 

was  founded  by  the  Episcopalians.  As  early  as  1660  the  Colonial 
Assembly  of  Virginia  passed  an  act  "  for  the  establishment 
and  endowment  of  a  college."  Twenty-eight  years  passed  in 
inaction.     After  Rev.  James  Blair,  D.D.,  came  to  the  colony,   in 

*  See  pp.  130-132  of  this  volume.  t  AVw  Englander,  July,  1877,  p.  454. 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.  243 

1685,  the  subject  was  again  agitated.  This  eminent  divine  "  was 
deeply  affected  with  the  low  state  of  both  learning  and  piety 
in  the  colony,  and,  as  the  most  effective  means  of  elevating  both, 
resolved,  if  possible,  to  secure  the  establishment  of  a  college.  With 
a  view  to  this  he  set  on  foot  a  subscription  which,  being  headed  by 
the  governor  and  his  council,  soon  amounted  to  ^2,500.  In  the 
first  Assembly  held  by  Nicholson,  in  1691,  the  project  of  the  college 
was  warmly  seconded,  and  recommended  to  the  patronage  of  their 
Majesties.  Mr.  Blair,  being  appointed  to  present  the  address, 
crossed  the  ocean  to  execute  the  trust  ;  and  both  William  and  Mary 
received  the  plan  with  marked  favor."*  The  crown  gave  him 
"  ;{;2,ooo  and  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land,  and  a  penny  a  pound  on 
tobacco  exported  from  Virginia  and  Maryland."  f  On  the  14th  of 
February,  1692,  a  charter  for  the  college  was  granted,  the  Bishop  of 
London  being  appointed  chancellor,  Mr.  Blair  president,  and  the 
college  was  named  William  and  Mary.  The  Assembly  gave  "  a  duty 
on  skins  and  furs  for  its  plentiful  endowment."  X  Jefferson  says  § 
the  Assembly  also  gave  the  college  "  a  duty  on  liquors  invDorted," 
and  that  "  from  these  sources  it  received  upward  of  ;^3,000  co?n- 
munibus  annis."  Among  the  most  liberal  contributors  to  the  col- 
lege in  Great  Britain  was  Robert  Boyle,  who  was  particularly  anx- 
ious for  the  education  of  Indians.  The  care  of  the  college  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  close  corporation,  all  of  the  Church  of  England.  The 
professors  were  required  to  subscribe  to  the  Church  of  England, 
and  the  students  to  learn  and  recite  the  catechism.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolution  it  is  said  \  to  have  become  the  richest  col- 
lege in  America,  but  it  subsequently  declined  in  funds  and 
influence. 

In  Virginia  "  the  son  of  the  great  landed  proprietor  usually  grew 
up  to  manhood  on  his  father's  plantation,  rode  every  morning 
attended  by  his  servant  to  the  school  kept  in  the  neighboring  parish 
by  a  clergyman  of  the  English  Church,  passed  thence  to  William 
and  Mary  College,  spent  a  winter  at  Richmond,  and  came  back 
to  the  old  hall  an  aspirant  for  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Deputies. 
His  opinions  respecting  forms  of  government  and  forms  of  creed 
were  not  the  result  of  long  study  or  of  deep  meditation,  but  were 
inherited  with  his  estate,  which  passed  from  father  to  son  by  the 
strictest  laws  of  entail."  ^ 

*  Annals  of  the  American  Episcopal  Pulpit.     By  Rev.  William  B.  Sprague,  D.D.     P.  8. 
+  B  rk's  History  0/  Virginia.     Vol.  II,  pp.  312-314-  t  ^urk.    Vol.  II,  p.  316. 

§  Notes  on  Virginia.  I  Kiddle  and  Schem,  p.  853. 

\  History  o/the  People  0/ the  United  States.     By  M'Master.     Vol.  I,  p.  74- 


244  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Yale  College 

was  founded  by  the  Congregationalists.  Rev.  John  Davenport,  of 
New  Haven,  as  early  as  1652  made  a  proposition  to  the  govern- 
ment of  that  colony  respecting  the  establishment  of  a  college 
within  their  jurisdiction.  The  project  was  delayed  for  a  while. 
"  We  should  not,  however,  infer,"  says  President  Dwight,*  *'  that  the 
colonists  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  were  less  friendly  to 
learning  than  those  of  Massachusetts.  The  project  of  establishing 
a  college  in  each  of  these  colonies  was  very  early  taken  up,  but 
was  checked  by  well-founded  remonstrances  from  Massachusetts. 
It  was  very  justly  observed,  that  the  whole  population  of  New 
England  was  scarcely  sufficient  to  support  one  institution  of  this 
kind,  and  that  the  establishment  of  the  second  would,  in  the  end, 
be  a  sacrifice  of  both.  These  objections  put  a  stop  to  the  design 
for  a  considerable  time."  The  number  of  students  who  resorted  to 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  for  collegiate  training,  from  the  Hartford  and 
New  Haven  colonies,  bore  a  fair  proportion  to  the  students  from 
the  territory  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  among  them  were  a  considerable 
number  who  became  eminent  ministers  in  Massachusetts,  Connec- 
ticut and  New  Jersey.  But  the  distance  by  the  inconvenient 
methods  of  travel  in  those  days  was  an  urgent  reason  for  a  college 
nearer  home. 

In  1698  a  synod  of  the  churches  devised  a  plan  for  erecting  a 
college  in  Connecticut,  and  appointed  eleven  trustees,  who  met  in 
New  Haven,  in  1700,  and  resolved  to  establish  a  college.  Subse- 
quently each  one  brought  books  from  his  library  and  formally 
devoted  them  to  the  founding  of  the  college.  This  act  has  been 
regarded  as  the  beginning  of  the  institution.  Rev.  Messrs.  Pier- 
pont  of  New  Haven,  Andrew,  of  Milford.  and  Russell,  of  Branford. 
were  the  most  active  in  the  project.  Hon.  James  Fitch,  of  Nor- 
wich, donated  six  hundred  acres  of  land,  in  the  town  of  Killingly, 
to  the  college,  with  glass  and  nails  for  the  buildings  ;  and  on  the 
9th  day  of  October,  1701,  the  Colonial  Legislature  granted  a  char- 
ter. Rev.  Abram  Pierson,  of  Killingly,  was  chosen  president,  and 
Saybrook  was  designated  as  the  location.  Disputes  arose,  and 
though  the  institution  was  commenced,  yet  it  remained  in  an 
unsettled  condition  until  17 16,  when  it  was  removed  to  New 
Haven,  where  a  wooden  edifice  was  completed  in  1718.  Elihu 
Yale,  Esq.,  of  London,  Governor  of  the  East  India  Company,  made 


•  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight's  Travels  in  New  England  and  Nav  York.    Vol.  I,  p.  i6S. 


YALE  AND  PRINCETON. 


243 


liberal   donations  of  books,  goods  and  money,  in  honor  of  whose 
generosity  the  institution  was  called  Yale  College.* 

Presidents  of  Yale  College. 


When 
inducted. 


NAMES. 


Resigned. 

Died. 

1707 

1722 

1765 

1739 

1755 

1766 

1767 

1777 

1780 

.... 

1795 

1817 

Age. 


1701 
I719 
1726 

1739 
1766 

1777 
1795 


Rev.  Abram  Piersoii,  A.M 

Rev.  Timotliy  Cutler,  D.D 

Rev.  Elisha  Williams,  A.M 

Rev.  Thomas  Clapp,  A.M 

Rev.  Naphtali  Daggett,  D.D 

Rev.  Ezra  Styles,  D.D.,  LL.D 

Rev.  Timothy  Dwight.  D.D..  LL.D.. 


60 
82 
60 
63 
53 
68 

65 


Princeton  College 

was  founded  by  the  Presbyterians.  Down  to  1746,  in  the  vast 
area  between  Connecticut  and  Virginia,  there  was  no  educational 
institution  authorized  to  confer  degrees.  What  was  termed  the 
**  Log  College,"  at  Neshamany,  near  Philadelphia,  had  existed 
since  1726,  under  the  care  and  patronage  of  the  Presbyterians. 
Students  were  taught  the  classics  and  divinity,  but  degrees  were 
not  conferred.  It  was  the  germ  of  Princeton  College.  In  1746  the 
charter  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  as  it  was  first  called,  was 
obtained  under  the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  New 
York,  and  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson  of  Elizabethtown,  N,  J.,  was 
the  first  president.  Mr.  Dickinson  died  the  following  year.  In 
the  first   year  there  were   about  twenty  students,  boarding  in  the 

♦The  following  are  some  of  the  rules  of  Yale  College,  in  1720,  which  the  students  were 
obliged  to  copy,  so  that  they  could  not  plead  ignorance  of  them  : 

"All  students  shall  be  slow  to  speak,  and  avoid  (and  as  much  as  in  them  lies  take  care  that 
others  may  avoid)  prophane  swearing,  lying  and  needless  asseverations,  foolish  garrulity,  chiding, 
strife,  railing,  reproaching:,  abusive  jesting,  uncomely  noise,  spreading  ill  rumors,  divulging 
secrets,  and  all  manner  of  troublesome  and  offensive  behaviour." 

"  No  student  shcill,  under  any  pretence  whatsoever,  use  familiar  acquaintance  of  persons  of 
unquiet  and  dissolute  lives,  nor  intermeddle  with  other  men's  business,  nor  intrude  himself  into 
the  chambers  of  other  students,  *  *  *  or  go  a  fowling  or  hunting  without  the  leave  of  his  Proc- 
tor or  tutor,  nor  shall  any  student  be  absent  from  his  chamber  after  nine  of  the  clock  at  night, 
nor  watch  after  eleven,  nor  have  a  light  before  four  in  the  morning,  except  of  extraordinary 
occasions." 

"  Every  undergradute  shall  be  called  by  his  surname  unless  he  be  the  son  of  a  nobleman  or  a 
knight's  eldest  son." 

"  Seeing  God  is  the  giver  of  all  wisdome,  every  scholar,  besides  private  or  secret  prayer,  wherein 
all  we  are  bound  to  ask  wisdome,  shall  be  present  morning  and  evening  at  publick  prayerin  the 
hall  at  the  accustomed  hour,  which  is  to  be  ordinarily  at  six  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  Irom  the 
tenth  of  March  to  the  tenth  of  September,  and  then  again  to  the  tenth  of  March,  at  sunrising,  at 
between  four  and  five  of  the  clock,  all  the  year  long  " 

"  No  scholar  shall  use  the  English  tongue  in  the  collegiate  school  with  his  fellow  scholars 
unless  he  be  called  to  public  exercises  proper  to  be  attended  in  the  tongue,  but  scholars  in  their 
chambers  and  when  they  are  together  shall  talk  latine." 


246  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

family  of  the  president  and  other  neighboring  families,  no  public 
buildings  then  existing.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Dickinson  the 
students  were  removed  to  Newark  and  placed  under  the  care  of 
Rev.  Aaron  Burr,  who  succeeded  in  the  presidency.  The  first 
commencement  was  held  November  9,  1748,  when  six  young  mei 
received  the  degree  A.  B.  To  this  tims  the  institution  was  with- 
out funds.  Small  contributions  were  gathered  in  America  durin;^ 
several  following  years;  and  in  1753  two  agents,  Revs.  Gilbert 
Tennent  and  Samuel  Davies,  solicited  benefactions  in  Great 
Britain,  which  were  bestowed  beyond  the  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions. The  inhabitants  of  Princeton  having  provided  for  the  insti- 
tution two  hundred  acres  of  wood-land,  ten  acres  of  cleared  land, 
and  i^  1,000  of  "  proclamation  money,"  it  was  resolved,  in  1753,  to 
establish  the  college  in  that  place.  The  buildings  were  at  once 
erected,  the  principal  one  receiving  the  name  of  Nassau  Hall,  in 
honor  of  William  III.,  Prince  of  Orange  and  Nassau.  The  build- 
ings were  ready  for  occupancy  in  1656.  Two  days  before  the  com- 
mencement, in  1756,  President  Burr  died;  and  Rev.  Jonathan 
Edwards  D.D.,  of  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  father-in-law  of  Mr.  Burr, 
was  subsequently  elected  his  successor.  Mr.  Edwards  arrived  at 
Princeton  in  January,  1758,  and  on  the  22d  day  of  the  following 
March  died  of  small-pox. 

August  16,  1758,  Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  D.D.,  of  Virginia,  was 
chosen  president,  and  entered  upon  his  duties  in  1759.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1761,  Mr  Davies  died.  In  June,  1761,  Rev.  Samuel  Finlay, 
D.D.,  was  chosen  president,  and  died  in  1766.  Rev.  John  Wither- 
spoon,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  Scotland,  succeeded  Mr.  Finlay,  in  1768. 
All  the  men  prominently  connected  with  Princeton  College,  as 
founders  and  presidents,  except  Dr.  Witherspoon,  were  actively 
associated  with  the  great  Whitefieldian  and  Edwardian  revivals  of 
religion. 

Columbia  College 

was  founded  and  governed  chiefly  by  the  Episcopalians.  From  its 
founding  until  1784  it  was  called  King's  College.  The  earliest 
mention  of  this  institution  is  in  the  records  of  Trinity  Church,  in 
1703,  when  some  preliminary  inquiries  looking  toward  its  establish- 
ment were  made.  Its  founding  was,  however,  delayed  until 
1746,  when  by  a  public  lottery,  *'  for  the  encouragement  of  learning," 
;^2,250  was  raised  for  this  purpose.  In  1751  the  fund  had 
increased  to  j^3,443  i8s;  and  in  1754  the  charter  was  granted. 
Its   first  president.  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  D.D.,  a  native  of  Guil- 


COLUMBIA  COLLEGE.  2^7 

ford,  Conn.,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  the  first  tutor  in  that 
institution  on  its  removal  from  Saybrook  to  New  Haven,  was  an 
eminent  man  in  the  ranks  of  scholarship  and  literature.  Originally 
a  member  of  a  Puritan  Church  in  Connecticut,  he  early  exhibited 
a  predilection  for  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  in  1723  was  received 
into  that  communion. 

Eight  young  men  constituted  the  first  class  entering  this  col- 
lege. Among  its  first  governors  were  ministers  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch,  the  Lutheran,  the  French  Protestant,  and  the  Presbyterian 
churches.  The  charter  provided  that  no  laws  should  be  adopted 
"  to  exclude  any  person  of  any  religious  denomination  whatever 
from  equal  liberty,  advantages,"  etc.  The  annual  charge  for 
tuition  was  equivalent  to  about  $17  of  our  money,  and  the  salary 
of  the  president  was  ;^25o.  Trinity  Church  made  the  president  an 
assistant  minister,  with  a  yearly  compensation  of  ^^150.  In  1755. 
Trinity  Church  "  granted  to  the  college  a  piece  of  ground  in  '  the 
West  Ward,'  bounded  by  Church,  Barclay  and  Murray  streets,  and 
running  down  to  the  North  River,  on  condition  that  the  president 
should  always  be  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  that  the 
college  prayers  should  be  drawn  from  the  Prayer  Book.  The  con- 
sideration was  the  sum  of  ten  shillings  and  an  annual  rental  of  a 
pepper  corn."  The  corporation  held  its  first  meeting  May  17,  1755. 
A  building  was  soon  erected.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  August 
23,  1756,  by  the  governor,  Sir  Charles  Hardy,  who  presented  the 
college  ;^500. 

In  1760  the  building  was  completed,  and  President  Johnson  "  set 
up  house-keeping  and  tuition  there."  The  officers  and  students 
•'  messed  "  in  the  institution.  In  1762,  Dr.  James  Jay,  of  England, 
solicited  funds  for  the  college,  collecting  nearly  ^^"6,000,  including  a 
special  donation  of  ;iC6oo  from  George  III.  An  estate  of  ;^9,ooo 
was  bequeathed  to  the  institution  by  Mr.  Joseph  Murray,  and  Dr. 
Bristowe,  of  England,  gave  a  library  of  1,500  volumes.  In  1763  Dr. 
Johnston  resigned  the  presidency  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Myles 
Cooper,  Fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford.  At  this  time  a  gram- 
mar school  was  established,  in  connection  with  the  college,  under 
Mr.  Matthew  Cushing,  from  Charlestown,  Mass.  In  1767,  twenty- 
four  thousand  acres  of  land  were  granted  to  the  college  by  the  prov- 
ince ;  but  the  grant  was  unfortunately  located,  so  that  ultimately  it 
was  included  in  the  lands  ceded  to  Vermont,  without  any  compen- 
sation to  the  college.  In  1769  a  medical  department  was  founded. 
Alexander  Hamilton  was  matriculated  in  1774.  In  1776  the  insti- 
tution was  broken    up,   and   British  troops   occupied   it  until   the 


248  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

English  evacuated  New  York,  in  November,  1783.  Prior  to  1773 
one  hundred  students  were  educated  within  the  walls  of  King's 
College,  many  of  whom  attained  the  highest  distinction  in  their 
professions. 

Dartmouth  College 

was  founded  by  Congregationalists,  Elsewhere*  the  origin  of  the 
Moor  school,  kept  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  by  Rev.  Eleazar  Wheelock, 
D.D.,  for  fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  was  sketched.  To  increase  its 
usefulness  Dr.  Wheelock  resolved  to  remove  it  to  a  new  locality, 
and  have  it  incorporated  as  an  academy.  Offers  were  received  from 
three  towns  in  Berkshire  County,  Mass.,  and  from  Albany,  N.  Y. 
In  New  Hampshire  several  thousand  acres  of  land  were  offered. 
Finally  the  western  part  of  New  Hampshire  was  fixed  upon,  and  a 
charter,  dated  December  13,  1769,  was  obtained  for  a  college,  endowed 
partly  by  Governor  Wentworth,  and  partly  by  private  individuals, 
with  about  40,000  acres  of  land.  In  all  these  steps  Dr.  Wheelock 
was  the  leading  spirit,  and  in  the  charter  he  is  called  "  the  founder 
of  the  college." 

In  August,  1770,  Dr.  Wheelock  took  leave  of  Lebanon.  Conn., 
and  proceeded  to  Hanover,  N.  H.,  to  make  preparation  for  his  family 
and  pupils  in  the  wilderness.  Pine-trees  were  felled,  and  without 
nails  or  glass  he  built  a  log-cabin.  Then  with  the  aid  of  forty  or  fifty 
laborers  other  buildings  were  erected,  a  well  dug,  and  about  the  first 
of  November  the  institution  was  ready  to  commence  operations. 
The  first  commencement  was  held  in  August,  1771,  when  four  young 
men  were  graduated,  one  of  whom,  John  Wheelock,  son  of  Dr. 
Wheelock,  became  his  successor  in  the  presidency  of  the  school  and 
of  the  college ;  and  another,  Mr.  Ripley,  was  the  first  professor  of 
theology  in  the  college.  Dr.  Wheelock  lived  to  preside  at  seven 
other  commencements,  and  conferred  the  usual  college  degrees  upon 
seventy-two  young  men,  of  whom  thirty-nine  became  ministers  of 
the  Gospel.  Revivals  of  religion  were  enjoyed  in  the  college  in 
1771  and  in  the  winter  of  1774-75.  It  should  be  added,  that  the 
Moor  school,  which  was  removed  from  Lebanon,  Conn.,  was  not 
blended  with  Dartmouth  College,  but  was  kept  separate  and  dis- 
tinct, though  located  at  the  same  place,  and  it  was  to  this  school 
that  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  was  benefactor,  and  not  to  the  college. 
The  Indian  college  did  not  succeed. 

Dartmouth  College  was  amply  endowed,  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire giving  it  78,000  acres  in  successive  grants,  and  the  Legislature 

♦  See  pp.  144,  191,  192. 


OTHER  COLLEGES.  249 

of  Vermont  the  town  of  Wheelock.  This  liberality  made  it  the 
best  endowed  of  any  college  in  New  England  at  that  time.  Sub- 
sequently, however,  it  became  penniless  through  bad  management. 

Brown  University, 

the  first  Baptist  college  in  America,  was  founded  in  1764,  It 
existed  originally  at  Warren,  R.  I.,  where,  in  1769,  its  first  com- 
mencement was  held.  The  following  year  it  was  removed  to  Prov- 
idence. It  took  its  name  from  Nicholas  Brown,  its  most  distin- 
guished benefactor.  In  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  country 
during  the  American  Revolution  its  operations  were  suspended. 
This  institution  was  projected  by  the  Philadelphia  Association  of 
Baptists,  who  sent  James  Manning  to  Newport,  R.  I.,  to  start  it. 
Providence  raised  for  it  ;^4,28o,  and  other  towns  iJ^4,(X)0,  as  early 
as  1770. 

Rutgers  College, 

originally  Queen's,  was  established  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  in  1770, 
by  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church. 

Hampden  Sidney  College, 
in  Prince  Edward  County,  Va.,  was  founded  in  1775. 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania 

was  founded  in  1747,  and  received  its  charter  in  1755,  in  Philadel- 
phia. Its  resources  were  gathered  by  subscription  in  England, 
South  Carolina,  Jamaica  and  Philadelphia.  Thomas  Penn,  one  of 
the  proprietaries,  was  the  largest  contributor. 

The  Washington   and  Lee  University 

was  founded  at  Lexington,  Va.,  in  1782.  The  first  steps  for  its 
founding  were  taken  in  1749,  under  the  name  of  Augusta,  and  sub- 
sequently Liberty  Hall,  Academy,  under  the  control  of  the  Hanover 
Presbytery,  which  secured  subscriptions  and  appointed  trustees, 
attracting  to  it  a  gift  from  General  Washington,  from  whom  it  was 
subsequently  named. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  studies  pursued  in  these  colleges,  they 
were  for  theological  as  well  as  secular  education.  "  At  Harvard, 
Hebrew,  Chaldee  and  Syriac,  as  well  as  New  Testament  Greek  and 
catechetical  theology,  were  taught.  ...  In  Yale,  from  the  first,  the 
Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testament  was  translated  into  Greek,  and  the 
Latin  New  Testament  into  Greek  at  the  beginning  of  every  recita- 


260 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


tion.  The  Assembly's  Catechism  in  Latin  was  recited  every  Satur- 
day evening ;  Ames's  Medulla  TheologuB  Saturday  mornings,  and 
\{\%  Cases  of  Conscience 'tiMn^^y  vi\oxx\\nos.  Thirty  years  after  Wolle- 
biers's  Theology  was  taught.  Every  student  was  required  to  study 
these  things.  There  were  also,  from  an  early  day,  college  lectures 
in  ecclesiastical  history,  and  a  professorship  of  divinity.  Harvard 
had  the  latter  twenty-five  years  earlier.  At  Harvard,  if  any  scholar 
transgressed  the  laws  of  God,  or  of  the  school,  he  was  to  be  cor- 
rected or  publicly  admonished.  One  must  be  able  'to  render  the 
orignals  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  into  Latin  and  resolve 
them  logically,  withal  being  of  godly  life  and  conversation,'  in  order 
to  receive  the  first  degree."  * 

Graduates  from  Colleges  in  the  Colonial  Period. 


PERIODS. 

•0 

t 

« 

s 

-0 
c 
« 

.2  >; 

—   u 

> 

c 

0 

v 
u 

c 

•= 
p.. 

n 

"o 
0 

c 
2 

3 
1 

Q 

t 

a 
Pi 

n-a 

1638  to  1700 

1700  to  1710 

1711  to  1720.. .  .  .  . 

1721  to  1730 

I73I 101740 

1741  to  1750 

1751  to  1760 

17.61  to  1770 

I77I 101776 

446 

122 

365 
312 
239 
270 

422 
278 

«■= 

«.2  j: 
fit  u-- 

=  .2  5. 
•0  u 

32 

56 

141 

179 

219 
290 

325 
176 

I( 

14 
19 
13 

2 
2 

7 

17 

52 
42 

II 

42 

4: 

5 

Total 

2,605 

I.4I8 

490 

III 

53 

43 

•• 

NOTE.— The  data  for  the  above  table  have   been  collected   from  valuable  articles  in  the  American 
Quarterly  Register,  by  John  Farmer  Esq.     Vol.  VII,  pp.  341,  342,  and  Vol.  IX,  p.  449. 

Rev.  Ezra  Styles,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Yale  College,  in  his 
famous  Election  Sermon,  in  1783,  said,  "  There  are  ten  colleges  in  the 
United  States,  from  New  England  to  Virginia,  inclusive,  besides 
two  intended  ones  in  the  Carolinas.  The  number  of  under-graduates 
in  the  most  considerable  are  estimated  as  follows:  Harvard  Col- 
lege, 150;  William  and  Mary,  100;  Jersey,  60;  Philadelphia,  30; 
Dartmouth,  80." 


Section  5.— EdtLcation  of  tlie  Ministry. 

The  ministers  of  the  churches  in  the  colonial  period  were  almost 
altogether  educated  men — graduates  either  from  the  European  or 
the  early  American  colleges.     Of  the  fifty-two  settled  ministers  in 


*Dr.  Magoun  in  iVew  Englander,  1877,  p.  465. 


STUDENTS  OF   THEOLOGY.  281 

the  Province  of  New  Hampshire  in  1764,  forty-eight  were  grad- 
uates of  colleges.  Of  thirty-two  in  one  county  twenty-nine  were 
graduates  from  Harvard  College,  one  from  Yale,  and  one  from  the 
University  of  Scotland.*  In  all  New  England  the  educated  min- 
istry bore  about  the  same  proportion  to  the  whole  number  as  in  New 
.  Hampshire  ;  and  in  the  other  colonies  the  uneducated  ministers  were 
a  small  minority.  But  there  were  no  theological  seminaries  in  those 
days,  and  the  young  men,  after  graduation,  pursued  the  study  of 
theology  for  several  years  in  the  families  of  the  leading  divines. 
Some  of  them  were  amply  qualified  as  theological  teachers  and 
attracted  many  young  men  around  them,  training  fifty  and  more, 
each,  for  the  ministry,  in  their  long  lives. 

They  thus  gave  character  to  New  England  theology.  Most  of 
them  were  of  the  Edwardian  type.  Soon  after  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing of  1740  Dr.  Bellamy,  of  Bethlehem,  Conn.,  whose  pastorate 
extended  from  1737  to  1790,  began  to  receive  theological  students, 
and  was  a  distinguished  pioneer  in  this  department.  Dr.  Smalley, 
of  New  Britain,  Conn.,  1757-1820;  Dr.  Charles  Backus,  of  Somers, 
Conn.,  1773-1803  ;  Dr.  Levi  Hart,  of  Griswold,  1761-1808,  and  Rev. 
Asahel  Hooker,  of  Goshen  and  Norwich,  Conn.,  1790-1 8 13,  were 
noted  for  this  work.  There  were  also  Rev.  Jedediah  Mills,  of  Hunt- 
ington, Conn.,  1724-1776,  the  instructor  of  David  Brainerd  ;  Dr. 
Wheelock,  of  Lebanon,  a  trainer  of  missionaries  ;  Dr.  Stephen  West, 
of  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  1756-1819;  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins,  of  New- 
port, R.  L,  1742-1803,  and  Dr.  Nathaniel  Emmons,  of  Franklin, 
Mass.,  1769-1840,  all  eminent  teachers  of  theological  students,  who 
did  much  to  mold  New  England  theology. 

Dr.  Asahel  Hooker  taught  thirty-three  students  for  the  ministry ;  Dr.  Charles 
Backus  instructed  about  fifty;  Dr.  Asa  Burton  about  sixty;  Dr.  Bellamy  still 
more,  and  Dr.  Emmons  one  hundred.  Dr.  Smalley  had  in  his  home  only  some 
twenty-five  or  thirty,  but  among  them  was  Dr.  Emmons  himself.  Hon.  Oliver 
Ellsworth,  third  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  and  Jeremiah  Mason,  United 
Slates  Senator  from  New  Hampshire,  both,  on  leaving  Yale  College,  studied  for  a 
time  with  Dr.  Smalley.  The  former  was  in  the  cabinet  of  Washington  and  among 
the  foremost  statesmen  of  his  time.  For  the  latter,  Webster  had  great  admiration, 
and  to  him  acknowledged  large  indebtedness.  Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter,  D.D.,  Pres- 
ident of  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  was  trained  for  the  ministry  by  Dr. 
Smalley  ;  also  Rev.  Andrew  Rawson,  the  great  revival  preacher,  who  led  Titus 
Coan  to  Christ,  afterward  the  missionary  to  Sandwich  Islands,  who  baptized  sev- 
enteen hundred  converts  in  one  day.  Through  his  mark  on  these  distinguished 
men  Dr.  Smalley 's  influence  reached  to  the  high  places  of  the  land  and  touched 
almost  every  important   interest.     Dr.  Bellamy  studied  with  Jonathan    Edwards ; 

*  Congregationl  Quarterly,  July,  1873,  p.  370. 


282  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Dr.  Smalley  studied  with  Dr.  Bellamy ;  Dr.  Emmons  studied  with  Dr.  Smalley. 
What  an  illustrious  line  !  The  ministerial  lives  of  the  three  last  were,  respectively, 
fifty,  sixty-two  and  seventy-one  years,  after  licensure.  Their  combined  ages  were 
two  hundred  and  fifty-three  years.  They  preached  the  Gospel  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  years.  They  were  active  pastors,  without  colleagues,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five  years.  They  trained  two  hundred  students  at  least  for  the  ministry,  and 
gave  to  the  press  several  hundred  publications.  But  the  length  of  the  labors  of 
these  men,  wonderful  as  it  seems  in  these  days,  is  not  altogether  exceptional. 
There  have  been  two  hundred  and  forty  Congregational  ministers  reared  in  Con- 
necticut who  have  had  a  ministry  of  half  a  century  and  over.  Dr.  Smalley  was 
surrounded  by  men  of  this  class.  On  the  south-west,  in  Southington,  Rev.  William 
Robinson  was  settled  forty-one  years.  On  the  south,  in  the  parish  of  Kensington. 
Rev.  Benjamin  Upson,  D.D ,  forty-seven  years,  followed  by  Rev.  Royal  Rohbins, 
forty-five  years.  On  the  east,  in  Newington,  Rev.  Joshua  Belden  was  settled  sixty- 
six  years,  and  an  active  pastor  fifty-eight  years ;  and  Rev.  Joab  Brace,  D.D..  sixty- 
one  years,  and  an  active  pastor  fifty-one  years.  These  two  ministers  also  followed 
each  other.  In  Farmington,  on  the  north,  Rev.  Noah  Porter  was  settled  sixty  one 
years,  and  was  an  active  pastor  fifty-five  years.  Then,  in  the  bordering  towns,  and 
a  little  further  away  in  the  same  Association,  were  many  otlier  half-century  pas- 
torates— Rev.  Dr.  Chapin ,  of  Rocky  Hill,  sixty  years,  and  Dr.  Perkins,  of  West 
Hartford,  sixty-six  years,  and  so  on. 

Dr.  Smalley  exercised  his  commanding  influence  through  his  preaching,  his 
students  and  his  books.  In  1769  he  published  two  sermons  on  Natural  and  Moral 
Inability,  which  widely  circulated  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain.  In  this 
treatise  he  made  a  substantial  contribution  to  the  theological  thinking  of  his  age, 
and  one  which  will  always  remain.  It  was  a  position  which  brought  upon 
him  furious  charges  from  the  older  Calvinists,  who  held  to  the  moral  ruin  of 
man's  entire  nature,  but  the  "new  light"  made  its  way.  Dr.  Emmons  has 
preserved  an  amusing  record  of  his  first  experience  with  this  new-divinity  man  : 
"  When  I  first  went  as  a  pupil  to  Dr.  Smalley  I  was  full  of  old  Calvinism,  and 
thought  I  was  prepared  to  meet  the  doctor  on  all  points  of  his  new  divinity.  For 
some  time  all  things  went  on  smoothly.  At  length  he  began  to  advance  some  sen- 
timents which  were  new  to  me,  or  opposed  to  my  former  views,  I  contended  with 
him,  but  he  quietly  tripped  up  my  heels  and  there  I  lay  at  his  mercy.  But  I  had 
no  thought  of  giving  up  so.  I  arose  and  commenced  the  struggle  anew,  but  before 
I  was  aware  of  it  I  was  floored  again.  Thus  matters  proceeded  for  some  time — he 
gradually  leading  me  along  to  the  place  of  light  and  I  struggling  to  remain  in  dark- 
ness. At  length  he  gained  the  victory  :  I  began  to  see  a  little  light;  it  was  a  new 
point  and  seemed  distant ;  by  degrees  it  grew  and  came  nearer.  From  that  time 
to  this  the  light  has  been  increasing,  and  I  feel  assured  that  the  great  doctrines  of 
grace  which  I  have  preached  for  fifty  years  are  in  strict  accordance  with  the  law 
and  the  testimony." 

*  Congregational  Quarterly,  July,  1873. 


NEIV  ENGLAND  STATISTICS.  2S3 


CHAPTER   XI. 


GENERAL    SUMMARIES. 


IT  is  impossible  at  the  present  time  to  set  forth  a  full  statis- 
tical exhibit  of  either  the  churches,  the  communicants,  or  the 
clergy  connected  with  them,  at  the  close  of  the  colonial  period. 
The  necessary  data  do  not  now  exist.  A  few  fragmentary  items 
have,  however,  been  gathered,  after  considerable  research,  which 
will  afford  tolerable  satisfaction.  They  are  statements  in  regard  to 
particular  sections. 

New  England. 

From  a  discourse  preached  by  Rev,  Ezra  Styles,  D.D.,  before  the 
Congregational  clergy  of  Rhode  Island,  April  23,  1760,  a  number  of 
interesting  particulars  have  been  collected  respecting  the  ecclesias- 
tical condition  of  New  England.*  The  following,  as  he  supposed, 
was  the  condition  of  the  different  sects.  Jews,  70  persons  ;  Mora- 
vians, 70  persons;  Episcopalians,  2,100  families,  or  12,600  souls. 
There  were  27  Episcopal  missions,  including  two  "  itinerances." 
The  27  missionaries,  with  three  other  ministers,  officiated  in  47 
churches  and  places  of  divine  worship.  Six  or  seven  of  the  con- 
gregations were  large,  others  were  small,  some  not  exceeding 
fifteen  or  twenty  families  each.  Friends,  16,000 — a  large  estimate  ; 
Baptists,  22,000. 

"  At  present,"  said  Dr.  Styles,  "  the  Congregationalists  have 
about  530  churches,  which  double  in  less  than  thirty  years.  The 
aged  ministers  now  living  have  in  their  day  seen  130  churches 
increase  to  530.  In  1643  the  15.000  souls  in  New  England  were 
cantoned  into  34  churches.  In  1650  there  were  40  churches  and 
7,750  communicants.  Perhaps  there  may  now  be  (1760)  6o,ooo  to 
70,000  communicants.  In  1696  there  were  130  churches,  of  which 
35  were  in  Connecticut.  Now  there  are  530  churches,  of  which  170 
are  in  Connecticut,  hence  the  period  of  doubling  for  the  churches 
is  thirty  years  at  furthest.  In  115  years  we  have  increased  500 
churches  upon  34  churches." 

*Sfee  Afnerican  Quarterly  Register,  Augfust,  1834,  pp.  20-26. 


234 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Accompanying  this  discourse  there  is  a  list  of  the  clergy  of  New 
England,  each  given  by  name  with  his  residence  and  denomina- 
tional relations,  from  which  the  following  table  has  been  compiled. 

Clergy  in  New  England  in  1760. 


DENOMINATIONS. 


Congregational. 
Presbyterian. . . 

Episcopal 

Baptist 

Friends 


Maine     N.  H.      Mass 


24 


39 
4 
2 


291 

2 

16 
20 
15 


R.  I. 


6 
19 
14 


Conn. 

165 

2 

24 

3 
I 


Total. 

530 

8 

43 

42 

39 


Total 27 


48 


344 


50 


195 


664 


Note. — Vermont  had  but  a  few  scattered  inhabitants  in  1760. 

Province  of  New  York  in  1771  * 

The  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  colony  was  estimated  at 
i30,(X>o. 

Dutch  Reformed. — There  were  23  Dutch  Reformed  ministers,  who 
had  congregations  all  of  which  were  considerably  large.  Most  of 
the  ministers  had  two,  and  some  three  churches.  There  were 
besides  24  vacant  congregations,  some  of  which  were  of  respectable 
size,  and  were  able  to  support  the  Gospel  if  they  could  have 
obtained  ministers. 

Presbyterians. — There  were  45  Presbyterian  clergymen  in  the 
province,  most  of  whom  had  fixed  charges,  and  three  of  whom  had 
none.  Many  of  the  congregations  were  large.  There  were  15 
vacant  congregations.  Considerable  numbers  of  Presbyterians  were 
scattered  in  the  new  settlements  who  were  not  collected  into  con- 
gregations. 

Episcopalians. — There  were  21  clergymen  in  the  colony,  some  of 
whom  had  large  congregations.  The  churches  in  New  York  City, 
"  as  a  corporation,  had  a  very  large  estate  in  lands  in  and  adjoin- 
ing the  city,  granted  them  by  Lord  Cornbury."  the  greater  part  of 
which,  however,  some  persons  for  a  time  claimed  as  their  right  ; 
besides  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Gloucester  County,  which  they  held 
free  of  encumberance.  This  tract  consisted  of  25,000  acres,  and 
was  granted  March  31,  1770. 

Lutherans. — There  were  3  Lutheran  ministers  in  the  colony, 
and  10  vacant  congregations. 

Anabaptists. — There  were  12  Anabaptist  ministers  in  the 
province,  and  4  vacant  congregations. 


*  American  Quarterly  Register,  Au^st,  1834,  pp.  26,  27. 


STATISTICS  OF   THE  MIDDLE   STATES. 


238 


There  were  also  2  French  Protestant  congregations,  3  Moravian, 
17  Quaker  meeting  houses,  i  congregation  oi  Jews,  and  a  number 
of  separate  or  lay  preachers.  There  were  no  Roman  Catholics,  as 
the  public  exercise  of  their  religion  in  the  province  was  prohibited 
by  law. 

The  Middle  States,  in  1759.* 

Presbyterians. — This  body  previously  consisted  of  two  synods, 
the  New  York  and  Philadelphia;  but  in  May,  1758,  they  were 
united  in  one,  and  called  the  New  York  and  Philadelphia  Synod. 
The  following  were  the  presbyteries  and  the  number  of  ministers  in 
each : 


Hanover,  Va 14 

Donegal,  Md 11 

Lewistown,  Pa 6 

Newcastle,  Pa 11 

Total — 8  presbyters  and  99  ministers. 


Philadelphia,  Pa  12 

New  Brunswick,  N.J 1 1 

New  York,  N.  Y 21 

Suffolk,  L.  1 13 


Dutch  Reformed. — One  coetus,  or  synod,  with  20  ministers. 

Lutherans. — In  New  York,  2  ministers;  in  Philadephia,  4. 

French  Protestants. — Two  ministers,  in  New  York  City. 

Independents. — On  Long  Island,  three  ministers. 

Baptists. — In  New  York,  3;  New  Jersey,  5;  Pennsylvania,  4 
ministers. 

Episcopalians. — In  New  York,  7  ministers ;  New  Jersey,  5  ; 
Pennsylvania,  4  ministers. 

English  Missionaries  in  America,  in  1762.* 

The  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  employed  the  following 
number  of  missionaries  in  this  country  ; 


Massachusetts 8 

New  Hampshire r 

Connecticut 16 

Rhode  Island 4 

New  York 10 


New  Jersey 8 

Pennsylvania 9 

North  Carolina 5 

South  Carolina 4 

Georgia  and  Bahama 2 


Total,  68  missionaries,  besides  about  a  dozen  school-masters. 

In  1775  all  the  foregoing  denominations  had  considerably 
increased.  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D.,  who  devoted  very  close  atten- 
tion to  this  subject,  gave  the  following  statistics  of  the  number  of 
ministers  and  churches  at  that  time  as  the  result  of  his  investiga- 


*American  Quarterly  Register,  August,  1834,  p.  26, 


286 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


tions.     It  is  doubtful  whether  any  thing  more  satisfactory  can  now 
be  found  : 

Statistics  of  Churches  and  Ministers  in  the  United  States,  1775.* 

DENOMINATIONS.  Ministers.  Churehes. 

Episcopalians 250  300 

Baptists 350  380 

Congregationalists 575  700 

Presbyterians 140  300 

Lutherans 25  60 

German  Reformed 25  60 

Reformed  Dutch 25  60 

Associate 13  20 

Moravians 12  8 

f  Methodists 20  30 

Roman  Catholics 26  52 

Total 1,461 1,970 

Population  in  the  Colonial  Era.  J 


COLONIES. 


Maine 

New  Hampshire. 

Vermont 

Massachusetts... . 

Plymouth 

Rhode  Island. . . . 

Connecticut 

New  York 

New  Jersey.,. . . . 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North  Carolina.. . 
South  Carolina. . . 
(leorsria 


1637. 


7.912 
549 


Total  White 

Free  Colored  and  Slaves. 


400 
20,000 


1654. 


16,026 
2.941 

1,959 
3.1S6 


1665. 


23.467 
5.320 


10,000 


16,000 
30,000 


1700. 


4,000 
10,000 

66,000 

10,000 

30,000 

18,000 

15,000 

15,000 

5,000 

25,000 

75.000 

8,000 

7,000 


1750. 


288.000 
32,000 


16,000 

30,000 

10,000 

190,000 

32,000 

110.000 

72,000 

60,000 

130.000 

20,000 

90,000 

200,000 

80,000 

50.000 

IO,OCO 


1775. 


1,100,000 
220,000 


45.000 

90.000 

40,000 

280,000 

50.000 
195,000 
175.000 
120.000 
275.000 

35.000 
160.000 
360.000 
200,000 

90.000 

25,000 


2.140.000 
500.000 


Aggregate. 


320,000 


1,320.000 


2,640,000 


Note. — The  number  of  Indians  in  New  Enjfland  in  1675,  according  to  Mr.  Bancroft, |  was 
about  30,000  ;  but  the  white  pcpulation,  according  to  the  above  estimates,  was  not  much  le!»s  than 
70,000  at  that  time.  The  foreign  increment  for  eighty  years  before  the  Revolution  was  not 
large.  Savage  (Introduction  to  his  Genealogical  Dictionary)  says  :  "  I  suppose  that  nineteen 
twentieths  of  the  people  of  the.'te  New  England  colonies  in  1775  were  descendants  of  those 
found  here  in  1692."  The  proportion  was  probably  not  much  larger  in  other  colonies.'  .Dr. 
Franklin  thought  that  of  the  one  million  English  souls  in  North  America  in  1751  not  eighty 
thousand  had  been  brought  over  the  sea. 


*  Religion  in  America.  By  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D.  New  York:  Harper  &  Brothers. 
1856.     P.  210.  t  Added  by  the  author  of  this  volume. 

X  From  Seaman's  Essays  on  the  Progress  0/  Nations.  New  York  :  Charles  Scribner.  1853. 
Pp.  579-583-  \  History  0/ the  United  States.     Vol.  II,  p.  93. 


II. 
THE  NATIONAL  ERA. 


PERIOD  I.-From  1776  to  1800. 


17 


THE  REVOLUTION  FORESEEN. 


269 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AND  THE  CHURCHES. 


Sec.  I.   Union  Through  Suffering. 
*'      2.  Patriotism  of  the  Clergy. 
"      3.   Unfavorable  Effects. 
"      4.  Civil  Troubles. 


Sec.  5.  Sundering  of  Ecclesiastical  Ties. 
"     6.  The  Churches  After  the  War. 
"      7.  Revivals  of  Religion  Rare. 


THE  colonial  planting  and  trainins:  had  its  natural  consumma- 
tion in  the  American  Revolution.  Wise  European  states- 
men had  foreseen  it.  The  colonies  of  Jamestown  and  Massa- 
chusetts possessed  the  genius  and  daring  which  ushered  in  the  tedi- 
ous ordeal,  and  sustained  it  from  Lexington  to  Yorktown.  In  the 
Colonial,  the  Revolutionary,  and  the  National  eras  the  American  peo- 
ple bear  the  same  impress  and  exhibit  an  essential  unity  of  drift  and 
character.  The  problems  of  free  conscience  and  free  citizenship 
have  struggled  for  solution,  with  improving  phases,  from  the  first 
settlements  until  now.  What  an  arena  for  working  out  these  high 
aspirations  of  humanity  !  Struggles  which  had  convulsed  the  con- 
servative institutions  of  the  Old  World  were  renewed  amid  the  semi- 
conservative  conditions  of  the  New  World.  But,  even  here,  only 
by  the  throes  of  a  mighty  revolution  could  the  better  conditions 
intended  by  Providence  for  humanity  be  attained. 


Section  i.— Union  Througli  Suffering. 

A  union  of  the  colonies  was  a  condition  precedent  to  American 
nationality.  The  seed-thought  germinated  in  the  mind  of  Rev. 
Jonathan  Mayhew,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  and  was  by  him  first  cast  into 
the  mind  of  Samuel  Adams.  In  Dr.  Mayhew's  church  there  had 
been  a  communion  of  the  churches.  The  next  day,  on  the  streets 
of  Boston,  Mayhew  met  Adams,  and,  placing  his  hand  upon  his 
shoulder,  exclaimed,  "  We  have  just  had  a  communion  of  the 
churches,  now  let  us  have  a  union  of  States."  Such  was  the  gene- 
sis, first,  of  the  Colonial,  and,  later,  of  the  Federal  Union. 


260  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

One  nationality  was  essential  to  constitutional  liberty  in  North 
America.  The  alternative  was  petty  divisions,  waste,  and  wars — the 
story  of  continental  Europe  repeated.  France  and  England  had 
competed  for  the  possession  of  the  North  American  Continent — the 
former  the  champion  of  intellectual  and  political  subserviency  to  the 
papacy,  and  the  latter  the  asserter  of  enlightened  freedom.  The 
contest  of  these  two  great  powers  ended  in  1763,  when  France  ceded 
her  Canadian  possessions  to  England,  abandoned  her  long  military 
cordon  along  the  northern  and  western  frontiers,  and  thus  left  the 
Atlantic  colonies  in  assured  fealty  to  the  English  crown.  A  great 
impulse  was  at  once  given  to  emigration,  and  the  country  rapidly 
filled. 

But  no  sooner  were  the  colonies  relieved  from  the  harassing 
presence  of  the  French-Indian  hostilities  than  they  became  restless 
under  the  restraints  of  dependency  and  sighed  for  relief  from  for- 
eign taxation  and  dominion.  Disputes  arose,  the  most  prominent, 
in  reference  to  "  The  Stamp  Act,"  continuing  eighteen  years.  En- 
gland's right  to  regulate  the  foreign  commerce  was  not  questioned, 
but  "  The  Stamp  Act  "  violated  domestic  independence.  Claiming 
that  Parliament  had  no  jurisdiction  within  their  territory,  the  colo- 
nies refused  to  submit.  Common  interests  impelled  them  to  a 
league  of  domestic  amity  and  fraternal  resistance  to  foreign  dicta- 
tion. Gradually  they  became  fused  and  united  ;  but  time  was  re- 
quired. 

The  organization  of  the  scattered  and  disjointed  American  col- 
onies under  a  general  government  was  brought  about  by  a  long 
series  of  agitations,  struggles,  and  triumphs,  extending  through  a 
period  of  about  forty  years — from  the  French  and  Indian  wars  to 
the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  central  event  of 
this  period  was  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  a  movement,  which,  con- 
sidered either  in  respect  to  its  immediate  or  its  more  remote  conse- 
quences, Americans  have  proudly  regarded  as  the  greatest  event  of 
modern  times.  When  it  occurred  it  attracted  universal  attention, 
taxing  the  sagacity  and  the  energies  of  the  greatest  English  states- 
men. In  the  colonies  resources  unknown  before  were  developed, 
surprising  even  the  most  sanguine  and  determined  champions  of 
independence,  and  resulting  in  the  establishment  of  a  new  West- 
ern Empire  on  the  principles  of  freedom  and  progress.  In  both 
hemispheres  it  inaugurated  a  long  series  of  progressive  movements 
and  revolutions,  emancipating  and  elevating  society,  establishing  law 
and  authority  on  a  new  basis,  and  investing  it  with  an  ever-increas- 
ing importance. 


SUFFERING  CAUSED  BY  THE    WAR.  261 

To  sketch  in  detail  the  manifold  calamities  of  the  war,  the  rav- 
aging of  the  country,  the  burning  of  towns,  the  spirit  of  fury,  vin- 
dictiveness  and  hatred  which  fired  the  hearts  of  multitudes,  with 
many  other  features  of  this  great  contest,  does  not  come  within  the 
scope  of  this  volume.  And  yet  these  things  require  some  allusion 
because  of  their  influence  upon  the  cause  of  religion.  Indeed,  the 
war  was  an  event  of  great  religious  as  well  as  political  significance. 
It  was  detrimental  to  morals  and  religion,  opening  the  door  for 
French  infidelity  by  intimate  affiliation  with  that  people  during  the 
struggle,  and  seriously  crippling  and  enfeebling  the  churches  for  more 
than  a  generation. 

There  was  no  department  of  society,  public,  private,  social,  sec- 
ular, or  religious,  which  did  not  suffer.  The  country  was  impover- 
ished and  exhausted.  The  pecuniary  expenses  of  the  war  amounted 
to  not  less  than  $170,000,000 — a  greater  outlay,  in  proportion  to  the 
wealth  of  the  country,  than  twenty  times  that  sum  would  be  at  the 
present  time.*  A  very  considerable  portion  of  this  amount  re- 
mained in  the  form  of  a  debt.  The  sacrifice  of  human  life  was  also 
great,  not  less  than  eighty  thousand  Americans  perishing,  or  one  for 
every  forty  of  the  inhabitants.  Twelve  or  fifteen  cities  and  numerous 
villages  were  burned  to  ashes. f  Industry  was  fatally  crippled,  and  de- 
mands were  made  upon  the  resources  of  the  country  which  but  few 
families  could  afford  to  sustain.  The  virtuous  sons  of  many  house- 
holds were  transformed  into  dissipated,  discontented,  ruined  men. 
Numerous  houses  of  worship  were  either  destroyed  or  so  seriously 
desecrated  and  injured  as  to  be  unfit  for  future  use.  These  were 
the  common  sufferings  of  the  people. 


Section  ;?.— Patriotism  of  tlie  Clergy. 

The  parish  ministers  in  those  days  commanded  unbounded  influ- 
ence and  profound  respect,  and   effectively  molded   thought  in  civil 

♦Massachusetts,  with  about  240,000  inhabitants,  expended  in  the  war  about  ;^8i8,ooo;  for 
/■490,ooo  of  it  she  received  no  reimbursement.  Connecticut,  with  a  jxjpulation  of  146,000,  ex- 
pended upward  of  ;^400,ooo.  Massachusetts  annually,  according  to  Dr.  Trumbull,  sent  into  the 
field  5,500  men,  and  in  one  year  7,000  men.  Connecticut  had  about  3  000  men  in  the  field,  and 
for  some  time  6,000.     In  some  years  these  two  colonies  alone  had  10,000  men  in  actual  service. 

t  The  city  of  New  York  was  nearly  ruined  by  the  war.  The  very  week  of  the  capture  of  the 
city  five  hundred  houses  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  three  years  later  three  hundred  more.  Dur- 
ing the  seven  years  of  the  war  there  was  little  building,  and  the  burnt  districts  were  blackened 
heaps.  The  commerce  was  gone ;  the  treasury,  what  was  it  ?  and  her  citizens  were  starving  in 
the  wilds  whither  they  had  fled. 


262  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

as  well  as  ecclesiastical  matters.  The  reverential  regard  for  the  clergy* 
of  the  early  colonial  times  had  not  much  waned  in  New  England  at 
the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

PoHtico-religious  sermons  were  early  introduced  into  New  En- 
gland. As  early  as  1633  the  governor  and  council  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  Colony  began  to  appoint  one  of  the  clergy  to  preach 
on  the  day  of  election— which  was  the  first  of  the  long  list  of 
**  Election  Sermons."  Governor  VVinthrop's  critical  notice  of  the 
discourse  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  in  June,  1641,  is  the 
earliest  sketch  of  an  Election  Sermon  now  extant.  By  the  charter 
of  William  and  Mary,  October  7,  1691,  the  last  Wednesday  in  May 
was  established  as  "  election  day,"  and  it  remained  so  until  the  Revo- 
lution. This  was  the  date  on  which  the  new  General  Court,  as  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  has  ever  been  called,  assembled,  and 
the  election  sermon  was  at  the  opening  of  the  session.  Another 
sermon  was  also  delivered,  a  little  time  after,  on  what  was  called  the 
artillery  election  day.  The  sermons  on  these  occasions  discussed 
politico-religious  topics,  were  printed,  and  widely  circulated.  They 
reasoned,  instructed,  and  discussed  speculative  questions  of  govern- 
ment, "  when  there  was  nothing  in  practice  which  could  give  any 
grounds  for  forming  parties." 

These  discourses  were  a  remarkable  feature  in  the  opening  of 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  In  his  speech  on  conciliating  the  colo- 
nies; March  22,  1775,  Edmund  Burke  referred  to  the  effects  of  this 
custom.     He  said  : 

It  contributed  no  mean  part  toward  the  growth  of  the  untractahle  spirit  of  the 
colonies — I  mean  their  education.  In  no  country  in  the  world,  perhaps,  is  the  law 
so  general  a  study.  ...  All  who  read,  and  most  do  read,  endeavor  to  obtain 
some  smattering  in  that  science.  I  have  been  told  by  an  eminent  book-seller,  that 
in  no  branch  of  his  business,  after  tracts  of  popular  devotion,  were  so  many  books 
as  those  on  law  transported  to  the  plantations.  The  colonists  have  now  fallen 
into  the  way  of  printing  them  for  their  own  use.  I  hear  that  they  have  sold  nearly 
as  inany  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  in  America  as  in  England.  General  Gage 
marks  this  disposition  very  pnrticularly.  He  states  that  all  the  people  in  his  gov- 
ernment are  lawyers,  or  smalterers  in  law. 

The  annual  election  sermons  widely  promoted  the  study  of 
political  ethics,  which  had  become  a  prominent  feature  in  New  En- 
gland history  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  that  "  earnestness  which  consciousness  of  right  begets,  and 
those  appeals  to  principle  which  distinguished  the  colonies."  The 
highest  glory  of  the  American  Revolution,  in  the  estimation  of  Hon. 

*  See  pp.  1 53- '56. 


PATRIOTISM  OF  THE  CLERGY.  263 

r 

John  Quincy  Adams,  was  the  ripe  fruitage  of  this  old  custom :  "  It 
connected,  with  bne  indissoluble  bond,  the  principles  of  civil  gov- 
ernment with  the  principles  of  Christianity." 

Occupying  a  position  of  such  eminent  respect  and  influence  in 
society,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  clergy  shared  the  sympathy  of  the 
people  in  the  civil  struggles  through  which  they  were  passing,  and 
that  "The  Pulpit  of  the  Revolution"  came  to  be  one  of  the  great 
factors  of  the  times  in  the  Middle  and  the  New  England  colonies. 
God  was  invoked  in  the  civil  assemblies,  and  the  teachers  of  religion 
were  called  upon  for  counsel  from  the  Bible.  Sermons  were  preached, 
religion  and  politics  were  closely  united,  and  with  Bibles  and  bayo- 
nets they  entered  into  the  struggle.  "  This  was  the  secret  of  that 
moral  energy  which  sustained  the  Republic  in  its  material  weakness 
against  superior  numbers  and  discipline,  and  all  the  power  of  En- 
gland. To  these  sermons  the  State  fixed  its  imprimatur,  and  thus 
they  were  handed  down  to  future  generations  with  a  twofold  claim 
to  respect."* 

The  first  sermon  bearing  directly  upon  the  new  era  dates  back  to 
the  inception  of  the  pre-Revolutionary  struggle.  In  1750,  Rev. 
Jonathan  Mayhew,  D.D.,  the  foremost  minister  of  Boston,  preached 
"  A  Discourse  Concerning  Unlimited  Submission  and  Non-resistafice 
to  the  Higher  Pozvers."'  In  1766  Rev.  Charles  Chauncy,  D.D.,  of 
Boston,  preached  a  thanksgiving  sermon  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  in  which  political  matters  were  ably  handled.  In  1770  Rev. 
Samuel  Cook,  D.D.,  of  Cambridge,  preached  an  election  sermon 
upon  ''Civil  Government  for  the  Good  of  the  People.''  In  1774  Rev. 
William  Gaden,  of  Roxbury,  preached  upon  the  "  Christian  Duty 
of  Resistance  to  Tyrants  ;  Prepare  for  War ;  Appeal  to  Heaven." 
In  1775  Rev.  Samuel  Langdon,  D.D.,of  Watertown,  Mass.,  preached 
upon  ''Government,  Corrupted  by  Vice;  Recovered  by  Righteousness'' 
In  1778  Rev.  Phillips  Paxson,  of  Chelsea,  preached  a  sermon  upon 
"Popular  Government,  the  True  Spirit  of  Liberty." 

These  are  typical  specimens  of  the  numerous  sermons  by  the 
New  England  clergy.  Those  of  the  Middle  States  were  not  back- 
ward. While  all  classes  of  citizens  entered  heartily  into  the  war, 
the  clergy,  as  a  body,  were  pre-eminent  for  their  attachment  to  lib- 
erty, sharing  in  the  patriotic  and  self-denying  spirit  of  the  struggle, 
encouraging  and  stimulating  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  pulpits 
of  the  land  rang  with  the  notes  of  freedom.  Thanksgiving,  fast- 
day  and  election  sermons  abounded  in  pointed,  patriotic  appeals,  in 

*  The  Pulpit  of  the  American  Revolution.  Preface  by  J.  W.  Thornton.  Boston:  Gould  & 
Lincoln,  i860. 


264  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

clear  expositions  of  Divine  law  and  its  application  to  civil  govern- 
ments and  to  rulers. 

The  Martial  Spirit. 

Interesting  examples  may  be  cited.  The  town  of  Sturbridge, 
in  Massachusetts,  "  voted  to  provide  four  half-barrels  of  powder, 
five  hundredweight  of  lead,  and  five  hundred  flints,"  as  a  donation 
to  the  public  service.  At  another  meeting,  held  a  month  later,  the 
selectmen  were  instructed  to  furnish  still  more.  On  this  occasion 
the  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  "  came  forward  and  pro- 
posed to  pay  for  one  cask  of  powder  himself,"  at  a  cost  of  about  one- 
fifth  part  of  his  salary,  and  a  Baptist  deacon,  in  the  absence  of  his 
minister,  became  responsible  "  for  bullets  to  match."  In  Danvers, 
Mass.,  the  deacon  of  the  parish  was  elected  captain  of  the  minute- 
men,  and  the  minister  his  lieutenant.  The  company,  it  is  said, 
after  its  field  exercise,  would  sometimes  repair  to  the  ''meeting- 
house" to  hear  a  patriotic  sermon,  or  would  partake  of  an  enter- 
tainment at  the  town-house,  where  the  zealous  "  sons  of  liberty  " 
would  exhort  them  to  fight  bravely  for  God  and  their  country. 
At  Lunenburg,  Mass.,  the  minute  company,  after  drill,  marched  to 
a  public  house  for  an  entertainment,  honored  by  the  presence  of  pa- 
triotic clergy  from  adjacent  towns,  and  then  marched  in  procession  to 
the  "  meeting-house,"  where  a  sermon  was  delivered.  Nor  was  the 
First  Church,  Boston,  at  all  behind  in  patriotism.  It  voted  to  melt 
up  the  lead  weights  upon  the  church  clock  for  bullets  and  use  other 
metal  in  their  stead.  The  parish  kept  up  its  stated  worship  during 
all  the  troublous  period. 

It  was  said  that  the  great  revivalist.  Rev.  William  Tennent,  who, 

^    like   Enoch,  *'  walked  with  God,"  was  a  most  strenuous  asserter  of 

j    the  liberties  of  his   country,  both  in  council  and  in  the  field.     Rev. 

Dr.  Witherspoon,  of  New  Jersey,  preached  a  sermon  in  May,  1776, 

in  which  he   entered  fully  into  the  great  political  questions  of  the 

day.     Rev.  Mr.  Miller,  of  Dover,  N.  J.,  preached  from  these  words: 

'  "  We  have  no  part  in  David,  neither  have  we  inheritance  in  the  son 

of  Jesse;  every  man  to  his  tent,  O  Israel."     Rev.  Robert  Davidson, 

of  Philadelphia,  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  preached  before 

several  military  companies  from  these  words:  "For  there  fell  down 

many  slain  ;  because  the  war  was  of  God." 

Nor  was  their  zeal  in  word  only.  In  numerous  instances  the 
younger  ministers  girded  on  their  country's  armor  and  fought  with 
carnal  weapons,  while  others  served  as  chaplains,  and  others  still  per- 
formed the  best  practical  service  at  home. 


INVENTION  OF  THE  BLUE  LAWS.  265 

Of  Rev.  John  Craighead  it  is  said  that  "  he  fought  and  preached 
alternately."  Rev.  Dr.  Cooper  was  captain  of  a  military  company. 
Rev.  John  Blair  Smith,  president  of  Hampden-Sidney  College, 
was  captain  of  a  company  that  rallied  to  support  the  retreating 
Americans  after  the  battle  of  Cowpens.  Rev.  James  Hall  com- 
manded a  company  that  armed  against  Cornwallis.  Rev.  Wm. 
Graham  rallied  his  own  neighbors  to  dispute  the  passage  of  Rock- 
fish  Gap  with  Tarleton  and  his  British  dragoons.  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel 
Green  was  an  orderly  sergeant.  Rev.  Dr.  Moses  Hodge  served  in 
the  army  of  the  Revolution.  Rev.  Cotton  Mather  Smith,  of  Sharon, 
Conn.,  entered  the  army  as  chaplain,  where  his  conduct  was  so  ex- 
emplary that  he  won  the  special  confidence  of  his  commander,  Gen- 
eral Schuyler. 

Many  of  the  clergy  suffered  for  their  patriotism.  Rev.  John 
Rodeers,  D.D.,  was  forced  to  absent  himself  from  New  York  until 
after  the  close  of  the  war ;  Rev.  Mr.  McKnight,  of  Shrewsbury,  N. 
J.,  was  carried  off  a  captive  ;  Richards,  of  Rah  way,  N.  J.,  took  warn- 
ing and  left ;  McCalla  was  confined  for  months  in  a  loathsome  prison 
ship,  near  Quebec;  Azel  Roe,  of  Woodbridge,  N.  J.,  was  confined, 
a  prisoner,  in  the  old  Sugar  House ;  Rev.  John  Bosborugh,  of  Al- 
lentown,  N.  J.,  was  shot  down  in  cold  blood  by  a  party  of  Hessians 
to  whom  he  had  surrendered ;  and  Rev.  Samuel  Mills,  of  Saybrook, 
Conn.,  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 

Peters,  of  Blue  Law  Notoriety. 

In  Connecticut  the  war  spirit  ran  high,  and  every  body  took  sides. 
Rev.  Samuel  Andrew  Peters,  an  Episcopal  minister,  of  Hebron, 
used  his  Tory  pen  and  influence  in  a  way  very  offensive  to  "  the 
Sons  of  Liberty."  They  determined  he  should  be  stopped.  General 
Peters  often  minutely  described  the  mobs  which  he  witnessed.  He 
was  a  nephew  of  the  victim,  though  not  a  Tory.  Men  came  on 
horseback  from  the  neighboring  towns,  and  the  reverend  gentleman 
was  marched  down  to  the  central  green,  where  a  pot  of  tar  was 
simmering,  with  a  bag  of  feathers  close  at  hand.  These  articles, 
however,  were  not  used,  because  from  the  horse-block,  under  the 
pressure,  Rev.  Mr.  Peters  read  a  recantation.  The  recantation, 
however,  did  not  hold,  and  after  three  repetitions  Mr.  Peters  fled  to 
England,  where  he  revenged  himself  by  writing  a  History  of  Connecti- 
cut, by  a  Gentleman  of  the  Province.  It  was  indeed  a  revenge,  for, 
says  an  eminent  divine,  "  It  has  been  impossible  to  squelch  the 
lies  of   that  book."     His  tales  of   the   Blue   Laws— base    fabrica- 


266  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

tions* — have  been  repeatedly  disproved  and  as  often  re-asserted.f 
"  Even  annihilation  seems  to  have  had  no  effect  upon  them." 


Prayer  in  Congress. 

The  voice  of  the  clergy  was  also  heard,  as  chaplains,  in  halls  of 
legislation.  By  the  request  of  the  first  Congress,  Rev.  Jacob  Duche, 
D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  offered  prayer  at  the  opening  of  its  deliber- 
ations, a  copy  of  which  has  been  transmitted  to  me  to-day. 

Dr.  Duch^  preached  a  sermon  on  the  death  of  Hon.  Peyton 
Randolph,  first  president  of  the  Congress,  and  also  on  the  occasion 
of  a  public  fast,  both  of  which,  says  Bishop  White,  were  strongly 
imbued  with  a  patriotic  spirit,  and  led  to  his  appointment  as  chap- 
lain to  Congress.  Dr.  Duch^  subsequently  vacillated,  however, 
when  the  British  took  possession  of  Philadelphia,  and  left  the 
country. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  and  the 
influence  of  the  ministry,  in  those  days,  were  "  rather  martial  than 
sanctifying  and  spiritual."  It  seems,  however,  to  have  been  una- 
voidable. "The  cause  of  the  country  was  believed  to  be  a  just  one 
and  divinely  sanctioned.  The  resources  of  the  country,  in  men  and 
means,  were  felt  to  be  small.  In  some  of  the  colonies  there  was 
great  hesitation,  in  others  the  royalist  party  was  numerous  and  con- 
fident, and  their  enemy  had  been  long  accustomed  to  victory  on  sea 
and  land.  The  odds  were  fearful  indeed,  and  every  influence  was 
needed  to  support  the  cause  of  independence.  The  colonial  pulpit, 
having  always  wielded  immense  power,  improved  their  opportuni- 
ties to  address  the  people,  thinly  scattered  over  a  large  territory, 
and  accustomed  to  assemble  only  on  the  Sabbath.  As  a  natural 
result,  in  the  course  of  such  exciting  scenes,  every-where  engrossing 
the  attention  of  all,  ecclesiastical  matters  received  little  attention. 
In  some  cases,  however,  and  probably  not  a  few,  the  more  devout 
members  of  the  churches  were  drawn  nearer  to  God  in  prayer,  and 
days  of  fasting  and  prayer  were  numerous  and  well  observed.  But 
in  many  localities  the  means  of  grace  were  wholly  suspended  for  a 
long  time  and  the  religious  safeguards  were  broken  down.  In  cities 
occupied  by  the  enemy  the  pastors  fled.  Out  of  nineteen  church 
edifices  in  New  York  city  only  nine  were  fit  for  worship  when  the 
war  closed. 


*  Hon.  J.  S.  Peters,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  ex-Governor  of  Connecticut,  says  of  them,  that  they  are 
"  apochryphal  and  ludicrous,"  and  never  should  be  quoted  as  of  "  historical  authority." 
tSee  pp.  115,  116. 


RELIGIOUS  BODIES  AFTER    THE   WAR.  267 

Section  5.— UnfaYora'ble  Effects. 

The  unfavorable  influence  of  the  war  upon  the  different  relig- 
ious bodies  deserves  more  extended  notice. 

The  Congregational  churches,  being  confined  almost  wholly  to 
New  England,  suffered  chiefly  in  Boston  during  the  possession  of 
the  city  by  the  English.  All  their  pastors  except  two,  Drs.  Samuel 
Mather  and  Andrew  Eliot,  left  during  the  siege.  In  a  few  other 
localities  pastors  supposed  to  be  favorable  to  the  royal  cause  were 
dismissed  from  their  churches. 

The  Episcopal  Church 

was  the  greatest  sufferer.  All  its  pastors  in  Boston  left,  with  Gen- 
eral Howe,  on  the  memorable  17th  of  March,  1776.  The  colonial 
clergy  of  the  English  Church,  being  almost  wholly  foreigners  and 
loyal  to  the  British  Crown,  mostly  deserted  the  country.  In  Vir- 
ginia this  denomination  suffered  most  seriously.  No  statesmen  were 
more  forward  in  the  cause  of  the  Revolution  than  those  of  Virginia, 
notwithstanding  a  majority  of  its  people  were  Episcopalians.  A 
part  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Rev. 
Messrs.  Bracken,  Belmaine,  Buchanan,  Jarratt,  Griffith  and  Davis, 
were  assured  friends  of  the  colonies.  Rev.  Mr.  Muhlenburg  became 
a  colonel  in  the  American  Army,  served  through  the  war  and  retired 
with  the  rank  of  brigadier.  But  most  of  the  clergy  fled  to  England. 
The  celebrated  Virginia  rector  of  those  times,  the  Rev.  Devereux 
Jarratt,  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  John  Wesley,  in  1773,  said  that  within 
the  limits  of  the  Virginia  Colony  there  were  ninety-five  parishes, 
all  of  which  except  one  were  supplied  with  clergymen.  At  a  later 
period  the  historian  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia  gave  the 
following  statistical  statement: 

When  the  colonists  first  resorted  to  arms  Virginia  in  her  61  counties  contained 
95  parishes.  164  churches  and  chapels,  and  91  clergymen.  When  the  contest  was 
over,  she  caine  out  of  tlie  war  with  a  large  number  of  her  churches  destroyed  or 
injured  irreparably,  with  23  of  her  95  parishes  extinct  or  forsaken,  and  of  the 
remainino-  72,  34  were  destitute  of  ministerial  services,  while  of  her  91  clergymen 
2S  only  remained  who  ha  1  lived  through  the  storm  ;  and  these  with  eight  others, 
who  came  into  the  State  soon  after  the  struggle  terminated,  supplied  36  of  the  par- 
ishes Of  these  28,  15  only  ha(J  been  enabled  to  continue  in  the  churches  which 
they  supplied  prior  to  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  and  13  had  been  driven 
lr.)m  their  cures  by  violence  or  want.*  ^ ^ 

»  Hawks's  Contributions,  pp.  i  S3.  *  54- 


268  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  Methodist  Church. 

Methodism  was  scarcely  ten  years  old  in  America  when  national 
independence  was  declared,  and  it  was  not  organized  as  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  until  eight  years  later ;  but  it  was  already 
an  active,  earnest  and  growing  power.  The  first  Methodist  mission- 
aries coming  from  England,  and  ecclesiastically  under  the  direction 
of  Rev.  John  Wesley,  public  suspicion  was,  naturally,  provoked 
against  them,  occasioning  in  some  cases  severe  suffering.  AH  but 
three  of  those  who  came  from  England — Asbury,  Dempster  and 
Whatcoat — left  the  country  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  But 
the  imputation  of  disloyalty  was  unfounded.  Wesley,  however, 
gave  some  occasion  to  this  suspicion  by  his  "Calm  Address  to  the 
American  Colonies" — an  abridgment  of  his  friend  Dr.  Johnson's 
"  Taxation  No  Tyranny  " — breathing  a  spirit  of  devout  loyalty. 
This  was  before  the  war,  and  it  is  due  to  Wesley  to  say  that  when 
the  war  really  began  he  was  on  the  side  of  the  colonists.  The  day 
after  the  news  of  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord  came  to 
England,  Wesley  wrote  to  Lord  North  and  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth, 
saying : 

I  am  a  High  Churchman,  bred  up  in  my  childhood  in  the  highest  notions  of 
passive  obedience  and  non-resistance:  and  yet,  in  spite  of  my  long-rooted  prej- 
udices, I  cannot  avoid  thinking  these  an  oppressed  people,  asking  for  nothing  more 
than  their  legal  rights,  and  that  in  the  most  modest  and  inoflfensive  manner  that 
the  nature  of  the  thing  would  allow.  But,  waiving  this,  I  ask,  is  it  common  sense 
to  use  force  toward  the  Americans  ? 

/        Nevertheless  the  Methodists  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  danger- 
/  ous  people.     The  remarkable  prudence  and  caution  of  Rev.  Francis 
I    Asbury,*  the  chief  minister  of  the  denomination   in  America,  only 
i    for  a  short  time  shielded  him.     He  was  compelled  to  remain  com- 
paratively quiet  during  a  considerable  portion  of  that  long  and  ter- 
rible struggle. 

In  some  sections  of  the  country  American-born  Methodist 
preachers,  such  as  Waters,  Garrettson,  Cooper,  Hartley,  Boyer,  Gatch, 
Abbott  and  others,  in  the  midst  of  many  embarrassments  and  stern 
conflicts,  pursued  their  itinerant  rounds,  zealously  exhorting,  preach- 
ing and  building  up  societies. 

In  Maryland,  where  the  Methodist  preachers  were  the  most 
numerous,  the  civil  magistrates  seemed  to  be  disposed  to  construe  every 

*  Mr.  Asbury  was  arrested  near  Baltimore,  and  fined,  not  because  he  had  been  gfuilty  of  any 
overt  act  against  the  new  government,  but  because  he,  in  common  with  his  brethren,  was  suspected 
of  loving  the  Church  of  England,  and,  therefore,  of  entertaining  dangerous  political  views.  He 
afterward  was  released  and  discontinued  preaching,  living  in  Delaware  two  years  in  retirement. 


_7 

SUSPICIOA'S  AND  PERSECUTIONS.  269 

legal  restriction  vigorouslyagainst  them.  "Some  of  the  preachers  were 
mulcted  or  fined,  and  others  were  imprisoned,  for  no  other  offense 
than  traveling  and  preaching  the  Gospel;  and  others  were  bound 
over  in  bonds  and  heavy  penalties  and  sureties  not  to  preach  in  this 
or  that  county.  Several  were  arrested  and  committed  to  the  com- 
mon jail ;  others  were  personally  insulted  or  badly  abused  ;  some 
were  beaten  with  stripes  and  blows  nigh  unto  death  and  carried 
their  scars  down  to  the  grave."  Freeborn  Garrettson  was  one  of 
the  sufferers,  being  committed  to  prison  several  times  in  different 
counties,  and  also  beaten  and  wounded,  to  the  shedding  of  blood, 
nigh  unto  death.  Nathan  Forest  and  William  Wren  were  com- 
mitted to  jail  :  another  was  treated  to  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers: 
Joseph  Hartley  was  but  under  penal  bonds  of  five  hundred 
pounds  not  to  preach  again  in  Queen  Ann's  County;  and  in  Talbot 
County  the  same  preacher  was  whipped  by  a  young  lawyer  and 
imprisoned  ;  Caleb  Pedicord  was  whipped  and  badly  injured  on  the 
public  road.*  In  the  midst  of  these  indignities  and  sufferings  they 
toiled  and  triumphed. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  it  was  found  that  the  number  of  Meth- 
odist preachers  had  more  than  doubled,  and  the  communicants  had 
increased  two  and  a  half  fold.  But  it  was  the  result  of  an  unsur- 
passed zeal  and  prudence  in  formidable  difficulties.  Probably  no 
other  religious  body  can  show  such  a  record  of  progress  during  this 
trying  period. 

The  German  Reformed  Church 

was  well  represented  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  There  were 
German  regiments  and  generals  of  "  the  line,"  like  De  Kalb,  De 
Woedtke  and  Baron  Steuben,  the  latter  of  this  communion.  Some 
German  ministers  were  ardent  advocates  of  Independence,  as  Rev. 
John  H.  Weikel.  of  Montgomery  County,  Pa.,  and  Rev.  C.  D.  Wey- 
berg,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  imprisoned  for  his  patriotism, 
and  his  church  occupied  by  British  soldiers.  He  had  not  only 
preached  patriotic  sermons  to  the  American  soldiers,  but  had  sub- 
sequently addressed  the  Hessians  on  the  justice  of  the  American 
cause  ;  and  it  was  said  that  had  he  not  been  silenced  the  whole  body 
of  those  mercenaries  would  have  left  the  British  service.  On  the  first 
Sunday  after  his  liberation  he  suggestively  addressed  his  congrega- 

*The  Assembly  of  Maryland  at  last  h>ecame  satisfied  that  these  preachers  had  no  treasonable 
aims,  and  allowed  them  to  exercise  their  functions  without  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Dur- 
ing the  remainder  of  the  war  the  few  Methodist  preachers  who  remained  in  the  country  preached 
freely  in  Marylcind. 


270  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tion  on  the  words,  "  O  God,  the  heathen  have  come  into  thine 
inheritance;  thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled."  Psa.  79.  i. 
Schlatter  was  imprisoned  for  his  sympathy  with  the  American  cause. 
Hendel  was  accompanied  by  armed  men,  when  he  preached  at 
Lykens  Valley,  to  protect  him  from  the  Indians  made  hostile  by 
British  influence.  Rev.  John  Conrad  Buckner,  a  military  officer 
during  the  French  and  Indian  war,  had  become  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  and  rendered  great  service  to  the  Revolutionary  army. 
Rev.  J.  C.  A.  Helffenstein,  pastor  at  Lancaster,  when  the  captive 
Hessians  were  kept  there  preached  to  them  on,  "  For  thus  saith 
the  Lord,  ye  have  sold  yourselves  for  nought;  and  ye  shall  be 
redeemed  without  money."  * 

The  Presbyterian  Church. 

"  The  influence  of  the  war  upon  the  condition  and  prospects  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  throughout  the  country  was  most  disas- 
trous. Its  members  were  almost  all  decided  patriots,  and  its  minis- 
ters almost  to  a  man  were  accounted  arch-rebels.  Their  well-known 
'lews  and  sympathies  made  them  especially  obnoxious  to  the  enemy, 
^and  to  be  known  as  a  Presbyterian  was  to  incur  all  the  odium  of  a 
'  Whig.'  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  they  should  have  been 
the  marked  victims  of  hostility,  or  that  they  should  have  been  in 
many  cases  mercilessly  molested  in  property  and  person.  In  initiat- 
ing the  Revolution  and  in  sustaining  the  patriotic  resistance  of  their 
countrymen  to  illegal  tyranny  the  ministersof  the  Presbyterian  Church 
bore  a  conspicuous  and  even  a  foremost  part.  .  .  .  They  preached  the 
duty  of  resisting  tyrants.  They  cheered  their  people  in  the  dreary 
periods  of  the  conflict  by  inspiring  lofty  trust  in  the  God  of  nations. 
Some  of  them  were  engaged  personally  in  the  army;  some  occupied  a 
place  in  the  civil  councils ;  others  were  personal  sufferers  from  the 
vengeance  of  an  exasperated  foe  ;  and  others  still  sealed  their  devo- 
tion to  their  country  by  their  blood."  f 

"  Thechurch  edifices  were  often  taken  possession  of  by  an  insolent 
soldiery  and  turned  into  hospitals  or  prisons,  or  perverted  to  still 
baser  uses,  as  stables  or  riding-schools.  The  church  at  Newtown, 
N.  J.,  had  its  steeple  sawed  off,  and  was  used  as  a  prison  and  guard- 
house till  it  was  torn  down,  and  its  siding  was  used  for  the  soldiers' 
huts.     The  church  at  Crumpond  was  burned  to  save  it  from  being 

*  Historic  Manual  0/ the  Reformed  Church.  By  Rev.  Joseph  Henry  Dubbs,  D.  D.  Lan- 
caster, Pa.     1885.     Pp.  229-232. 

1  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D. 
VoL  I,  p.  i8o. 


AFTER   THE  WAR,  271 

occupied   by  the  enemy.     That   of  Mount   Holly  was  burned  by     / 
accident  or  design.     The  one  at  Princeton  was  taken  possession  of    / 
by  the  Hessian  soldiers  and  stripped  of  its  pews  and  gallery  for  fuel.    / 
A  fire-place  was  built  in  it  and  a  chimney  carried  up  through  its  / 
roof.  .  .  .  The  church  at  Westfield  was  injured  by  the  enemy  and  / 
its  bell  carried  off  to  New  York."     Similar  facts  might  be   given" 
concerning  the  churches  at  Babylon,   L.  I.,  New  Windsor,  Morris- 
town,  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  etc.    We  have  previously  stated  that  the 
enemy  took  possession  of  the  churches  in  New  York.     They  were 
used  for  prisons  and  as  stables  for  horses.     Ethan  Allen  said  that  the 
filth  which  accumulated  in  one  of  which  he  knew  "  was  intolerable." 
"  The  loathsome  victims  of  disease,  foul  with  their  own  excrements, 
lay  stretched  upon  the  floor." 

Even  where  church  edifices  were  unmolested  the  congregations 
were  often  scattered,  the  ordinances  of  religion  ceased ;  and,  in 
numerous  instances  after  the  war,  churches  had  to  be  reorganized. 
Such  pastors  as  Rodgers,  of  New  York ;  Richards,  of  Rahway ; 
Prime,  of  Huntington;  Duffield,  of  Philadelphia,  etc.,  were  com- 
pelled to  flee  for  their  Hves,  while  Caldwell,  of  Elizabethtown  ;  Allen, 
of  Midway,  Ga.,  and  others  fell  victims  of  the  fierce  conflict.  Schools 
and  colleges  were  broken  up  or  suspended.  Young  men  who  should 
have  entered  the  ministry  were  turned  aside  from  their  purpose. 
Religion  suffered  serious  decay,  and  the  churches  presented  a  wide 
scene  of  desolation.  The  church  at  Newtown,  N.  J.,  is  said  to  have 
numbered  only  five  members  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  many 
others  were  in  the  same  condition.  The  session  of  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  in  1780,  was  held  with  only  fifteen  min- 
isters and  four  elders,  and  in  1781  with  only  twenty-one  ministers 
and  four  elders. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  the  country  was  impoverished,  the  cur- 
rency had  depreciated,  and  the  churches  were  in  a  state  of  profound  \ 
religious  apathy,  from  which,  for  some  years,  it  seemed  impossible  • 
to  arouse  them.     Other  denominations  passed  through  similar  priva-  ' 
tions,  especially  the  Baptists,  who  were  stanch  supporters  of  the 
rebellion  against  Great  Britain. 


Section  4.— CiYil  Troubles  After  tlie  War. 

But  the  war  itself  was  not  the  only  cause  of  embarrassment  to 
the  churches.  A  long  series  of  national  difficulties,  dissensions  and 
distractions  followed.     The  condition  of  the  country  was  not  one 


272  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  entire  quiet  and  repose,  even  after  the  peace  of  1783,  notwith- 
standing the  relief  from  the  tumult  and  vexations  of  war.  The 
achievement  of  national  independence  brought  with  it  new  and  more 
Idifficult  responsibilities  as  well  as  greater  advantages.  Relief  from 
external  enemies  was  followed  by  internal  clamors  and  animosities, 
'which  sprang  out  of  complications  in  adjusting  the  civil  polity.  The 
task  of  harmonizing  the  foreign  relations  was  not  an  easy  one,  but  it 
was  even  more  difficult  to  satisfactorily  arrange  the  internal  affairs — 
questions  of  trade,  of  finance,  and  the  relations  of  the  States  both 
to  each  other  and  to  the  general  government.  Difficulties  soon 
arose  with  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  the  treaty,  taxing  the  wisdom 
and  firmness  of  the  best  statesmen.  The  financial  distress,  too, 
which  grew  out  of  the  impoverished  condition  of  the  country,  the 
paper  currency  and  its  depreciation,  and  the  enforcement  of  the 
taxes  upon  a  people  who  had  been  reduced  to  such  sad  extremes, 
kept  the  nation  in  a  state  of  constant  irritation  and  despondency. 

Several  local  rebellions  broke  out ;  the  affair  at  King's  Mount- 
ain, Virginia,  and  soon  after  another  in  Washington  County,  Vir- 
ginia (1785);  the  insurrection  against  the  Pennsylvania  authorities 
by  the  Connecticut  settlers  in  Wyoming  (1786):  the  armed  mob  at 
Exeter,  surrounding  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature  and  demand- 
ing a  remission  of  the  taxes,  etc.  (1786),  and  the  Shay's  rebellion  in 
Massachusetts,  originating  from  a  similar  cause  (1786-87).  Con- 
tentions also  sprang  up  with  Spain  in  regard  to  boundaries  and  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  (1786). 

The  National  Constitution. 

In  all  these  troubles  the  weakness  of  Congress,  under  the  old 
articles  of  confederation,  was  seen  and  deeply  felt — a  want  of 
power  to  act  strongly  and  effectively.  The  confederation  produced 
no  security  against  foreign  invasion,  Congress  not  being  permitted 
to  prevent  a  war  nor  to  support  it  by  its  own  authority.  The 
Federal  Government  could  not  check  a  quarrel  between  States  nor 
a  rebellion  in  any,  not  having  the  constitutional  power  nor  the 
means  to  interpose;  nor  could  it  defend  itself  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  States,*  not  even  being  paramount  to  the  State  con- 
stitutions. These  defects  in  the  articles  of  confederation  became 
increasingly  apparent  each  year,  and  the  embarrassments  which 
grew  out  of  them  were  becoming  so  serious  as  to  threaten  the  dis- 

*  Speech  of  Hon.  Edmund  Ra'dolph,  of  Virginia,  in  the  convention  that  framed  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.    Madison's  IVorks.  VoL  II,  p.  730. 


J 

THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  273 

solution  of  the  national  government.     Hon.  James  Madison,  in  a 
letter  to  Hon.  Edmund  Randolph  (Feb.  25,  1787),  said: 

Our  situation  is  becoming  every  day  more  and  more  critical.  No  money  comes 
into  the  FederaF  treasury,  no  respect  is  paid  to  the  Federal  authority,  and  people 
of  reflection  unanimously  agree  that  the  existing  Confederacy  is  tottering  to  its 
foundation.  Many  individuals  of  weight,  particularly  in  the  Eastern  District,  are 
suspected  of  leaning  toward  monarchy.  Other  individuals  predict  a  division  of 
the  States  into  two  or  more  confederacies.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  if  some  radi- 
cal amendment  of  the  single  one  cannot  be  devised  and  introduced,  one  or  other 
of  these  revolutions,  the  latter,  no  doubt,  will  take  place.  I  hope  you  are  bending 
your  thoughts  seriously  to  the  great  work  of  guarding  against  both.* 

Such  was  the  condition  of  things  which  called  for  the  framing 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  in  1787.  But  after  its  completion  great 
agitations  attended  its  adoption  in  some  of  the  States.  The  Jacobin 
intrigue  followed  in  1793-94,  with  numerous  "  Democratic  societies," 
or  politico-infidel  clubs,  organized  in  all  parts  of  the  land  under  the 
instigation  of  M.  Genet,  minister  of  the  Jacobin  Government  in 
Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  involving  our  nation  in  another  war  with 
England.  Then  came  the  Whisky  Rebellion  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1794. 
Near  the  close  of  this  decade  a  powerful  party  called  the  "  State 
Rights  Party  "  sprang  up  in  several  States,  threatening  serious  mis- 
chief by  their  radical  theories  antagonistic  to  the  central  principles 
of  the  Federal  Constitution.  Such  were  the  Kentucky  resolutions 
of  1798,  and  those  of  Virginia  in  1799,  which  agitated  and  disturbed 
the  public  mind. 

The  last  thirteen  years  of  the  last  century  have  been  character-   ^ 
ized  as  "  an  era  of  bad  feeling."     There  was  much  political  excite- 
ment growing  out  of  questions  connected  with  the  organization  of 
the  government,  together  with    the   wild,    reckless,    revolutionary 
spirit  with  which  the  French  Revolution  and  French  infidelity  had   1 
fired  many  minds.     Parties  grew  out  of  the  issues.  Federalism  and    j 
Democracy    ran    high,   separating  families   and    churches.     In   the  - 
midst  of  such  distractions  it  was  difficult  to  accomplish  very  miich 
in  the  more  quiet  sphere  of  religious  efforts.     It  was  the  dark  age  ^ 
of  American  Christianity.  ' 


Section  5^.— Sundering  of  Ecclesiastico-CiYil  Ties. 

But  the  influence  of  this  great  contest  was  not  altogether  disad- 
vantageous. The  great  struggles  and  sacrifices  were  followed  by 
great  gains.     The  scattered  colonies,  united  by  fellow-sufiferings  in 

*  Papers  of  James  Madison.    Vol.  II,  p.  620. 
18 


274  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  common  cause,  became  an  independent  nation,  a  condition  for 
which  they  were  clearly  destined  by  Providence.  In  respect  to 
territory  and  material  resources  it  was  already  an  empire  of  no 
mean  p^'oportions,  located  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  with 
distinctly  marked  natural  boundaries.  Thus  situated  civil  in- 
dependence started  the  country  upon  a  grand  national  career 
with  great  advantages,  in  which  the  churches  must  inevitably  par- 
ticipate. 

Among  these  advantages,  particular  prominence  should  be  given 
to  the  liberation  of  the  churches  from  the  trammels  of  the  civil 
power.  Freedom  of  thought  and  action  had  come  to  be  regarded 
as  essential  conditions  for  the  unrestrained  operation  of  the  religious 
motives.  In  the  exercise  of  such  inalienable  rights  no  civil  power 
should  interfere.  Where  they  are  untrammeled,  a  congenial  soil  is 
found  for  the  growth  of  deep  religious  convictions  and  the  quick 
propagation  of  religious  impulses.  Such  guarantees  also  invest  the 
personal  religious  convictions  with  peculiar  dignity  and  sanctity. 
During  the  Revolutionary  struggle  the  idea  of  religious  liberty 
gained  a  fuller  development  than  ever  before,  and  the  popular  cur- 
rent, setting  so  strongly  against  both  monarchical  and  hierarchical 
assumptions,  afforded  an  opportunity  for  numerous  bodies  of  dis- 
senters from  the  established  churches  in  the  various  colonies  to  cast 
off  the  yoke  which  had  long  oppressed  them.  Two  results,  there- 
fore, followed  the  achievement  of  national  independence :  the  sun- 
dering of  the  ecclesiastico-civil  relations  at  home,  and  separation 
from  European  ecclesiasticisms. 

Prior  to  the  Revolution  several  religiousdenominations  had  been 
dependent  upon  official  bodies  in  the  mother  countries  for  ecclesi- 
astical prerogatives  and  the  sacraments.  The  Protestant  Episcopal 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  were  subject  to  their  respective 
bishops  in  London.  Similar  relations  were  sustained  by  the  Meth- 
odist societies,  the  German  Reformed,  and  some  other  bodies.  On 
account  of  these  foreign  relations,  many  embarrassments  and  re- 
ligious privations  were  suffered.  Immediately  after  the  Revolution 
these  relations  were  dissolved  and  national  organizations  were 
formed.  The  first  that  effected  a  national  organization  was  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  then  the  Roman  Catholic  in  part, 
receiving  American  bishops  but  still  remaining  subject  to  the 
Roman  Pontiff;  then  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  etc.  Each 
also,  in  nearly  the  same  order,  recognized  the  Federal  Government, 
and  tendered  their  congratulations  to  General  Washington  on  his 
elevation  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 


RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM.  275 

In    the    Several   States. 

The  sundering  of  the  civil  relations  in  the  several  States  was 
also  inevitable,  although  not  very  easily  effected,  and  not  so  com- 
plete at  first  as  at  a  subsequent  period.  On  the  eve  of  the  Revo- 
lution the  equality  of  all  Protestant  sects  had  been  acknowledged 
in  Rhode  Island,  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania,  and  only  in  the  two 
latter  colonies  did  toleration  extend  to  the  Roman  Catholic  re- 
ligion. In  2^ew  York  and  Massachusetts  Roman  Catholic  priests 
were  liable  to  imprisonment  and  even  death.  It  has  been  noticed 
that  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  Congre- 
gationalism was  the  established  religion.*  In  all  the  southern  col- 
onies the  Church  of  England  had  a  similar  civil  support,  and,  with 
some  slight  modifications,  it  sustained  such  relations  in  New  Jersey 
and  New  York.  But  after  the  Revolution  there  was  a  general 
breaking  up  of  these  ecclesiastico-civil  unions,  in  some  instances 
immediate  and  complete,  while  in  others  it  was  only  begun. 

The  Church  of  England,  the  great  majority  of  whose  memhers  were  Loyalists. 
lost  by  the  Revolution  the  establishment  it  had  possessed  in  the  soutl.ern  colo- 
nies, and  the  official  countenance  and  the  privileges  it  had  enjoyed  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey.  But  it  retained  its  parsonages,  glehe-lands  and  other  endow- 
ments, which  in  some  of  the  States,  and  especially  in  the  city  of  New  York,  were 
by  no  means  inconsiderable.t 

But  "  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  cast  a  lingering  look  on  the  care  of 
the  State  for  public  worship."  The  conservative  convention  of  Maryland  declared 
that  "  the  Legislature  may,  in  their  discretion.  lay  a  general  and  equal  tax  for  the 
support  of  the  Christian  religion,  leaving  to  each  individual  the  apportioning  the 
money  collected  from  him  to  the  support  of  any  particular  place  of  public  worship 
or  minister  ; "  but  the  power  granted  was  never  exercised.  For  a  time  Massa- 
chusetts required  of  towns  or  religious  societies  "  the  support  of  public  Protest- 
ant teachers  of  piety,  religion  and  morality  "  of  their  own  election  ;  but  as  each 
man  chose  his  own  religious  society  the  requisition  had  no  effect  in  large  towns, 
and  was  hardly  felt  elsewhere  as  a  grievance.  X  In  Connecticut  the  Puritan  wor- 
ship was  still  closely  interwoven  with  the  State,  and  had  molded  the  manners, 
habits  and  faith  of  the  people;  but  the  complete  disentanglement  was  gradually 
brought  about  by  inevitable  processes  of  legislation.  § 

The  Second  Constitution  of  South  Carolina  declared  "  the  Chris- 
tian Protestant  religion "  to  be  the  established  religion  of  that 
State.  Persons  assenting  to  certain  doctrinal  tests  were  allowed  to 
form  churches  and  elect  their  own  ministers,  but  pecuniary  contri- 
butions were  to  be  voluntary. 

♦See  chapter  on  Church  and  State,  pp.  82-124. 
+  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  -583. 

X  This  provision  was  not  wholly  amended   until   1833.     The  grievance  was  greater,  however, 
than  here  acknowledged.  §  Bancroft's  History  0/  the  United  States.     Vol.  IX,  p.  277. 


276  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  New  England,  in  the  early  modifications  of  the  relation  of 
the  Church  to  the  State,  the  Puritan  principle  was  not  at  once  wholly- 
eliminated  ;  but  provision  was  still  retained  that  every  man,  as  a 
good  citizen^  was  in  duty  bound  not  only  to  "  attend  meeting,"  but 
he  must  *'  support  the  minister ;  "  voluntarily,  if  he  would,  otherwise^ 
from  necessity.  Between  1780  and  1795,  the  law  was  so  amended 
in  the  New  England  States  that  a  person  in  order  to  be  exempt 
from  taxation  must  be  a  member  of  some  other  than  the  Congre- 
gational denomination,  and  must  prove  by  certificate  that  he  regu- 
larly attended  religious  services  elsewhere  on  the  Lord's  day.  If 
satisfactory  evidence  was  not  produced,  he  was  assessed  and  taxed. 
In  default  of  payment,  the  parish  collector  often  entered  the  dwell- 
ing of  honest  poverty,  took  away  platters,  tables,  chairs  and  andirons, 
and  even  sold  at  auction  "  the  cow  of  the  poor  laborer."  Appeals 
were  made  to  higher  tribunals,  but  only  to  the  disadvantage  and 
perhaps  ruin  of  the  plaintiff.  Men  were  thus  compelled  to  build 
"  meeting-houses  "  they  never  entered,  and  to  support  ministers  they 
never  heard.  After  the  commencement  of  this  century  men  were 
exempted  from  taxation  at  their  express  request,  and  finally  '•  Tol- 
eration Acts"  swept  from  the  statute-books  the  last  vestige  of  these 
obnoxious  laws. 

In  Virginia,  by  the  "  Religious  Freedom  Act  "  of  1785  all  parish 
rates  and  doctrinal  tests  were  abolished.  The  constitutions  of  New 
York,  Delaware  and  Maryland  excluded  priests  and  ministers  of  re- 
ligion from  all  public  ofifices.  In  Georgia  they  could  not  beeome 
members  of  the  Assembly.  In  Maryland  all  gifts  for  pious  uses 
were  absolutely  prohibited  by  the  Constitution,  except  grants  of 
land,  not  exceeding  two  acres  each,  for  churches  and  church-yards. 
The  constitutions  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  expressly  repudiated  all  com- 
pulsion in  church  attendance  and  church  rates. 

A  Few  Religious  Tests  Remained 

for  a  short  time,  in  some  of  the  States,  which  excluded  Roman  Cath- 
olics and  Jews  from  citizenship,  but 

They  were  eliminated  almost  as  soon  as  their  inconvenience  attracted  atteiv 
tion.  The  great  result  was  accomplished  from  the  beginning;  the  Church  no 
longer  formed  a  part  of  the  State,  and  religion,  ceasing  to  be  a  servant  of  the  gov- 
ernment or  an  instrument  of  dominion,  asserted  its  independence  and  became  a 
life  in  the  soul.  Public  worship  was  voluntarily  sustained.  The  Church,  no  longer 
subordinate  to  a  temjioral  power,  regained  its  unity  by  having  no  visible  head  and 
becoming  an  affair  of  the  conscience  of  each  individual.     Nowhere  was  persecu- 


THE    VOLUNTARY  SYSTEM.  '2,11 

lion  for  religious  opinion  so  nearly  at  an  end  as  in  America.  ...  In  this  universal 
freedom  of  conscience  and  worship,  America,  composed  as  it  was  of  emigrants 
from  many  countries,  formed  its  nationality ;  for  nationality  is  not  an  artificial  prod- 
uct, an4  can  neither  be  imported  nor  taken  away.* 

Early  Pecuniary  Disadvantages. 

The  sundering  of  these  relations  to  the  civil  power  was  attended 
with  some  pecuniary  disadvantages  at  first.  The  pastor's  salary, 
which  had  been  promptly  paid  out  of  the  town  treasury  in  New 
England,  and  by  some  similar  arrangement  elsewhere,  was  thence- 
forth often  delayed  and  sometimes  paid  in  barter.  His  home  was 
sometimes  turned  into  a  seminary  for  a  half  dozen  boys  whom  he 
fitted  for  college.  .Rev.  Elihu  Goodrich,  D.D.,  of  Durham,  Conn., 
had  usually  from  fifteen  to  thirty  young  students  under  his  care  at 
once.  In  this  way,  with  his  small  salary  of  $333  34  per  year,  and  a 
few  acres  of  parsonage  land,  he  was  enabled  to  educate  his  five  sons 
at  college  and  prepare  them  for  public  life.  A  hundred  years  ago, 
outside  of  large  towns  the  minister's  salary  was  a  mere  pittance. 
Even  the  highly-esteemed  Joseph  Buckminster's  "settlement  was 
upon  the  value  of  wheat  and  Indian  corn,  and  varied  extremely  in 
different  years;  but  never  did  the  amount  exceed  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred dollars."  f  In  some  sections  the  pastor  was  allowed  "  $130, 
with  glebe-lands  and  parsonage,  and  the  donations  from  strangers,"  or 
money  put  upon  "the  plate  "  which  was  kept  in  a  conspicuous  place 
in  the  meeting-house  to  receive  the  offerings  of  transient  attendants. 

The  union  of  Church  and  State,  and  the  paying  of  Church  ex- 
penses out  of  State  or  town  funds  for  so  long  a  period,  largely  sus- 
pended voluntary  giving.  Dandled  in  this  profane  lap  and  schooled 
under  this  profane  tuition,  it  is  not  strange  that  prejudice  against 
voluntary  pecuniary  offerings  should  have  become  strongly  in- 
trenched in  the  natural  selfishness  of  the  human  heart,  and  that  for 
some  time  the  churches  should  have  suffered.  Giving  and  worship, 
in  all  the  earlier  ages,  and  in  the  letter  and  spirit  of  Christianity, 
had  been  blended.  Under  the  Church  and  State  regimen  they  were 
divorced.  After  the  Revolution  the  banns,  long  discarded,  were  pro- 
claimed anew.  But  the  affinities  had  been  seriously  deranged,  and  the 
reunion  was  slowly  consummated.  Poverty,  inconvenience  and  shame 
were  for  a  while  experienced  in  the  churches  under  the  new  voluntary 
system,  but  in  the  subsequent  periods  we  shall  record  its  triumph. 

After  the  Revolution,  too,  the  language  of  the  people  and  the 


*  History  of  the  United  States.     By  Hon.  George  Bancroft.     Vol.  IX,  p.  275. 
\  Memoir  0/ Joseph  Buckminster,  D.D.,  p.  69. 


278  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

language  of  the  Church  services,  which  had  in  some  localities  been 
foreign,  became  Anglicised.  The  Dutch  peculiarities  became  less 
distinctive  in  New  York.  The  signs  over  the  stores  showed  the 
change.  Along  the  slips  of  the  Hudson  the  Dutch  language  was 
no  longer  the  media  of  commerce.  The  three  great  Dutch  churches, 
in  which  none  of  the  services  had  ever  been  heard  in  English,  soon 
surrendered  the  language  of  the  Stuyvesants,  though  the  pastor  was 
still  styled  "  the  dominie."  and  preached  in  the  high  pulpit  in  a 
black  silk  gown,  with  the  hour-glass  at  his  right  and  the  sounding- 
board  over  his  head. 


Section  ^.— Tlie  Clmrclies  After  tlie  War. 

The  orthodox  Congregational  churches,  the  direct  lineage  of 
the  Puritan  churches,  being  almost  entirely  confined  to  New 
England,  suffered  less  from  the  ravages  of  war  than  those  in  the 
portions  of  the  country  overrun  by  the  contending  armies.  From 
1773  to  1780  there  was  an  increase  of  ten  churches  in  Massachu- 
setts alone  ;  and  from  1780  to  i8cxD  thirty  more  churches  were 
organized,  making  344  Congregational  churches  in  thai  State.  In 
Maine,  in  1800,  there  were  63  ;  in  New  Hampshire,  96  ;  in  Vermont. 
75;  in  Rhode  Island,  6;  in  Connecticut,  196;  total  in  New 
England,  780  churches  of  this  denomination.  Outside  of  New 
England  they  had  about  thirty  churches,  twenty-four  of  which  were 
in  New  York.*f 

*  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  Massachusetts.  By  Rev.  Joseph 
S.  Clark,  D.D.,  Boston,  1858. 

+  The  Congregational  ministers  of  this  period  were:  Nathan  Peikins,  D.D.,  1771-1838;  David 
Ely,  D.D.,  1771-1816;  David  M'Clure,  D.D.,  1771-1820  ;  Joseph  Lyman,  D.D.,  1771-1828  ; 
Manasseh  Cutler,  LL.D.,  1771-1823 ;  Joseph  Willard,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  1 772-1 804  ;  Benjamin 
Wadsworth,  D.D.,  1772-1826;  Nathan  Strong,  D.D.,  1772-1816;  Nathaniel  Porter,  D  D.,  1772- 
1837;  William  Hollingshed.  D.D.,  1772-1817 ;  Charles  Backus.  D.D.,  1773-1803;  David 
Osgood,  D.D.,  1 773-1822  ;  Samuel  Spring,  D.D.,  1774-1819;  John  Smith,  D.D.,  1774-1809 ; 
Mathias  Burnett,  D.D..  1774-1806 ;  David  Tappan  D.D.,  1774-1803;  Elihu  Thayer,  D.D., 
1775-1812  ;  Joseph  Buckminster,  D.D.,  1775-1812;  David  Parsons  D.D.,  1775-1823  ;  Eliphalet 
Pearson,  LL.D.,  1775-1826;  Joseph  Etkley,  D.D.,  1776-1811  ;  Asa  Burton,  D.D.,  1777-1836; 
Daniel  Chaplin. D.D.,  1777-1831  ;  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  1777-1817;  Isaac  S.  Keith,  D.D., 
1778-1813;  Samuel  Wood,  D.D.,  1779-1836 ;  Jonathan  Homer,  D.D.,  1780-1843;  Lemuel 
Haynes,  1780-1834;  Samuel  Nott,  D.D.,  1781-1852;  David  Austin,  1781-1831  ;  Seth  Payson, 
D.D.,  1782-1820 ;  John  Crane,  D.D.,  1782-1836;  Joseph  McKeen,  D.D.,  1784-1807;  Samuel 
Austin,  D.D.,  1784-1830;  Moses  Cook  Welch.  D.D.,  1784-1824;  Abiel  Holmes,  D.D.,  1784- 
1837  ;  Jedediah  Morse,  D.D.,  1785-1826;  Richard  S.  Storrs,  1785-1819;  Jacob  Catlin,  D.D., 
1786-1826;  Elijah  Parish.  D.D.,  1787-1825;  Abel  Flint,  D.D.,  1788-1825;  Jonathan  Strong, 
D.D..  1788-1814;  Walter  Harris,  D.D.,  1789-1843;  Azel  Backus,  D.D.,  1789-1817  ;  Chauncy 
Lee,  D.D..  1789-1842;  Alvan  Hyde,  D.D.,  1790-1833;  Asahel  Hooker,  1790-1813;  John  Elliot. 
D.D  ,  1791-1824;  Calvin  Chapin,  D.D.,  1791-1851  ;  Giles  H.  Cov/les,  D.D.,  1791-1835  ;  Asahel 
S.  Norton,  D.D..  1792-1853;  William  Jackson,  D.D. ,  1793-1842;  Ebenezer  Porter,  D.D.,  1794- 
1834;  Daniel  Dow,  D.D.,  1795-1849. 


CONSECRATION  OF  AMERICAN  BISHOPS.  279 

Prior  to  the  Revolution  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church   was 
under  the  oversight  of  the  Bishop  of  London.     During  the  Revo- 
lution that  jurisdiction  could  not  be  exercised.     At  the  close  of  the 
Revolution     this     bond,     though     not     formally    sundered,     was 
superseded  or  in  abeyance,  and  it  became  necessary  to  combine  on 
some  new  plan  of  association.     Organization  was  undertaken   by 
two  methods,  the  conventional  and  the   Episcopal,  the  former  in 
the  Middle  States  and   the  latter  in  Connecticut.     In  May,  1784, 
a  few  clergymen  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  met 
at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  for  consultation.     Again  in  October,  in 
New  York  city,  they  reassembled,   and  agreed   upon  a  basis  for 
future    ecclesiastical    organization.     In   September,    1785,    another 
meeting  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  which  seven  States  between 
the  Hudson  River  and  the  Savannah  were  represented.     The  book 
of  Common  Prayer  was  accommodated  to  the  recent  changes.     In 
the  meantime   in   Connecticut    the    Episcopal   method  was  under- 
taken.    Rev.  Dr.  Seabury,  of  Connecticut,  a  little  in  advance  of  his 
brethren  in  the  Middle  States,  applied  to  the  English  bishops  for 
Episcopal  ordination.   Discouraged  by  delay,  he  transferred  his  appli- 
cation to  the  non-juring  bishops  of  Scotland,  received  ordination 
November  14,  1784,  and  returned  to  America  on  the  3d  of  August, 
1785.     The  first  exercise  of  his  Episcopal  functions  was  in  August, 
1785,  in  Connecticut.     The   members  of  the  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion at  first  looked  with   disfavor  upon  the  Scotch  episcopacy,  and 
pressed  an  application  for  ordination  directly  from  England.     On 
the  4th  of  February,  1787,  Revs.  William  White,  D.D.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  Samuel  Provost,   D.D.,   of  New  York,  were  consecrated 
bishops  in  Lambeth   Palace,    London.     At  a    general   convention 
held    in    September,    1789,    the    clergy    from    New    England  were 
present,  the  union  became  general  and  complete,  and  Bishop  Sea- 
bury 's  ordination  was  recognized.      Five  other  bishops  were  conse- 
crated prior  to  1800,  and  seven  of  the  eight  bishops  were  living  at 
that  date.     In  the  year  1800  this  denomination  had   264  clergymen 
and  1 1,978  communicants,*  and  the  following  dioceses  had  been  con- 
stituted :    Connecticut    and    Maryland,    1783;    Massachusetts    and 
Pennsylvania,   1784;  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  South  Carolina 
and  Virginia,  1785;  Vermont  and  Rhode  Island,  1790;  Delaware, 
I79i-t 

*  Episcopal  Record  for  i860. 

t  The  Episcopal  ministers  of  this  period  were,  James  Madison.  D.D.,  1775-1812;  John 
Buchannan,  D.D.,  1775-1822;  Nathaniel  Fisher,  1777-1812;  Charles  H.  Wharton.  D.D.,  1784- 
•833;  Collin  Ferguson,  D.D.,  1785-1806;  William  Smith.  D.D.,  1785-1821  ;  Philo  Shelton, 
1785-1825  ;  Joseph  G.  J.   Bend,  D.D.,  1787-1812  ;  Slater  Clay,   1787-1821  ;  Tillotson  Bronson, 


280  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  Episcopal  Church  in  its  organized  form  was  reluctantly 
recognized  by  many  in  New  England.  The  propriety  of  admitting 
bishop>s  into  Massachusetts  was  gravely  questioned  and  discussed  in 
the  Boston  Gazette  (January  1785),  When  the  news  came  of  the 
ordination  of  Bishop  Seabury  the  Gazette  exclaimed,  "  Two  Won- 
ders of  the  World — a  stamp  act  in  Boston  and  a  Bishop  in  Connec- 
ticut." 

The  Presbyterian  Church  was  located  principally  in  the  Middle 
States,  where  the  ravages  of  the  war  were  most  severely  felt,  but 
the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  kept  up  its  annual  meet- 
ings, although  the  attendance  was  generally  small.  After  the  par- 
alyzing effects  of  the  Revolution  had  begun  to  pass  away,  this 
denomination  gradually  extended  itself,*  and,  in  view  of  its  prospec- 
tive growth,  it  was  felt  that  measures  must  be  taken  for  perfecting 
its  organization  and  a  fuller  declaration  of  its  principles.  The 
question  was  considered  and  matured  during  several  years  (1785- 
1788),  resulting  in  the  organization  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  which  held  its  first  ses- 
sion in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia  in  May, 
1789,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rodgers  moderator.  At  this  session  an  address 
of  recognition  and  congratulation  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  was  adopted,  A  Committee  on  Home  Missions  was  also 
appointed,!  which  is  believed  to  have  been  the  earliest  action  of 
this  kind,  except  that  of  the  Congregationalists. 

Pre-eminent  among  the  Presbyterian  clergy  of  this  period  was 
Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Princeton  College. 
A  native  of  Scotland,  called  to  this  position  in  1769,  he  was  a  man 
of  varied  and  profound  scholarship,  an  elegant  and  powerful  preacher, 
with  a  vigorous  physical  constitution,  a  statesmanlike  mind, 
and  possessed  a  personal  "  presence  second  only  to  that  of  Wash- 
ington." He  was  for  several  years  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  where  his  sagacity  and  discernment  were  highly  esteemed, 
and  his  pen  was  brought  into  frequent  requisition  upon  important 
state  papers,  involving  intricate  subjects  of  political  economy. 

Rev.  John  Ewing,  D.D.,  for  thirty  years  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  for  twenty  years  Provost 

D.D.,  i787-i826;  John  S.  J.  Gardner,  D. D.,i 787-1 830 ;  Richard  Channing  Moore,  D  D..1787- 
1841;  James  Kemp,  D.D.,  1789-1827  ;  John  Croes,  D.D.,  1 790- 1832  ;  William  Harris,  D.D., 
1791-1829;  David  Butler,  D.D  ,  1792-1843;  James  Abercrombie,  D.D.,  1793-1841  ;  Charles 
Seabury,  1 793-1844 ;  Walter  D.  Addison,  1793-1848;  Daniel  Burhans,  D.D.,  1793-1853; 
Alexander  V.  Griswold,  D.D.,  1795-1843. 

*  In  1788  it  numbered  419  congjegations,  about  one  half  of  which  were  destitute  of  pastors. 

t  Minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  1788,1789. 


DISTINGUISHED  MINISTERS.  281 

of  the   University  of  Pennsylvania,  was  eminent  far  his  knowledge 
in  classical  and  scientific  studies,  and  also  for  his  ability  as  a  preacher. 
The  pastor  of  the  Second  Church  for  nearly  half  a  century,  Rev.  Dr. 
James  Sproatt,  was  also  a  distinguished  minister,  pre-eminent  for  per- 
sonal  piety  and  for  his  mastery  of  the  art  of  persuasion.  He  fell  a  vic- 
tim to  the  yellow  fever  in   1793.     The  pastor  of  the  Third  Church, 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Duffield,  in  whose  veins  mingled  Irish,  English  and 
Huguenot  blood,  was  an  earnest,  ardent,  and  fearless  man,  and  a 
powerful  champion  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.     The  celebrated 
John  Adams  was  one  of  his  hearers  and   admirers.     Revs.  John 
Blair  Smith,   D.D.,    President   of   Hampden-Sidney    College,    and 
subsequently  of  Union  College,  and  his  brother,  Samuel  Stanhope 
Smith,    D.D.,    President    of   Nassau    Hall,    were    leading    men    of 
this    period.      The   former   has   been   styled    "  a  model  preacher, 
whose  soul  glowed  with  evangelical  fervor  and  love  of  souls."     Dr. 
William  M.  Tennent  also  is  worthy  of  special  mention  as  a  man  of 
devoted  piety,  of  great  sweetness  of  temper  and  politeness  of  man- 
ner.    Rev.  James  Grier,  of  Delaware,  was  an  effective  preacher,  of 
deep  sonorous  voice,  earnest,  and  often  deeply  impassioned.    "  The 
patriarch  of  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle  "  was  Rev.  John  Elder,  who 
for  more  than  fifty  most  eventful   years  discharged  the   duties  of 
the  pastoral  relation  in  the  towns  of  Paxton  and  Derry,  Pa.     He 
was  a  man  for  the  times,  with  a  robust  constitution,  large  stature, 
commanding  presence,  and  indomitable  courage  and  energy.     Dr. 
Charles  Nisbet,  first  president  of  Dickinson  College,  was  a  Scotch- 
man by  birth,  an  able  debater,  abounding  in   ready  wit,  brilliant  in 
conversation,   and    so    extensively   read    that  he   was    proverbially 
called  a  walking  library.     Dr.  Patrick  Allison,  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Baltimore,  was  a  man  of  impressive  personal 
appearance,  in  a  remarkable  degree  graceful  and  dignified  in  his 
demeanor,  of  irreproachable  character,    and   possessed    intellectual 
gifts  of  a  high  order.     Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Keith,  of  Alexander,  and 
subsequently  of  Castleton,  S.  C,  is  a  name  noted  for  the  honorable 
memories  of  usefulness  and  devotion  associated  with  it.     To  these 
might  be  added  numerous  other  names  of  distinction  and  great  per- 
sonal worth.     There  was  the  Rev.  James  VVaddell,  of  Virginia,  the 
preacher  of  unrivaled  eloquence,  and  Thomas  Moore,  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,    called    *  the   scourge    of  Arminianism  ; '    Dr.    John 
Anderson,  the  zealous  pioneer  missionary  preacher  ;  John  Watson, 
of  Canonsburg,  the  youthful  genius  ;  the  venerable  John  Clark,  of 
the   Redstone  Presbytery;  Dr.  John   King,  the  elaborate  thinker ; 
Dr.  Rodgers  and  his  colleague,  Dr.  J.  McKnight,  of  New  York  ;  Dr. 


282  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Stephen  B.  Balch,  of  Georgetown  ;  Dr.  Samuel  Buel,  of  East  Hamp- 
ton, L.  I.,  the  friend  of  Branerd,  VVhitefield,  Belamy,  and  the  elder 
Edwards ;  Dr.  Phillip  Milledoler,  of  Philadelphia,  and  subsequently 
of  New  York  city,  the  faithful  preacher  and  successful  pastor  in 
Connecticut  about  fifteen  years  previous. 

The  extent  of  this  denomination,  at  the  close  of  the  century, 
will  be  seen  from  the  following  data  for  1798:* 

Congregatioas.  Ministers.  Licentiates. 

Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey H5  72  5 

Synod  of  Philadelphia 129  38  12 

Synod  of  Virginia 69  41  10 

Synod  of  the  Carolinas 93  58  10 

Number  of  Presbyteries 19 

In  Ohio  there  was  one  presbytery,  with  9  ministers,  3  licenciates,  and  15 
congregations.  In  Kentucky  there  were  5  ministers.  The  above  statistics  are 
supposed  to  be  not  quite  complete.  Rev.  Dr.  Baird  gave  the  statistics  of  the 
Presljyterian  Church  in  1800  as  follows  :  500  churches,  300  ministers,  and  40.000 
communicants. 

The  Associate  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  churches 
both  prospered  after  the  Revolution.  The  New  York  Synod  of  the 
latter  branch  was  organized  in  1782.  Among  the  distinguished 
ministers  of  this  body  were  Revs.  John  M.  Mason,  D.D.,  Thomas 
Clark,  Robert  Arnan  and  James  Proudfit,  D.D. 

"  The  Associate  Presbyterians,''  a  secession  from  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Jacob  Green,  originally  con- 
sisted of  four  ministers,  who  quietly  withdrew  and  organized  the 
"Presbytery  of  Morris  County,"  at  Hanover,  May  3.  1780.  Their 
platform  has  been  characterized  as  "  Presbyterian  in  form,  but  Con- 
gregational in  fact."  This  new  body  received  sympathy  in  regions 
where  Congregational  influence  was  felt,  in  the  counties  of  Dutchess 
and  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  along  the  New  England  line,  and  in  course 
of  time  five  Presbyteries  were  organized.  This  movement  started 
under  a  vigorous  impulse  of  growth,  which  was  felt  for  almost 
twenty  years.  It  subsequently,  however,  declined,  and  before  1830 
its  presbyteries  had  been  disbanded,  its  churches  had  all  been 
absorbed  into  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  organizations,  and  all 
its  memorials  passed  away.f 

Dr.  Crooks,  in  his  history  of  the  one  hundred  years  of  Dickin- 
son College,  says : 

*  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,  1798. 

\ /It story  0/  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D. 
Vol.  I,  p.  218. 


BAPTIST  GROWTH.  283 

The  debt  which  this  country  owes  to  the  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterians  has 
not  been  understood,  much  less  acknowledged.  They,  in  their  Synod  which  met 
at  Philadelphia,  in  1775,  ^^""^  ^^^  ^""^^  religious  body  to  declare  themselves  in  favor 
of  open  resistance  to  the  king.  They  issued  the  first  Declaration  of  Independence, 
that  of  Mecklenherg,  May  2u,  1775.  They  were  the  founders  of  the  schools  of 
learning  in  the  Middle  States,  and  notably  the  founders  of  Dickinson  College. 

Their  history  has  as  yet  been  but  imperfectly  told,  but  the  time  will  come  when 
the  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterian  of  Pennsylvania  will  take  his  place  alongside  the 
New  England  Puritan  as  one  of  the  founders  of  liberty  and  learning  in  the  New 
World.  The  race  which  has  given  to  the  country  John  Witherspoon,  Alexander 
Hamilton,  James  Wilson,  Andrew  Jackson.  Robert  Fulton,  Horace  Greeley,  and 
others  of  equal  or  lesser  fame,  is  one  whose  memory  men  cannot  willingly  let  die. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  Baptists  were  {qv<i  in  number, 
suffering  pitiless  persecution  in  the  chief  colonies — fines,  mobs, 
imprisonment,  scourging.  Against  terrible  odds  they  strove  to 
realize  their  ideal  of  a  Church  of  regenerated  persons,  baptized 
on  a  profession  of  personal  faith,  and  exercising  absolute  freedom  of 
conscience.  They  numbered  about  fifteen  thousand  communicants. 
They  entered  into  the  Revolution  with  great  zeal,  hoping  for  relig- 
ious as  well  as  political  liberty.  In  the  triumph  of  the  Revolution 
they,  therefore,  doubly  rejoiced,  and  rapidly  won  upon  popular  favor 
on  account  of  their  conspicuous  advocacy  of  freedom  of  conscience. 
They  grew  rapidly,*  in  1792  numbering  891  churches,  I,i56ministers,t 
and  65,345  members.  These  were  distributed  as  follows:  in  New 
England,  266  churches,  342  ministers,  and  17,174  members;  in  the 
Middle  States,  126  churches,  155  ministers,  and  8,025  members;  in 
the  Southern  States,  437  churches,  565  ministers,  and  36,100  mem- 
bers; in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  60  churches,  82  ministers,  and 
3,984  members;  in  Ohio  there  were  2  churches,  2  ministers,  and  62 
members.  In  Virginia  alone  there  were  261  Baptist  churches  and 
20,443  merhbers.  Exact  data  for  1800  have  not  been  compiled,  but 
it  has  been  estimated  that  this  denomination  had  at  that  time  about 
100,000  members. 

After  the  Revolution  the  MetJwdist  preachers,  relieved  from  their 

*  Rev.  Rufus  Babcock,  D.D.,  in  American  Quarterly  Register,  1840,  1841,  p.  185. 

t  The  Baptist  ministers  of  this  period  were  Joseph  Cook,  1776-1790;  Benjamin  Foster,  D.D., 
1776-1798;  Caleb  Blood,  1776-1814;  John  Pitman,  1777-1822;  Lewis  Richards,  1777-1832; 
Ambrose  Dudley,  1778-1823;  Isaac  Case,  17S0-1852;  Thomas  Baldwin,  D.D.,  1782-1826;  Henry 
Holcomb,  D.D.,  1784 -1824;  Joseph  Grafton,  17S4-1836;  Stephen  Gano,  1 786-1 828  ;  William 
Elliot,  1786-1830;  Aaron  Leiand,  17S6-1833;  John  Stanford,  1786-1834;  Andrew  Marshall, 
1786-1856;  Thomas  B.  Montanye,  1787-1829;  Elisha  Andrews,  1787-1840;  John  Tripp,  1787- 
1847  ■>  Henry  Smalley,  1788-1839  ;  Jesse  Mercer,  D.D.,  1788-1841  ;  Andrew  Broaddus,  1789-1818  ; 
Jonathan  Maxcy,  D.D.,  1790-1820;  Robert  B.  Semple,  1790-1S31  ;  Abel  Woods,  1790-1850; 
Daniel  Wildman,  1791-1849;  William  Bachelder,  1792-1818;  Asa  Messer,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  1792- 
1836;  William  Staughton,  D.D  ,  1793-1829;  Morgan  J.  Rhees,  1794-1804;  Zenas  L.  Leonard, 
1794-1841  ;  John  Healty,  1794-1848;  John  Williams,  1795-1825. 


f 

284  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

embarrassments,  went  freely  forth  in  every  direction,  accomplishing 
their  heroic  mission.  In  1784,  having  increased  to  83  preachers  and 
14,988  members,  the  Methodist  societies  were  formally  organized, 
by  Constitution  and  Discipline,  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  Revs.  Francis  Asbury  and  Richard  Whatcoat  were  elected  and 
ordained  bishops.  Although  then  one  of  the  youngest  of  the 
American  religious  denominations,  it  was  the  first  in  the  United 
States  to  effect  a  national  organization.  In  the  year  1800  it  num- 
bered 3  bishops,  287  preachers  and  64,894  members,  and  had 
extended  itself  as  far  eastward  as  the  St.  John's  River,  and  south- 
ward to  Georgia,  to  the  west  as  far  as  Natchez,  and  into  Indiana 
and  Illinois.  Methodism  did  not  enter  New  England  until  1789; 
but  in  1800  it  had  5,828  members  in  those  States,  notwithstanding 
the  region  was  largely  preoccupied  by  other  denominations.  At 
its  organization,  in  1784,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  the 
first  religious  body  to  formally  recognize  the  new  civil  government, 
in  its  constitutional  law,*  enforcing  loyalty  and  patriotism  upon  its 
communicants. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  advance  of  any  other  relig- 
ious body  recognized  the  organization  of  the  National  Government 
and  the  presidency  of  Washington.  In  behalf  of  the  Conference  in 
session  in  New  York,  Bishops  Coke  and  Asbury  waited  on  Wash- 
inton,  then  just  inaugurated.  May  29,  1789,  and  Bishop  Asbury 
read  to  him  the  Address  of  the  Conference,  to  which  Washington 
appropriately  replied,  f 

The  first  schism  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  occurred  in 
1792,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  James  O'Kelley,  and  organized 
under  the  name  of  "  Republican  Methodists."  This  division  pre- 
vailed chiefly  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina;  but  it  was  not  long 
before  this  body  was  subdivided  several  times,  and  the  only  portion 

*  See  Centenary  of  Methodism.  By  Rev.  Abel  Stevens,  LL.D.  Pp.  203,  204, 
t  The  Methodist  ministers  of  this  period  were,  Robert  Strawbridge,  1766-1781  ;  Thomas 
Webb,  1766-1782;  Francis  Asbury,  1771-1816;  Thomas  Rankin,  1773-1778;  George  Shad- 
ford,  1773-1778;  Benjamin  Abbott,  1773-1796;  William  Walters,  1773-1833;  Philip  Gatch, 
1773-1835;  Freeborn  Garrettson,  1776-1827;  John  Dickins,  1777-1798;  John  Haggerty,  1779- 
1823;  Nelson  Reed,  1 779- 1 840;  Joseph  Everett,  1781-1809;  Philip  Bruce,  1781-1826;  Peter 
Moriarty,  1782-1813;  Jesse  Lee,  1783-1816;  William  Phoebus,  1783-1831;  Wilson  Lee,  17S4- 
1804;  Richard  Whatcoat,  1784-1806;  Isaac  Smith,  1784-1834;  Ezekiel  Cooper,  1 784-1 847  ;  Hope 
Hull,  1785-1818  ;  Thomas  Ware,  1785-1842;  John  McClaskey,  1 786- 1814  ;  Daniel  Asbury,  1786- 
1825;  Thomas  C"ke,  1787-1804;  Barnabas  McHenry,  1787-1833;  Thomas  Morrell,  1787-1838; 
Valentine  Cook,  1788-1820;  William  McKendree,  1788-1835;  Daniel  Smith,  1789-181 5  ;  George 
Roberts,  1789-1827  ;  Stephen  G.  R'lszel,  1789-1841  ;  Jihn  Kobler,  1789-1843;  Daniel  Hitt,  l^gc>- 
1825;  En"ch  George,  1790-1828;  George  Pickering,  1790-1846;  Shadrach  Bostwick,  1791-1805; 
Laurence  McCombs,  1792-1836;  Daniel  Ostrander,  1793-1843;  John  B.  Matthias,  1793-1848; 
Eni  ch  Mudge,  1793-1850 ;  John  Bnadhead,  1794-1838  ;  Nicholas  Snethen,  1794-1845  ;  Thomas 
F.  Sargent,  i79S-«833;  John  Collins,  1795-1845. 


DIVERS  DENOMINATIONS.  28B 

that  remained  in  1810  blended  with  two  other  factions  from  the 
Presbyterian  and  Baptist  Churches,  and  constituted  the  "Inde- 
pendent Christian  Baptist  Church,"  more  recently  called  the 
"  Christians." 

The  German  Reformed  Church  was  dependent  upon  the  Dutch 
Church  in  Europe  until  1792,  when  an  independent  constitution  was 
adopted.     The  statistics  for  1800  are  unknown. 

The  Revolutionary  war  proved  very  disastrous  to  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  particularly  in  the  city  and  vicinity  of  New  York, 
where  their  church  edifices  had  been  freely  used  by  the  British  for 
cavalry  and  hospital  purposes.  In  1784  they  had  been  reduced  to 
82  congregations  and  30  ministers.  In  i8cx)  they  had  137  congre- 
gations and  60  ministers. 

The  Lutherans  had  become  widely  extended  throughout  the 
Middle  States  before  the  Revolution,  but  during  its  progress  they 
suffered  severely.  In  1784  they  had  25  ministers,  and  about  5,000 
members  in  the  United  States.     After  that  time  they  gained  rapidly. 

The  Friends  numbered  about  50,000  communicants  in  1800. 

The  Free  Will  Baptist  Church  is  purely  of  American  origin. 
Elder  Benjamin  Randall,*  of  New  Hampshire,  a  convert  of  White- 
field,  is  regarded  as  its  founder,  and  the  date  of  its  organization  is 
June  30,  1780.  The  first  Yearly  Meeting  was  held  in  New  Durham, 
N.  H.,  in  1792.  Elder  Randall  was  an  eminently  pious  and  success- 
ful minister,  very  extensive  in  his  labors,  a  powerful  promoter  of 
revivals,  for  which  this  denomination  was  long  noted.  In  the  year 
1800  they  numbered  2,000  communicants,  with  one  yearly  meeting, 
six  quarterly  meetings,  51  churches,  28  ordained  ministers  and  22 
unordained.  About  the  year  1800  they  received  the  name  Free 
Will  Baptists.  They  were  opprobiously  called  "General  Provis- 
ioners,"  "  Randallites,"  "  Free  Willers,"  ''  New  Lights,"  "  Open 
Communionists,"  At  this  date  they  had  no  churches  outside  of 
New  Hampshire  and  Maine. 

The  German  Seventh-Day  Baptists  were  a  small  body  in  1800. 

The  Dunkers  keep  no  registry  of  their  members. 

The  Mennonites  in  1800  had  spread  quite  extensively  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland, 

The  Moravians  had  about  20  churches  in  the  Unfted  States 
in  1800. 

The   Seventh-Day  Baptist  Church  had    1,648  communicants  in 

1807.  

*  Besides  Elder  Randall,  Josseph  Boody,  Daniel  Hibbard,  James  McCorsea,  Nathan  MerriH, 
Samuel  Weeks  and  John  Whitney,  were  ministers  in  this  period. 


IT- 
286  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

The  origin  of  the  United  Brethren  has  been  already  traced  to 
Rev.  Messrs.  Ottenbein  and  Boehm,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  colonial 
period.  The  first  Conference  of  this  bodv  of  Christians  was  held 
in  Baltimore  in  1789,  consisting  of  seven  preachers;  but  their  or- 
ganization was  more  fully  constituted  by  the  ordination  of  the  gen- 
tlemen just  mentioned  to  the  oflfice  of  Bishop  in  the  year  1800. 

The  Evangelical  Association,  formerly  called  Albrights  and  Ger- 
man Methodists,  had  their  origin  with  Rev.  Jacob  Albright,  in  Penn- 
sylvania. He  experienced  religion  in  connection  with  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  about  1790,  and  was  licensed  as  a  local 
preacher.  Actuated  by  an  ardent  desire  to  do  good,  he  went  forth 
and  zealously  labored  for  the  salvation  of  the  German  people,  preach- 
ing somewhat  irregularly  wherever  opportunity  was  found.  About 
1800  he  began  to  organize  classes,  which  was  the  beginning  of  what  has 
since  been  known  as  iht  Albright  or  Evangelical  Association  Church. 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  its  inception  in 
this  period,  in  difficulties  arising  in  St.  George  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  Philadelphia.  The  colored  members  withdrew  from  the 
church  in  1786,  and  united  in  a  provisional  association.  Under  the 
leadership  of  Richard  Allen,  who  subsequently  became  bishop,  a  sep- 
arate place  of  worship  was  erected  and  dedicated  by  Bishop  Francis 
Asbury,  June  29,  1794.  They  styled  their  church  Bethel,  Mr.  Allen 
serving  as  pastor.  In  1799  he  was  formally  ordained  bishop  by 
Bishop  Asbury — the  first  colored  person  ordained  to  the  ministry 
in  the  United  States.  The  denomination  was  more  fully  organized 
in  1816. 

The  Jews  cdivat  to  America,  as  did  the  Puritans  and  the  Hugue- 
nots, to  escape  religious  persecution  ;  but  they  were  not  tolerated  in 
some  of  the  colonies.  Gaining  a  foothold  in  a  few  places  they 
slowly  increased  in  numbers,  some  of  them  became  wealthy  and 
contributed  liberally  to  the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  They  estab- 
lished synagogues 


In  New  York  city,  in  1650. 
In  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  1658. 
In  Richmond,  Va.,  in  1719. 


In  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  1733. 
In  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1750. 
In  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  1782. 


In  New  York  city,  in  1793,  in  a  population  of  41,000  there  were 
22  ministers  of  the  Gospel:  Episcopal  4,  Dutch  3,  Methodist  3, 
German  Calvinists  i,  Lutheran  i,  Associate  Congregationalist  i, 
Independents  i,  Moravians  i,  Baptist  i,  Roman  Catholic  i,  Jews  i, 
Scotch  Presbyterian  i,  Presbyterian  3.* 

*  Li/e  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller.    Vol.  I,  p.  8i. 


PREVALENCE  OF  INFIDELITY.  287 

Section  7.— ReYivals  of  Religion  Rare. 

Not  many  revivals  of  religion  can  be  cited  from  the  records  of 
this  period.  •?  A  few  seasons  of  refreshing  were  enjoyed  in  two  of  the 
colleges.  In  Dartmouth  College  in  1781.  extending  into  the  towns 
twenty  iriiles  around,  and  again  in  1788,  but  not  so  extensive  and 
powerful.  After  the  latter  date  a  season  of  declension  followed, 
continuing  seventeen  years.  In  1783  a  revival  occurred  in  Yale 
College,  which  swelled  the  membership  of  the  college  church  larger 
than  it  had  ever  been  before  ;  but  twelve  years  later  the  college  was 
wholly  pervaded  with  French  infidelity,  and  only  four  or  five  students 
were  professedly  pious.*  From  1770  to  18 10  no  revival  of  religion 
occurred  in  Princeton  College.  During  the  Revolution  the  college 
was  broken  up.  Its  exercises  were  wholly  suspended  for  three 
years,  and  the  edifice  served  as  barracks  for  both  British  and  Ameri- 
can troops  in  turn.  When  it  was  reopened,  in  1780,  for  college  pur- 
poses it  was  found  that  there  had  been  a  great  change  in  the  moral 
and  religious  atmosphere.  Rev,  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  who  entered  the 
institution  in  1782,  has  said: 

While  I  was  a  member  of  the  college  there  were  but  two  professors  of  religion 
among  the  students,  and  not  more  than  five  or  six  who  scrupled  to  use  profane 
language  in  common  conversation  ;  and  sometimes  it  was  of  a  very  shocking  kind. 
.  .  .  Dr.  Smith,  the  president  of  the  college  at  that  time,  used  to  complain  grievously, 
and  justly,  of  the  mischievous  and  fatal  effects  which  the  prevalent  infidelity  had 
on  the  minds  of  his  pupils. 

The  condition  of  things  was  not  much  better  in  the  churches. 
A  few  revivals  have  been  reported  in  the  closing  portion  of  the  last 
century.  At  Elizabethtown,  N.  J,,  in  1784,  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
poured  out  in  a  special  manner,  and  the  gracious  influence  was  felt 
about  two  years.  In  1790  there  was  a  revival  in  Hanover,  N.  J.  In 
1778  a  revival  occurred  in  "  Vance's  Fort,"  in  western  Pennsylvania, 
growing  out  of  the  labors  of  one  man,  Joseph  Patterson,  a  layman. 
From  this  revival  the  Cross  Creek  Presbyterian  Church  was  formed. 
From  1 78 1  to  1787  the  work  of  reformation  was  carried  extensively 
forward  in  the  churches  of  Cross  Creek,  Upper  Buffalo,  Chartiers, 
Pigeon  Creek,  Bethel,  Lebanon,  Ten  Mile,  Cross  Roads  and  Mill 
Creek,  during  which  more  than  one  thousand  persons  professed  con- 
version. In  the  year  1795  a  quickening  influence  descended  upon  the 
congregation  at  Chartiers,  in  which  the  academy  at  Canonsburg 
shared  largely.  The  winter  of  1798  was  marked  by  a  great  revival 
of  religion  in   the    Presbyterian   churches  in  western  New  York. 

*  Professor  Goodrich  in  American  Quarterly  Register. 


288  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Palmyra,  Canandaigua,  and  several  of  the  large  towns  along  the 
southern  border  of  the  State  were  first  visited.  The  gracious  influ- 
ence then  extended  through  the  counties  of  Defaware,  Otsego, 
Oneida,  and  also  further  to  the  west,  and  laid  the  foundation  for 
many  churches  in  those  regions. 

In  1788-89,  there  was  considerable  attention  to  religion  in  the 
upper  part  of  Georgia.  The  Baptist  churches  shared  largely  in  it 
through  the  ministry  of  Revs.  Silas  Mercer  and  Abram  Marshall. 
The  Methodist  churches  were  also  much  increased  under  the  labors 
of  Rev.  Hope  Hull  and  others.  The  Presbyterian  churches  in  that 
region  were  then  few,  but  they  were  considerably  increased  in  num- 
ber by  the  exertions  of  Revs.  Daniel  Thatcher  and  John  Springer. 
Just  before  this  there  was  a  great  religious  interest  in  North  Caro- 
lina, in  connection  with  the  labors  of  Rev.  Dr.  James  Hall.  Rev. 
Richard  Furman,  D.D.,  an  eminent  Baptist  divine  of  Charleston, 
S.  C,  was  a  very  successful  minister  of  Christ.  In  a  {q\v  other  places 
in  the  Middle  States  the  Presbyterians  were  favored  with  revivals 
during  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  and  the  Methodist  and  Baptist 
churches  throughout  the  whole  country  were  gradually  laying  and 
extending  their  foundations.  In  1796-98  a  few  revivals  occurred 
in  the  western  part  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  most  of 
which  had  had  no  spiritual  refreshing  for  long  periods — from  twenty 
to  sixty  years.  Almost  all  of  Eastern  New  England,  beyond  the 
Berkshire  and  Green  Mountain  ranges,  was  exempt  from  revival  in- 
fluences from  1745  until  long  after  1800.  The  same  condition  existed 
in  eastern  New  York  and  the  remainder  of  the  Middle  States,  except 
in  the  portions  already  referred  to.  The  state  of  religion  and  morals  * 
was  lower  than  at  any  other  time  in  the  nation's  history,  and  thou- 
sands of  minds  were  paralyzed  by  the  fatal  influence  of  infidelity.f 

*  See  chapter  en  Morals  in  this  fjeriod. 

t  See  chapter  on  French-American  infidelity  in  this  period. 


RECAPITULATION.  289 


7 


CHAPTER   II. 


PROTESTANT  BEGINNINGS  BEYOND  THE  ALLEGHANIES. 


Sec.   I.  Roman  Catholic  Preoccupancy.     I      Sec.  3.  Evangelizing  EflForts. 
"       2.  Anglo-American  Settlements.         1         "      4.  E.rly  Privations,  etc. 

THE  valley  of  the  Missis.sippi  and  its  tributaries  became  an  ob- 
ject of  increasing  interest  and  desire  to  the  Anglo-American 
people  in  this  period.  During  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  last  cent- 
ury the  foundations  of  the  great  States,  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and 
Ohio,  were  laid,  and  the  principal  religious  bodies  had  their  begin- 
nings within  their  borders.  The  area  of  this  great  valley  has  been 
calculated  at  about  1,200,000  square  miles -equal  to  that  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Switzerland,  Germany,  Denmark,  Bel- 
gium, Norway  and  Sweden. 


Section  i.— Roman  Catliolic  PreocctLpancy. 

In  sketches  of  the  colonial  era*  it  was  noticed  that  on  the  15th  of 
June,  1673,  the  Mississippi  River  was  discovered  by  two  French 
Catholic  missionary  explorers,  Marquette  and  Joliet.  In  1680  Fa- 
ther Hennepin  explored  the  Illinois  river  to  the  Mississippi,  and, 
taken  a  prisoner  by  the  Sioux  Indians,  was  carried  up  the  stream  as 
far  as  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  In  1672  La  Salle  descended  the 
Mississippi  to  its  mouth,  and  formally  took  possession  of  the  vast 
valley  region  in  the  name  of  his  king,  Louis  XIV.,  from  whom  he 
named  it  Louisiana.  In  1683  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia,  in  Illinois,  were 
founded— another  step  in  the  execution  of  the  plan  for  insulating  all 
the  English  settlements,  by  establishing  an  unbroken  line  of  forts  and 
papal  missions  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  1699  and 
1700  D'Iberville  and  Bienville  explored  the  lower  Mississippi  and 
founded  a  colony,  which  in  1713  had  a  population  of  400  whites  and 
20  blacks.     New  Orleans  was  founded  by  the  French  in  171 7,  and 


♦For  a  fuller  view  of  the  movements  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  Mississippi  VaUey 
see  pp.  6S-80. 
19 


290  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  Spanish  colony  at  Pensacola  was  taken  by  the  French  two  years 
later.  About  this  time  emigrants  began  to  come  in  considerable 
numbers  from  Europe  into  Lower  Louisiana.  The  colony  was  divided 
into  nine  districts,  with  New  Orleans  as  the  principal  post.  It 
proved  a  heavy  tax  upon  the  parent  country,  in  five  years  occasion- 
ing a  loss  of  125,000  Hvres  to  the  French  Government.  The  cele- 
brated "  Mississippi  Bubble,"  by  which  European  capitalists  lost 
three  million  dollars,  was  an  advantage  to  Louisiana. 

In  the  meantime  papal  emissaries,  penetrating  all  parts  of  the 
West,  had  established  mission  stations  at  most  of  the  prominent 
points  from  Montreal  to  New  Orleans.  Trappers  and  traders,  eager 
for  gain,  kept  equal  pace  with  the  enthusiastic  Allouez,  the  holy 
Marquette,  the  devout  Gravier  ;  and  in  their  train  some  of  the  oldest 
permanent  settlements  of  the  West  were  founded.  Detroit,  Cahokia 
and  Kaskaskia,  called  by  La  Salle  **  a  terrestrial  paradise,"  date  as 
far  back  as  Mobile  and  Philadelphia.  Fort  Chartres,  at  the  junction 
of  the  Osage  and  Missouri  rivers,  a  place  of  immense  importance  to 
the  French  for  fifty  years,  was  founded  in  1720,  and  Vincennes  in 
1735.  These  settlements  gradually  increased,  made  up  of  a  mixed 
French  and  Indian  population  devoted  to  the  simple  pursuits  of 
industry,  the  luxuriant  soil  amply  repaying  their  toil  with  plenteous 
crops.  We  have  noticed  that  as  early  as  1746,  600  barrels  of  flour 
were  annually  shipped  from  the  Wabash  region  to  New  Orleans, 
besides  hides,  tallow,  wax  and  honey.  The  religion  of  these  settle- 
,  ments  was  Roman  Catholic ;  their  laws  consisted  of  a  few  elements 
of  the  old  Roman  code  and  their  education  comprised  little  beyond 
reading  and  writing.  Thus  lived  missionaries,  fur-traders,  voyageurs, 
farmers  and  hunters,  in  simple  quiet,  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  western 
wilderness. 

Previous  to  1750  the  French  made  a  settlement  at  Fort  Du- 
qucsne,  now  Pittsburg,  as  a  part  of  their  system  of  forts  to  command 
the  valley  on  the  east.  In  1755  General  Braddock  met  a  memorable 
defeat  near  this  place,  but  the  victory  of  General  Wolfe  at  Quebec, 
four  years  later,  giving  the  English  the  ascendency  in  the  North, 
was  a  serious  check  to  French  dominion.  At  the  close  of  the 
French  and  Indian  war,  in  1763,  the  eastern  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
was  ceded  to  England,  and  west  of  the  river  to  Spain.  The  year 
following  Florida  was  ceded  to  England.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  Revolution  the  Spaniards  in  Louisiana,  joining  the  French  as 
allies  of  the  colonies,  captured  the  English  posts  at  Baton  Rouge, 
Mobile  and  Pensacola ;  and  about  the  same  time  the  American  gen- 
eral, Clark,  surprised  and  captured  the  English  force  at  Vincennes. 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.  291 

By  the  peace  of  1783  Great  Britain  ceded  Florida  to  Spain,  and  all  of 
the  territory  nortKof  the  3  ist  degree  of  latitude  to  the  United  States. 
In  1800  Napoleon  had  compelled  Spain  to  cede  Louisiana  to  France  ; 
but  on  the  13th  of  April,  1803,  France  sold  to  the  United  States  the 
vast  region  of  ancient  Louisiana,  then  extending  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  Missouri  and  the  region  north  and  west  of  that  State. 
Access  was  thus  opened  to  the  ocean  for  the  enterprising  settlers  of 
the  great  valley,  and  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  its  future  pros- 
perity. In  the  last  ten  years  of  the  century  bloody  Indian  wars  raged 
in  the  West.  In  September,  1791,  General  Harmer  was  defeated  by 
the  Indians  with  great  loss,  and  in  November,  1792,  General  Clark 
was  routed  with  a  terrible  slaughter;  but  by  the  decisive  victories 
of  General  Wayne  in  1794  peace  was  for  a  season  restored  among 
the  Indian  tribes. 


Section  ^.—Anglo-American  Settlements. 

Anglo-American  emigration  to  the  Mississippi  valley  received  a 
fresh  impulse  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Chartres — the  last  of  the  French 
fortresses.  Glowing  reports  of  the  magnificent  valley  beyond  the 
Alleghanies  awakened  the  eager  cupidity  of  the  settlers  of  the  coast 
States,  and  the  eastern  populations  commenced  a  westward  march 
over  the  mountains.  Military  detachments,  families,  bands  of  hunt- 
ers and  single  adventurers  pushed  steadily  on.  Some  of  these  move- 
ments were  very  early.  Land  "  companies  "  w;ere  formed ;  the  "  Ohio 
Company,"  in  1748,  the  "  Transylvania  Company  "and  the  "  Missis- 
sippi Company  "  near  the  close  of  the  French  war,  chiefly  by  inhabi- 
tants of  Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  from  the  English 
crown  grants  of  land  in  the  great  valley,  with  power  to  hold  and 
dispose  of  them.  In  1786  the  "  Ohio  Company  "  was  reorganized, 
enterprising  gentlemen  from  Massachusetts*  entering  into  it,  and 
liberal  land  bounties  were  granted  by  the  General  Government.  By 
these  means  the  settlement  of  the  country  was  facilitated. 

In  1754  an  attempt  was  made  by  North  Carolinians  to  settle  in 
Tennessee,  but  they  were  driven  off  by  Indians.  The  first  perma- 
nent settlement  was  effected  in  eastern  Tennessee  by  emigrants 
from  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  Following  the  waters  of  the 
Holston  and  Clinch  rivers,  they  located  near  Knoxville  as  early  as 
1756,  and  were  soon  followed  by  a  few  others.  Kentucky  was 
explored  and  settled  from  Virginia,  in  1769,  by  Messrs.  Henderson, 

*  Generals  Parsons,  Rufus  Putnam  and  Rev.  Mannasseh  Cutler  were  appointed  directors. 


292  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Knox,  and  the  famous  Boone.  Marietta,  Ohio,  was  settled  in 
1788,  by  a  company  led  by  General  Rufus  Putnarn  and  Manasseh 
Cutler,  of  Massachusetts.  The  following  year  Cincinnati  was 
founded,  and  in  1794,  the  Western  Reserve,  in  the  north-eastern 
part  of  the  State,  was  settled  by  families  from  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts.  Small  beginnings  were  also  made  in  Indiana, 
Illinois,  and  Missouri,  just  prior  to  1800.  Indian  massacres  and  the 
great  national  war  seriously  retarded  the  growth  of  these  early  set- 
tlements, but  new  impulses  were  successively  given  to  them  bytlu 
close  of 'the  French  war,  then  by  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and 
finally  by  the  successful  expedition  of  General  Wayne,  in  1794.  The 
celebrated  ordinance  of  1787,  perpetually  devoting  the  North-west 
Territory  to  freedom,  and  the  reorganization  of  the  "  Ohio  Com- 
pany "  the  same  year,  turned  public  attention  strongly  toward  the 
latter  State.  In  the  year  1800  the  population  of  these  States  was: 
Tennessee,  105,602  ;  Kentucky,  220,965  ;  Ohio,  45,365.  Indiana 
Territory  had  4,875,  and  Illinois  was  not  reported.  Such  were  the 
beginnings  of  the  great  populations  now  filling  the  Mississippi 
valley. 

These  early  inhabitants  comprised  some  of  the  best  classes  of 
people  in  respect  to  morals,  religion  and  general  culture  ;  but  very 
many  were  dissipated,  reckless  men,  refugees  from  the  better  civili- 
zation of  the  older  communities,  and  not  a  few  outlaws  from  justice, 
and  duelists  red  with  the  blood  of  their  victims.  Society  was 
inchoate,  or  at  best  crudely  organized,  and  summary  processes  of 
"  regulators  "  constituted  the  only  public  defense.  The  Cherokees, 
on  the  south,  and  other  Indian  tribes,  north  and  west,  were  restless 
and  aggressive,  and  not  less  than  five  treaties  with  them  were  made 
and  broken  between  1783  and  1790.  Buried  hatchets  were  easily 
dug  up,  and  war-dances  resumed  on  the  slightest  provocation. 


Section  5.— Evangelizing  Efforts. 

Jhe  first  Protestant  missionary  beyond  the  Allegheny  Mount- 
ains, Christian  Frederick  Post,  a  devout  and  godly  Moravian,  had 
become  familiar  with  Indian  habits  and  languages  in  his  labors 
among  the  Delawares,  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna.  A  calm, 
simple-hearted,  but  intrepid  man,  he  feared  not  the  dangers  and  pri- 
vations of  the  Indian  wilderness.  During  that  perilous  period  after 
the  fall  of  Braddock,  he  was  selected  by  General  Forbes  and  sent 
into  the  Indian  territory  to  win  over  the  red  men  from  the  French 


MORAVIAN  BEGINNINGS.  293 

to  the  English,     The  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne  was  claimed  to  be  one 
of  the  consequences  of  his  negotiations. 

After  the  cfose  of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  Post,  accompanied 
by  another  Moravian,  the  celebrated  Heckewelder,  returned  to  this 
region,  proceeding  as  far  as  the  Muskingum,  on  whose  banks  a  tribe 
of  the  Delawares  had  settled,  and  recommenced  his  labors.  "The 
war  of  Pontiac  beginning  in  the  following  year,  the  two  missiona- 
ries, warned  of  their  danger  by  friendly  Indians,  returned  east  of 
the  mountains  and  remained  six  years,  when,  together  with  David 
Zeisberger,  they  came  back  to  the  Muskingum,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  town  of  Gnadenhutten,  a  memorable  settlement  of  the 
good  Moravians  and  their  Indians.  This  was  the  first  establishment 
of  those  devout  and  useful  missionaries  beyond  the  mountains. 
Many  an  Indian  heart  was  won  to  the  cause  of  truth  by  their  pa- 
tience, constancy,  and  judicious,  humble  instructions  ;  and  flourishing 
out-stations  began  to  grow  up  all  around  them.  During  all  the 
Revolutionary  struggle  the  Moravians  were  successfully  laboring 
toward  the  conversion  of  the  Delaware  Indians.  But,  unfortunately, 
the  towns  which  they  occupied  were  just  upon  the  frontier,  between 
the  whites  On  the  one  side  and  the  Indians  on  the  other."  *  These 
Christian  Indians  became  the  victims  of  suspicion  from  the  fierce 
VVyandots,  the  Shawnees,  and  the  British,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Americans,  at  Fort  Pitt,t  on  the  other,  and  were  at  last  cruelly 
massacred  by  the  latter — one  of  the  darkest  spots  in  the  records  of 
American  arms ;  an  unprovoked,  causeless,  and  irrational  slaughter. 
A  few  of  them  escaped  and  remained  true  to  their  religious  instruc- 
tions. The  settlement  was  subsequently  re-enforced  and  re-estab- 
lished by  the  Moravians.  The  Moravian  brethren  were  the  first  to 
carry  the  Gospel  in  its  purity  into  the  vast  region  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley. 

To  the  ^a//w/ denomination  belongs  the  honor  of  the  first  intro- 
duction of  the  Gospel  into  Tennessee  and  Kentucky;  being  very* 
strong  and  numerous  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  whence  the 
first  settlers  came.  As  early  as  1765  the  first  Baptist  churches  were 
organized  in  eastern  Tennessee,  along  the  Holston  and  Clinch  Rivers. 
They  were  for  a  time  broken  up  by  the  Indian  war  of  1774.  hut 
after  1780  they  were  re-enforced  and  reorganized  by  new  settlers. 
In  1786  the  Holstein  Association  was  organized,  consisting  of  seven 
churches  and  seven  ministers.  At  first  but  few  preachers  came  for 
the  single  purpose  of  preaching  the  Word,  and  yet  there  was  quite 

*See  Pioneers,  Preachers  and  People  o/  the  Mississippi  Valley.    By  Rev.  W.  H.  Milburn, 
D.D.     New  York,  Derby  and  Jackson,  i860.     Pp.  349.  3So,  etc.  t  Now  Pittsburg. 


294  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  goodly  number  who  were  authorized  to  administer  the  sacraments, 
who  had  emigrated  primarily,  as  settlers,  to  improve  their  temporal 
prospects.  In  1790  there  were  18  Baptist  churches  and  889  members 
in  Tennessee.*  About  the  year  178 1  several  Baptist  preachers  and 
a  few  members  emigrated  from  Virginia  into  Kentucky,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  following  year  the  churches  at  Cedar  Creek  and  Nel- 
son Creek  were  organized.  In  1783  two  others  were  formed,  and, 
in  1785  nine  others.  Among  their  first  preachers  were  the  Craigs, 
the  Bledsoes,  Bailey,  etc.  In  1790  they  numbered  42  churches,  40 
ordained  ministers,  21  licensed  preachers,  and  3,095  members. 

The  Baptists  were  the  first  Protestants  to  enter  Illinois.  The 
conquest  of  the  country  by  General  George  R.  Clark,  in  1778,  and  the 
organization  of  a  civil  government,  by  Virginia,  soon  after,  opened 
the  way  for  American  emigration,  and  as  early  as  1786  a  number 
of  families  had  settled  on  the  "American  Bottom  "  and  the  high 
lands  of  what  is  now  Monroe  County.  They  came  chiefly  from  west- 
ern Virginia  and  Kentucky.  In  1787  Rev.  James  Smith,  a  Baptist 
minister  in  Kentucky,  visited  these  people  and  preached  to  them, 
and  some  professed  conversion  ;  but  the  first  Baptist  Church  was  not 
organized  until  May,  1796,  at  New  Design,  St.  Clair  County.  In 
1805  they  had  seven  churches,  five  ordained  and  three  licensed  min- 
isters, and  153  members.  The  Baptists  were  also  among  the  first  to 
organize  churches  in  Ohio.  Among  the  early  emigrants  to  Fort 
Washington  (Cincinnati),  were  several  Baptist  families  from  New 
Jersey.  A  Baptist  church  was  constituted  at  Columbia  in  1790 
The  Miami  Association  was  formed  in  1797.  In  1800  a  number  of 
Baptists  from  New  England  settled  in  the  Scioto  Valley  and  formed 
the  Ames  Church.  No  Baptist  churches  were  organized  in  Indiana 
and  Missouri  until  after  1800. 

The  earliest  Presbyterian  emigration  from  Virginia  followed  the 
line  of  the  Holston  into  eastern  Tennessee.  They  organized 
churches  in  Upper  Concord,  New  Providence,  Salem,  Mount  Bethel, 
.and  Chartiers  Valley,  in  1780;  New  Bethel,  in  1782;  Providence, 
in  1784;  and  Hopewell,  in  1785.  In  1785  the  Abingdon  Presbytery 
was  organized,  and  in  1797  it  numbered,  in  Tennessee,  nineteen 
congregations.  The  first  preachers  were  Rev.  Messrs.  John  Cossan, 
John  M.  Doak,  D.D.,  Hezekiah  Balch,  James  Balch,  Robert  Hender- 
son, D.D.,  Samuel  Carrick,  and  Gideon  Blackburn,  D.D.  Revs. 
Charles  Cummings  and  Samuel  Doak,  D.D.,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
founders  of  Presbyterianism   in   eastern  Tennessee — the  former,  for 

*  American  Quarterly  Register,  August,  1841.     Article  by  Rev.  James  M.  Peck,  M.A.,  of  Illi- 
nois, pp.  40,  etc 


£ARLY  CINCINNATI  DAYS.  203 

more  ^ha'J.  thirty  years,  being  devoted  to  pioneer  missionary  work, 
and  the  latter  si^'ultaneously  organizing  and  giving  form  and  sta- 
bility to  the  jearly  ecclesiastical  beginnings.  They  mutually  supple- 
mented eacli  other  in  building  up  and  establishing  the  Church. 

The  beginnings  of  Presbyterianism  in  Kentucky  were  a  little 
later.  In  October,  1783,  Rev.  David  Rice,  long  familiarly  called 
"  Father  Rice,"  established  a  home  in  Mercer  county.  He  was  a 
man  of  education,  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College.  In  1784  Revs. 
Adam  Rankin  and  James  Crawford  located  at  Walnut  Hill.  Two 
years  later  Revs. Andrew  McClureand  Thomas  B.Craighead  followed. 
These  five  ministers,  with  Rev.  Zerah  Templin,  then  recently  or- 
dained as  an  evangelist,  constituted  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania, 
October  17,  1786.  Twelve  congregations  were  then  partially  organ- 
ized. In  1790  Revs.  Robert  Marshall  and  the  celebrated  Carey  H. 
Allen  were  sent  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  as  missionaries. 

When  Cincinnati  was  laid  out,  in  1789,  certain  lots  were  dedi- 
cated to  church  and  school  purposes.  The  following  yeir  "  Father 
Rice,"  of  Kentucky,  organized  in  the  place  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,*  and  the  first  house  of  worship  was  erected  in  1792.!  But 
the  progress  was  slow,  the  church  being  much  of  the  time  without 
a  pastor.  The  growth  of  the  city  was  very  small  during  the  first 
decade.  In  1796  it  is  said  to  have  been  "  a  small  village  of  log- 
cabins,  including,  perhaps,  a  dozen  coarse  frame  houses  with  stone 
chimneys,  most  of  them  unfinished."  ^  In  1800  it  had  but  750  in- 
habitants. In  1799  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  consisting  of 
seven  ministers,  was  formed  out  of  the  Transylvania  Presbytery, 
Kentucky,  and  embraced  the  field  around  Cincinnati,  on  both  sides 
of  the  Ohio  River.  § 

The  earliest  introduction  of  Methodism  into  the  west  was  in  the 
State  of  Tennessee.  In  1785,  less  than  twenty  years  after  its  com- 
mencement in  America,  Rev.  Messrs.  Richard  Swift  and  Michael 
Gilbert,  early  itinerants,  visited  the  Holston  country.  The  region 
through  which  they  traveled  and  organized  their  circuits  was  for 
the  most  part  rough,  mountainous,  thinly  settled  with  ignorant  and 
uncultivated  people,  and  exposed  to  Indian  depredations.  They 
were  followed  by  Mark  Whitaker  and  Mark  Moore,  zealous,  plain, 
'old  fashioned  Methodist  preachers."!  These  in  turn  were  suc- 
ceeded  by  Jeremiah    Matson,  Thomas   Ware,   Joseph    Doddridge, 

*  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D. 
Vol.  II    p.  123.  +  ^"'("i  States  Gazetteer. 

tJiidue  Bennett  in  Ohio  Historical  Society  Transactions. 
§  History  o/ Presbyterian  Church.     Gillett,  Vol.    II,  p.  125. 
I  Sketches  of  Western  Methodism.    By  Rev.  J.  B.  Finley,  D.D.     P.  S7- 


296  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Jeremiah  Able,  John  Tunnell,  John  McGee,  John  West,  and  others. 
In  the  year  1800  the  Methodist  societies  in  Tennessee  numbered 
743  communicants.  Methodism  was  introduced  into  Kentucky  by 
a  few  devoted  local  preachers,  among  whom  were  Francis  Clark, 
Wm.  J.Thompson,  Nathaniel  Harris,  and  the  Woodfields,  who  came 
with  the  early  tide  of  emigration  from  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, soon  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  But  the  first 
itinerant  ministers  were  Revs.  James  Haw  and  Benj.  Ogden,  who 
were  sent  to  Kentucky  in  1786.  The  next  year  they  reported  90 
members.  They  were  successively  followed  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Thomas 
Williamson,  Francis  Poythress,  Peter  Massie,  Benjamin  Snelling, 
Wilson  Lee,  etc.  In  1800  there  were  1,741  Methodists  in  Kentucky. 
The  first  Methodist  sermon  in  Cincinnati  was  preached  in  1793, 
by  a  local  preacher  from  Kentucky,  named  Francis  Clark.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  year  1795,  Rev.  James  Smith,  a  local  preacher  from 
Virginia,  crossed  the  Ohio  River  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  and 
preached  in  or  near  Cincinnati,  at  the  house  of  a  Mr.  —  Talbert. 
Again,  in  1797,  Mr.  Smith  returned  to  Ohio  and  preached  in  Cincin- 
nati, in  the  cabin  of  Mr.  —  Smalley.  He  also  preached  in  Colum- 
bia and  elsewhere,  though  he  did  not  organize  any  "  class."  The 
first  "  regular  itinerant,"  Rev.  John  Kobler,  was  sent  by  Bishop 
Asbury,  in  1798,  as  missionary  in  "  the  North-west  Territory,"  as 
Ohio  was  then  called.  He  found  the  site  of  Cincinnati  a  dense  for- 
est, with  only  a  fort  and  a  few  cabins  erected  in  "  the  clearings  " 
\  around  it.  The  place  was  under  the  command  of  General  Harrison, 
'  and  was  the  rendezvous  of  the  forces  sent  by  the  Government  to 
guard  the  frontiers.  Here  Mr.  Kobler  desired  to  preach,  but,  unlike 
Mr.  Smith,  could  find  no  opportunity.  He  went  forth  exploring 
settlements,  traversed  trackless  woods  and  forded  deep  streams, 
forming  **  classes"  and  "a  circuit."  Two  years  later  257  communi- 
cants were  reported  in  Ohio.  Kobler  became  a  magistrate,  and  a 
member  of  the  convention  which  formed  the  constitution  of  the 
State  of  Ohio. 

In  1799  Rev.  Tobias  Gibson,  impressed  with  a  strong  desire  to 
visit  Natchez,  offered  himself  to  Bishop  Asbury,  and  was  sent  to 
open  the  way  for  Methodism  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  eighteen 
years  before  the  Mississippi  Territory  was  admitted  into  the  Union. 
"  He  set  out  from  Pedee.  his  native  spot,  and  bent  his  course  to- 
ward the  Cumberland  River.  For  six  hundred  miles  he  traveled 
through  the  wilderness.  Arriving  at  the  river  he  sold  his  horse, 
bought  a  canoe,  and  embarked  for  twelve  hundred  miles,  with 
saddle,  bridle  and  saddle-bags,  and  a  supply  of  provisions.  Paddling 


CONGREGATIONALISTS  IN  OHIO.  297 

himself  down  the  Cumberland  he  dropped  into  the  Ohio  and  soon 
after  reached  the- Mississippi.  .  .  .  He  continued  his  solitary  course 
down  the  gr^at  river  until  he  reached  Natchez.  Here  he  founded 
a  Methodist  church.  He  subsequently  made  four  land  journeys 
through  the  wilderness  lying  between  Natchez  and  the  Cumberland 
to  procure  additional  laborers.  In  the  Minutes  of  1800.  sixty  mem- 
bers were  reported  as  the  result  of  his  first  year's  work,* 

The  Congregationalists  came  very  early  to  Ohio.  In  1788 
Marietta  was  settled  by  a  company  of  forty-seven  persons  from 
Massachusetts  under  General  Rufus  Putnam,  an  intimate  and 
highly-esteemed  friend  of  General  Washington,  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Ohio  Company,  and  subsequently  Surveyor-General  of  the 
United  States.  The  enlightened  men  who  managed  the  affairs  of 
the  "Company"  in  one  of  their  first  meetings  made  arrangements 
for  the  support  of  the  Gospel  and  the  instruction  of  the  youth  in 
their  new  colony.  In  1788  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  LL.D.,  one  of  the 
directors,  engaged  Rev.  Daniel  Storey,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth 
College,  then  preaching  in  Munson,  Mass.,  to  go  to  the  West  and 
serve  as  chaplain  to  the  new  settlements  of  the  company.  After  a 
tedious  and  laborious  journey  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  Mr. 
Storey  arrived  at  Marietta  in  the  spring  of  1789,1  and  commenced 
his  labors  as  an  evangelist.  The  settlements  were  new  and  scat- 
tered, some  of  them  at  a  considerable  distance  from  Marietta ; 
nevertheless  he  visited  them  in  rotation,  in  conformity  with  the 
arrangements  of  the  directors,  according  to  which  he  was  to  preach 
about  one  third  of  the  time  at  the  settlements  of  Wolf  Creek  and 
Belpr^. 

During  the  Indian  war,  from  1791  to  1795,  Mr.  Storey  preached 
the  larger  portion  of  the  time  in  the  North-west  block-house  of 
Campus  Martius,  the  upper  room  of  which  was  fitted  up,  with 
benches  and  a  rude  desk,  so  as  to  accommodate  a  hundred  persons. 
This  room  was  also  used  for  a  school  taught  by  Major  Anselm  Tup- 
per,  a  gentleman  of  good  education,  the  first  school-teacher  probably 
in  the  North-west.  Colonel  E.  Battelle,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College,  kept  a  school  about  this  time  at  Belpre.  These  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  labors  were  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  the 
Ohio  Company.  When  the  Indians  were  quiet,  Mr.  Storey  visited 
other  points,  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  distant  from  Marietta. 


*  Bishop  H.  N.  McTyeire's  History  of  Metltodism.  Southern  Methodist  Publishing  House, 
Nashville,  Tenn.     1884.     P.  463. 

t  Early  History  0/  the  North-west.  Cincinnati.  Hitchcock  &  Walden.  By  Samuel  P. 
Hildreth,  M.  D. 


298  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  first  Congregational  Church  in  Ohio,  composed  of  persons 
residing  in  Marietta,  Belpr^  and  VVaterford,  Ohio,  and  Vienna,  in 
Virginia,  was  organized  at  Marietta,  in  1796,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Storey. 
Called  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church,  and  there  being  no 
ministers  of  that  persuasion  west  of  the  mountains,  he  returned  to 
the  East  and  was  duly  ordained,  in  Danvers,  Mass.,  on  the  15th  of 
August,  1797.  He  maintained  his  pastoral  relation  with  the  church 
in  Marietta  until  March,  1804.  Other  colonies  of  Congregational- 
ists  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  settled  in  the  north-eastern 
part  of  Ohio,  called  the  '•  Western  Reserve,"  about  1796-7,  and  in 
l8cx)  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  sent  a  missionary,  Rev. 
Joseph  Badger,*  into  this  region,  who  organized,  at  Austinburg, 
Oct.  21,  1801,  the  first  Congregational  church  in  the  "Reserve," 
consisting  of  eight  males  and  six  females. 


Section  4.— Early  PriYations.  etc. 

The  first  preachers  in  the  West  shared  largely  with  the  people 
in  the  hardships  and  trials  of  the  new  country.  A  primitive  state 
of  society  greeted  them  every-where.  Deer-skin  was  a  common 
article  of  clothing  for  men  and  boys,  and  a  blanket  or  a  coverlid 
served  for  an  overcoat  in  the  winter.  Homespun  cloth  was  worn 
only  by  the  better  classes,  and  this  the  preachers  were  glad  to  ob- 
^  tain.  The  best  dwellings  of  the  settlers  for  many  years  were  huts 
\  or  log-cabins  ;  and  stools,  pots,  a  *'  Dutch  oven,"  or  no  oven  at  all, 
with  a  hard  bed  of  straw  or  of  bear  and  buffalo  skins,  constituted 
the  usual  furniture.  Boxes  served  for  tables.  The  pioneer  preacher 
was  often  compelled  to  sleep  on  the  cold  ground  in  the  forest  or 
under  the  open  sky  of  the  prairie.  The  food  of  the  people  was  also 
very  simple,  with  little  variety.  Often  no  bread  would  be  had  for 
weeks  together.  Pumpkins,  potatoes,  "  hog  and  hominy  "  were  the 
staple  articles  in  the  earlier  times,  and  at  some  seasons  bears'  meat, 
venison,  and  wild  fowl.  Bears'  oil  sometimes  took  the  place  of 
butter. 

The  idea  of  erecting  churches  could  not  be  entertained  for  a  long 
time  after  the  beginning  of  the  settlements.  The  cabins,  the  forts 
and  the  forests  were  the  first  meeting-houses,  and  the  stumps  of 
trees  were  the  first  pnlpits.  The  "howling  wilderness"  was  on 
every  side:  the  roads  only  bridle-paths ;  blazed  trees  their  guide- 

*  For  an  account  of  his  labors  and   privations  among  these  early  settlements  see  American 
Quarterly  Register^  February,  184 1,  pp.  322-328. 


BACKWOODS  LIFE.  299 

boards.  As  there  were  no  bridges  the  streams  were  forded  on  horse- 
back. Religious  services  were  attended  from  ten  to  twenty  miles 
around,  and  diose  were  fortunate  who  had  not  more  than  five  or  six 
miles  to  go. /In  the  earliest  times  every  man  came  armed.  The 
guns  were  stacked,  and  the  sentinel  was  appointed  to  give  an  alarm 
in  case  of  the  approach  of  Indians.  The  toils  and  hardships  of  the 
ministers  were  excessive.  They  shared  the  common  lot  of  the 
people  in  respect  to  food,  clothing  and  lodging  ;  but  their  journeys 
from  place  to  place,  to  preach,  to  administer  the  ordinances  and  to 
visit  their  scattered  sheep,  made  their  labors  arduous  and  hazardous. 
The  settled  ministers  often  traveled  from  fifteen  to  fifty  miles  in 
the  discharge  of  parochial  duties,  and  the  early  Methodist  itiner- 
ants were  constantly  traveling  their  large  circuits  four  or  five  hun- 
dred miles  around.  Peter  Cartwright  facetiously  said  of  one  of 
his  large  circuits  on  the  frontier,  that  "it  took  in  one  half  of  cre- 
ation, for  it  had  no  boundary  on  the  west ;  "  and  he  penetrated  six 
hundred  miles  due  west  in  pursuit  of  scattered  emigrants.  In 
their  journeys  the  preachers  often  encountered  savage  Indians, 
savage  beasts,  and  sometimes  more  savage  white  men.  Thus  did 
these  heroic- men  toil  to  build  up  Christ's  Church. 

It  was  a  period  of  rough,  resolute  courage  and  independence, 
and  great  controversies  were  frequent.  There  were  sharp  conten- 
tions about  baptism  and  pedo-baptism,  free  grace  and  predestination, 
falling  from  grace,  unconditional  perseverance,  etc.,  etc.  Challenges 
and  public  debates  were  common,  and  these  things,  with  Indian 
wars,  French  intrigues,  French  infidelity  aud  contentions  about 
State  rights,  greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  religion.  Infidelity 
was  rife  in  these  western  regions  at  this  early  period,  permeating, 
as  it  was  estimated,  one  half  of  the  population  of  Kentucky.  Vice 
and  dissipation  flooded  the  country.  It  required  great  boldness  to 
attempt  to  stem  the  tide  which  rolled  in  with  irresistible  power 
every-where. 

At  the  close  of  the  century  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Method- 
ists sometimes  found  it  necessary  to  unite  their  efforts  and  concert 
their  action  for  the  common  cause.  This  was  done  in  the  southern 
part  of  Kentucky,  where  "  union  meetings  "  and  "  sacramental 
meetings  "  were  held,  the  two  denominations  working  together  as 
kind  and  efificient  yoke-fellows.  In  connection  with  these  union 
efforts  the  great  revival  of  1800  commenced,  which  will  constitute 
the  theme  of  another  chapter.* 

*  Period  II,  Chapter  I. 


800  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  III. 


DIVERSE   CURRENTS. 


Sec.  I.  The  Unitarian  Trend.  I  Sec.  3.  The  New  Jerasalem  Church. 

"     2.  Universalism.  |  "      4.  The  Shakers. 


Section  i.— The  Unitarian  Trend. 

THIS  tendency  in  the  New  England  churches  had  its  inception 
in  the  Half- Way  Covenant  *  adopted  in  1662.  Through  the 
century  this  leaven  had  steadily  worked,  materially  changing  the 
current  theology  of  New  England. 

The  Edwardian  and  Whitefieldian  revivals  for  a  time  broke  the 
force  of  this  tendency,  successfully  combated  Stoddard's  innova- 
tion, and  led  many  of  the  churches  back  to  the  old  strict  terms  of 
membership.  In  the  remainder  of  the  churches,  however,  the  old 
Calvinistic  theology  died  a  speedier  death.  The  strengthening  of 
one  class  increased  the  revolt  in  the  other.  After  the  revival  the 
word  •'  Arminian,"  which  had  been  so  much  dreaded,  grew  familiar. 
The  type  of  thought,  however,  was  not  pure  Arminianism,  but 
rather  Pelagianism  mixed  with  Socinianism.  As  the  term  was  used 
it  meant  Anti-Calvinism.  The  change  had  been,  long  and  gradual. 
First,  certain  church  rites  crumbled,  then  the  doctrines.  There  was 
a  new  emphasis  in  behalf  of  man's  free  will  and  ability  to  gain  sal- 
vation, and  in  respect  to  God's  impartiality.  There  were  two 
parties,  and  after  1750  they  were  perceptibly  diverging.  The  new 
party  was  rising  and  extending.  The  mottoes  were,  Few  funda- 
mentals ;  no  human  creed ;  only  Bible  zvords  to  express  mysteries. 
Broad  toleration  was  advocated  in  ordination  and  convention  ser- 
mons, and  the  examination  of  candidates  for  ordination  was  dis- 
carded. The  works  of  English  Unitarians  were  in  circulation.  The 
orthodox  party  were  becoming  alarmed,  grew  more  defiant,  and 
charged  the  *'  Liberals  "  with  evasion.  Such  was  the  drift  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolution. 

*  See  pp.  100-102,  107,  108,  137,  140,  150-152,  198-aoi. 


UNITARIANISM.  SOI 

Although  the  schism  out  of  which  the  Unitarian  body  was  or- 
ganized did  not  occur  until  1815-1825,  yet  so  deep  and  extensive 
was  this  drift  that  the  exciting  events  of  the  Revolution  only  slightly 
checked  its  progress;  and  in  1786  it  was  said  that  "  the  general 
tone  of  thought  in  Boston  was  decidedly  Unitarian."  The  elder 
Edwards  and  Mayhew  had  departed :  Chauncy  and  Gray  were 
feeble  with  advanced  age ;  Styles  was  in  his  meridian  at  Yale  Col- 
lege ;  Dwight  was  a  rising  light  ;  Emerson  and  Ware  had  just  com- 
menced their  ministry;  Channing  and  Beecher  were  boys;  Norton 
and  Buckminster  were  tender  babes  ;  and  Hopkins  and  Belamy  were 
leading  a  small  party  in  an  effort  to  relieve  orthodoxy  of  the  odi- 
ousness  of  High  Calvinism.  It  was  at  such  a  time  that  the  first 
open  avowal  of  Unitarianism  in  the  United  States  was  made  in  the 
city  of  Boston,  not  among  the  Congregationalists,  but  among  the 
Episcopalians. 

King's  Chapel  the  First  Unitarian  Church  in  America. 

When  the  British  troops  left  Boston  all  the  Episcopal  clergy 
went  with  them,  and  King's  Chapel  was  occupied  by  the  "  Old 
South  "  congregation  while  they  were  repairing  the  injuries  to  their 
house  made  by  the  English  soldiery  who  had  occupied  it.  In 
1782  the  remaining  proprietors  of  King's  Chapel  determined  to  re- 
store the  Episcopal  form  of  worship.  In  the  absence  of  a  regular  cler- 
gyman Mr.  James  Freeman,  a  rising  young  man  and  a  recent  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard  College,  was  employed  to  read  the  liturgy.  "He  was 
attached  to  the  ritual,  but  had  yet  to  frame  his  theological  opinions. 
He  gave  himself  to  the  current  of  free  investigation,  and  no  eccle- 
siastical authority  restrained  his  progress  or  menaced  him  with 
public  annoyance.  Some  changes  in  the  Common  Prayer  were  re- 
quired by  the  change  in  the  political  relations,  and  after  a  time 
Freeman  avowed  his  wish  to  change,  with  them,  those  parts  in  which 
the  Trinity  was  acknowledged.  ...  By  a  vote  of  twenty  to  seven 
the  proprietors  of  the  chapel  adopted  the  ritual  with  its  proposed 
alterations.  He  asked  in  vain  for  orders  from  the  new  bishops  in 
the  United  States,  and  in  1787  the  warden*  proceeded  deliberately 
to  ordain  him,  seventeen  proprietors  protesting."!  The  amend- 
ment to  the  liturgy  was  adopted  June  19.  1785,  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  date  of  the  formation  of  the  first  Unitarian  Church  in 

•The  warden  "laid  one  hand  upon   him  and  with   the  other  delivered  to  him  the  Bible." 
Lindsays  Vindication,  p.  25. 

t  Pages  from  the  Ecclesiastical  History  0/  Sew  England,  p.  37- 


302  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

America.      "  Thus  the   first    Episcopal    Church  in  New    England 
became  the  first  Unitarian  Church  in  the  New  World."  * 

In  London  a  Mr.  Lindsay,  a  friend  of  Freeman,  had  just  tried  a 
similar  experiment.  They  conferred  together.  Freeman  told  him 
the  whole  story — how  shy  the  public  were  at  first ;  how  Dr.  Priest- 
ley's books  were  being  read,  and  other  books  of  English  Unitarians  ; 
how  many  of  the  clergy  had  given  up  the  Trinitarian  doxology ; 
that  there  was  only  one  minister  in  New  England  who  openly 
preached  "  the  Socinian  scheme,"  although  "  there  are  many 
churches  in  which  the  worship  is  strictly  Unitarian,  and  some  of 
New  England's  most  eminent  laymen  openly  avow  that  creed." 

"  Although  Dr.  Freeman  was  the  first  who  in  this  country 
openly  preached  Unitarianism  under  that  name,  he  never  claimed 
the  credit  of  that  movement,  but  referred  to  Dr.  Mayhew  and  others 
as  having  preached  the  same  doctrine  before.  This  was  no  doubt 
true.  .  .  .  Yet  as  he  was  the  first  to  avow  and  defend  the  doctrine 
by  its  distinct  name  he  may  be  considered  as  its  first  preacher."  f 

Before  his  death  he  became  a  decided  humanitarian.  :j:  Revs. 
Aaron  Bancroft,  of  Worcester,  and  William  Bentley,  of  Salem,  class- 
mates of  Freeman  in  Harvard  College,  were  also  among  the  first  to 
adopt  these  views.  Bentley  was  very  learned  and  bold.  Of  him 
Hon.  Edward  Everett  said,  at  his  funeral,  "  He  dared  to  speak  what 
others  did  not  dare  to  think." 

In  1794  Dr.  Priestley,  the  distinguished  leader  in  the  Unitarian 
ranks  in  England,  and  a  decided  humanitarian,  came  to  this  country 
to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days.  His  great  talents  and  learning 
were  universally  acknowledged  ;  but  not  much  was  accomplished  by 
his  efforts  to  promote  the  spread  of  Unitarianism  here.§  He  preached 
to  a  small  congregation  in  Northumberland,  Pa.,  where  he  resided, 
but  his  lectures  in  Philadelphia  drew  large  audiences.  Hon.  Thomas 
Jefferson  was  much  influenced  by  him,  adopting  some  of  his  opin- 
ions in  the  latter  part  of  his  life. 

On  the  1 2th  of  June,  1796,  thirteen  persons  holding  Unitarian 
views  assembled  in  Philadelphia  to  establish  religious  worship  ;  but 
the  growth  of  the  congregation  was  slow  and  their  services  were  sev- 
eral times  entirely  suspended.  The  new  leaven  was  steadily  working 
in  Boston,  and  Dr.  Bradford  has  said,  "  It  was  confidently  believed 
that  there  was  not  a  strict  Trinitarian  clergyman  in  Boston  in  i8oo."|| 

*  Greenwood's  History  o/ King's  Chape/. 
t  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  Unitarian  Pulpit,  p.  169. 
Xlbid.,  p.  173.  §  Ibid.,  Introduction,  p.  11. 

I  Life  0/  Mayhnv,  p.  468.  He  probably  meant  in  the  Congregational  churches.  See  more 
fully  on  this  point,  Period  II,  Chap.  VI. 


r 
ANTI-TRINITARIANS.  803 

^«^'        The  Attitude. 

The  first^marked  victory  which  the  "  liberal"  party  in  New  En- 
gland gained  occurred  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  "  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Mathers  and  the  ascendency  of  the  Brattles,  Leveretts 
and  Willards,  in  the  administration  of  Harvard  College."  The 
founders  of  the  Brattle  Street  Church,  who  were  leaders  of  this 
movement,  "  headed  the  social  and  intellectual  tendency  that  de- 
veloped itself  into  Unitarianism."  But  the  most  sensitive  point  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  movement  was  practical  liberty,  a  revulsion 
against  the  party  of  Edwards  and  Whitefield,  who  endeavored  to  re- 
store the  old  practice  of  doctrinal  tests  and  the  relation  of  Christian 
experience.  It  was  a  contest  against  what  was  called  ecclesiastical 
proscription.  This  practical  protest  was  very  soon  vindicated  by- 
new  metaphysical  theories  in  regard  to  man's  moral  nature  and 
spiritual  capabilities,  at  variance  with  the  old  doctrines  of  necessity, 
depravity,  regeneration,  justification  by  faith,  the  atonement,  the 
character  and  person  of  Christ  and,  at  a  later  period,  of  the  Trinity 
also.  While  they  could  not  submit  to  the  rigid  discipline  and  the 
exacting  creeds  of  the  older  divines,  they  nevertheless,  for  the  most 
part,  cherished  sterling  Christian  principles  and  a  high  sense  of  per- 
sonal responsibility.  They  intended  to  remain  in  the  Church,  but 
meant  to  contend  for  liberty  of  thought  and  action.  They  were 
supported  by  a  large  share  of  the  wealth,  culture,  civil  influence 
and  social  distinction  of  the  New  England  churches.  Nor  was  the 
spirit  of  this,  period  of  a  controversial  character,  but  calm,  yet  in- 
dependent. 

Freeman,  in  a  letter  to  Belsham,  in  1795,  thus  described  the 
attitude  of  the  new  party. 

I  am  acquainted  with  a  number  of  ministers  in  the  southern  part  of  Massa- 
chusetts who  avow  and  publicly  preach  Unitarian  doctrine;  while  others,  more 
cautious,  content  themselves  with  leading  their  hearers,  by  a  course  of  rational 
and  prudent  sermons,  gradually  and  insensibly  to  embrace  it. 

In  some  cases  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  two  schools 
was  very  slight.  Such  men  as  Belknap  and  Eliot  differed  from  the 
majority  of  the  liberalists.  Rejecting  the  Athanasian  creed,  they 
accepted  the  "indwelling  scheme,"  without  assailing  the  Trinitarian 
theology  as  such,  and  spoke  of  God  as  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Ghost,  as  a  few  Unitarians  of  a  later  period  have  done.  Some 
prominent  ministers  of  this  party,  down  to  the  close  of  the  last  cent- 
ury, and  also  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  present,  refused  to  be  called 
Anti-Trinitarians,  while  nevertheless  they  rejected  what  they  called 


304  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"  Tritheism."  Others  preferred  Athanasius  to  Arius ;  some  set  forth 
"a  Trinity  of  divine  manifestations,"  which  has  been  facetiously- 
called  "  the  effective  evolution,  or  the  differentiating  and  integrating 
of  the  unity  of  the  Divine  Being."  Diversity  of  opinion,  however, 
cannot  be  regarded  as  peculiar  to  this  period,  but  it  has  been  charac- 
teristic of  this  movement  from  its  inception  to  the  present  time, 
only  with  an  ever-increasing  divergence,  as  will  be  shown  in  the 
sketches  of  its  subsequent  history. 


Section  ;?.— UniYersalism. 

In  a  previous  chapter,*  the  inceptive  stages  of  a  revolt  against 
extreme  Calvinism  toward  Universalism  were  sketched.  It  was 
shown  to  be  confined  to  no  single  locality,  but  was  apparent  in  all 
sections  and  in  all  classes  of  minds. 

But  two  men  stand  forth  more  conspicuous  than  any  others  as 
the  founders  of  Universalism  in  this  country,  and  are  referred  to  by 
the  Universalists  themselves  as  the  patriarchs  and  pioneers  of  the 
denomination — Revs.  John  Murray  and  Elhanan  Winchester. 

Of  these  Mr.  Murray  occupies  the  more  prominent  position,  hav- 
ing been  currently  styled  The  Father  of  Universalism  in  the  United 
States  because  of  the  extent  and  publicity  of  his  labors,  and  his  suc- 
cess in  awakening  public  attention  to  his  doctrines  and  in  founding 
societies  of  that  faith.  Originally  a  Whitefieldian  Methodist,  he  was 
\  converted  to  Universalism  by  Rev.  James  Relley,  of  London.  He 
'  held  to  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  substitutional  atonement,  the 
peculiar  saving  efficacy  of  divine  grace  through  faith  in  Christ,  re- 
generation and  sanctification  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  personal  devil, 
the  resurrection  of  the  literal  body,  the  future  general  judgment, 
resulting  in  the  salvation  of  all  men,  and  a  literal  hell,  in  which  devils 
will  be  punished  forever.  Mr.  Murray  entertained  very  high  views 
upon  the  question.  What  constitutes  a  Universalist  ?  Speaking  of 
some  "  who,"  he  says,  '*  are  not  heart  believers,  but  only  head  be- 
lievers," and  '*  who  contend  that  because  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  of 
all  men  therefore  they  will  be  saved,"  he  says: 

I  ain  more  and  more  convinced  that  nothing  but  the  spirit  and  power  of  God 
can  make  a  consistent  Universalist.  Do  you  ask  me  what  it  is  that  constitutes  a 
consistent  Universalist  ?  I  answer,  a  consistent  Universalist  must  be  taught  of 
God,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  t 

*  See  Colonial  Era,  Chapter  VIII.     Diverse  Currents,  pp.  194-21 1. 

t  See  Hints  Relative  to  the  Forming  0/ a  Christian  Church.     A  pamphlet.     By  Rev.  John 
Murray.     Boston,  1791,  p.  45. 


UNIVERSALISTS.  SOB 

Speaking  of  those  who  "  suppose  that  all  will  be  on  a  level  in  the 
article  of  death,"  he  says: 

Neither  in  life  nor  death,  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  can  any  of  the  ran- 
somed of  the  Lord  be  saved  from  misery  till  they  are  made  acquainted  with  God 
as  their  Saviour;  and  though  in  death  the  spirit  does  not  go  with  the  body  into  the 
(lust,  and  must  be  under  the  eye  of  the  Father  of  Spirits,  yet  "where  Christ  is." 
that  is,  in  "  fullness  of  joy,"  they  never  can  be  till  they  have  peace  and  joy  in  be- 
lieving; no.  he  who  dies  in  unbelief  lies  down  in  sorrow  and  will  rise  in  the  resur- 
rection of  damnation,  or,  more  properly,  condemnation.* 

He  regarded  the  Bible  as  teaching  the  judgment  as  past  and 
present,  and  also  yet  to  come.  "  The  /^^Z"  judgment  "  was  "  by  Christ, 
when  on  earth."  "  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world."  "  The 
present  judgment  "  is  that  in  which  "  every  one  taught  of  God  judges 
himself."  "Judge  yourselves,  and  ye  shall  not  be  judged."  *'  The 
judgment  yet  to  come''''  is  that  of  "the  last  great  day,"  in  which  all 
who  have  not  judged  themselves,  all  unbelievers  of  the  human  race 
and  all  fallen  angels  through  whose  influence  the  unbelieving  part  of 
mankind  are  held  in  darkness  and  blindness,  shall  be  judged  by  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  ;  but  these  two  characters  shall  then  be  sepa- 
rated— one  placed  on  the  right  hand  and  the  other  on  the  left — the 
one,  the  "sheep,"  for  whose  salvation  he  laid  down  his  life;  the 
other,  "  accursed,"  whose  nature  he  passed  by.  In  that  future  judg- 
ment, believers  who  have  judged  themselves  shall  not  be  judged,  nor 
will  they  be  present,  f 

Rev.  Elhanan  Winchester, 

pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Philadelphia,  avowed  himself  a  Res- 
torationist  in  1781.  He  was  converted  to  these  views  by  reading 
the  works  of  Siegvolck  and  Stonehouse.  Like  Mr.  Murray,  he  was 
a  deeply  devoted  and  zealous  inan,  of  respectable  literary  qualifi- 
cations, and  their  theological  views  seem  not  to  have  differed,  except 
in  regard  to  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  after  the  future  general 
judgment,  which  Mr.  Winchester  taught  would  result  in  the  holi- 
ness and  happiness  of  all  men.  But  Mr.  Murray  denied  that  there 
would  be  any  misery  after  the  general  judgment. 

Mr.  Winchester  was  very  definite  and  positive  in  his  views  of 
future  retribution,  holding  to  a  literal  hell,  literal  fire  and  brim- 
stone, whose  torment  will  be  strictly  penal,  which  he  proclaimed  in 
the  most  terrific  strains,  and  the  duration  of  which  he  taught  would 
be  unequal,  in  different  cases;  in  some  extending  to  forty-nine 
thousand  years.     This  period  he  seems  to   have  deduced  from  a 

*  Hints  Relative  to  the  Forming  of  a  Christian  Church.         t  Murray's  Hints,  pp.  9,  10,  33. 
20 


306  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

fanciful  interpretation  of  certain  prophetic  types  and  numbers. 
He  died  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1797,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-six 
years,  leaving  behind  him  more  than  forty  volumes  and  pamphlets, 
but  few  of  which  now  exist  except  in  rare  libraries.  He  had  been 
very  zealous  and  extensive  in  his  labors,  preaching  seven  years  in 
England,  where  he  made  many  converts  to  his  views,  as  well  as  in 
this  country. 

Dr.  Charles  Chauncy, 

of  Boston,  has  been  before  alluded  to.*  His  book  f  on  this  subject, 
(  The  Mystery  Hid  from  Ages  ;  or  the  Salvation  of  All  Men  the  Grand 
Thing  Aimed  at  in  the  Scheme  of  God)  was  published  anonymously  in 
London,  1784,  although  written  about  twenty  years  before.  With  his 
characteristic  caution  he  first  published  in  Boston,  in  1782,  a  pamph- 
let of  twenty-six  pages  of  extracts  from  the  volume.  It  advocated 
the  final  restoration  of  all  men  to  holiness  and  happiness  as  a  doctrine 
of  the  Bible.  A  sharp  controversy  was  immediately  awakened. 
Two  replies  to  his  pamphlet  appeared,  one  written  by  Rev.  Samuel 
Mather,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in  Bos- 
ton, and  the.  other  by  Rev.  Joseph  Eckley,  D.D.,  of  the  "Old  South." 
Mr.  Shippie  Townsend,  of  Boston,  a  layman,  also  participated  in 
the  debate.  After  his  volume  was  published,  in  1784,  the  contro- 
versy took  a  wider  range,  and  in  the  midst  of  it,  in  1787,  he  died, 
aged  eighty-two  years.  Two  years  after  Chauncy's  death,  Rev.  Jona- 
than Edwards,  D.D.,of  New  Haven,  published  an  able  volume  in  re- 
ply to  Dr.  Chauncy.  Dr.  Belknap  said,  "  The  Chauncy  controversy 
engaged  every  body's  attention  more  or  less.":}: 

The  extent  of  this  tendency  to  these  views  may  be  judged  from 
the  following  testimonies:  Rev.  Nathan  Strong,  D.D.,  of  Hartford, 
Conn.,  in  1796,  said:  "This  error  (disbelief  in  future  punishment)  is 
not  confined  to  those  who  are  commonly  called  Universalists.  There 
is  a  more  numerous  class  of  people  who  have  not,  and  perhaps  never 

♦See  Colonial  Era,  Chapter  IV.     Diverse  Currents,  p.  206.  +  Svo.,  pp.  400. 

X  See  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.     Volume  on  Unitarian  Ministers,  p.  77. 

Note. — Dr.  Chauncy  seems  to  have  had  some  knowledge  of  Murray's  preaching  in  Boston 
and  vicinity  before  his  book  was  published,  and  to  have  had  no  sympathy  with  his  theory  of  uni- 
versal salvation  without  future  punishment.  Being  a  Restorationist  he  protested  against  Mr. 
Murray's  teachings  as  dangerous  in  their  influence.  In  the  preface  to  his  volume  he  says  :  "  The 
doctrine  of  universal  salvation  has  in  this  and  some  other  towns  been  held  forth  by  a  stranger, 
who  has,  of  himself,  assumed  the  character  of  a^  preacher,  in  direct  contradiction  not  only  to  all 
the  beforetime  writers,  but  to  the  whole  tenor  0/  New  Testament  books,  from  their  beginning  to 
end.  According  to  this  preacher  a  man  may  go  to  heaven  notwithstanding  all  the  sins  he  has 
been  guilty  of  in  the  course  of  his  life.  Such  doctrine  looks  very  like  an  encouragement  to  liber- 
tinism, and  falls  in  with  the  scheme  of  too  many  in  this  degenerate  age,  who,  under  the  pre- 
tense oi  promoting  religion,  undermine  it  at  the  very  root.  It  is  certainly  fitted  to  this  end,  and 
has  already  had  this  effect  upon  many." 


/;!ES  TOR  A  TIONISM.  30  7 

will,  separate  from  the  other  denominations  of  professed  Christians."* 
Rev.  Bishop  Mead,  of  Virginia,  has  said,  "  It  was  not  an  uncommon 
thing  for  Universalism  to  be  preached  by  the  Virginia  clergy,  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  last  century. f 

These  early  Universalists  seem  not,  however,  to  have  united  in 
general  movements.  Dr.  Chauncy  never  met  with  Murray  and  Win- 
chester; and  Mr.  Winchester  moved  in  an  orbit  entirely  his  own, 
except  on  two  occasions.  Once  he  occupied  Murray's  pulpit,  in 
Boston,  and  he  was  present  with  Murray  at  the  first  general  conven- 
tion of  Universalists,  in  Oxford,  Mass.,  in  1785,  where  he  preached 
a  sermon  of  which  Murray  speaks  favorably  in  his  Autobiography. 
This  convention  was  a  small  body,  made  up  of  only  three  ministers 
and  delegates  from  the  societies  at  Gloucester,  Boston,  Milford,  and 
Oxford.  The  third  minister  was  Rev.  Caleb  Rich.  We  have  no 
evidence  of  any  united  action  of  Mr.  Winchester  with  Mr.  Murray 
at  any  other  time. 

Murray  and  Winchester. 

The  differences  between  these  two  men,  although  not  numerous, 
were  very  decided,  Murray  being  absolutely  and  uncompromisingly 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  the  punishment  of  sinners,  even  for  a 
limited  period,  in  the  future  world,  and  Winchester  preaching  and 
writing  upon  it  in  the  most  flaming  and  alarming  strains.;}: 

*See  reply  to  Dr.  Huntington's  book,  Calvinism  Improved.  By  Rev.  Nathan  Strong;, 
D.D.,  of  Hartford.     1796.     P.  11. 

+  S  e  Old  C/iurche^  and  Families  of  Virginia.  By  Bishop  Wm.  Meade.  Vol.  I,  p.  1S3. 
He  cites  Rev.  Messrs.  Vancy,  of  Louisa,  and  Talley,  of  Gloucester,  Va. 

X  At  this  point  a  controversy  has  arisen  between  Universalists  of  a  later  period.  We  occa- 
sionally find  it  stated  in  the  Universalist  literature  of  the  last  fifty  years  that  Murray  was  a  Res- 
torationist.  It  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  meet  this  assertion,  from  1823  to  1838,  in  the 
writings  of  Revs.  Adin  Ballou,  Paul  Dean,  and  others,  who  were  the  leaders  in  a  split  in  the  de- 
nomination, in  favor  of  Restorationism,  which  then  occurred.  In  their  circular,  sent  out  at 
that  time,  they  say  that  "  there  has  been  of  late  years  a  great  departure  from  the  sentiments 
of  the  first  Universalist  preachers  in  this  country,"  and  that  they  "believe  with  Murray,  Win- 
chester, Chauncy,  and  the  ancient  authors  who  have  written  upon  this  subject,  in  future  re- 
wards and  punishments,  to  be  followed  by  the  final  restoration  of  all  mankind  to  holiness 
and  happiness."  But  these  assertions  were  ably  and  unanswerably  refuted  by  Rev.  Thomas 
Whitteniore,  then  editor  of  the  Trumpet,  by  abundant  quotations  from  Mr.  Murrays 
writings,  explicitly  declaring  his  dissent  from  Mr.  Winchester's  doctrine  of  Rest  rationism. 
And  yet,  in  The  Universalist,  February  it,  1871,  Rev.  Adin  Ballou  re-asserts  the  same  thing, 
declaring  that  the  Universalist  denomination  "  was  originally  Restorationist  in  faith,  and  so  re- 
mained, in  doctrinal  exposition,  till  after  the  year  1815."  "The  doctrine  of  universal  salvation, 
without  any  disciplinary  punishment  after  death,  was  advocated  by  certain  persons  in  England 
and  America  before  and  after  the  Universalist  Convention  in  1785.  but  was  strongly  denounced 
by  Winchester  and  Murray,  the  leading  founders  of  that  convention."  "  Hosea  Ballou  was  the 
first  preacher  (at  least  of  any  note)  inside  the  Universalist  denomination  who  advocated  univer- 
sal salvation  without  any  disciplinary  punishment  after  death,  some  time  between  1815  and  1820." 
Such  were  Rev.  Adin  Ballou's  assertions,  nothwithstanding  the  demonstrations  of  Mr.  Whitte- 
more  to  the  contrary,  from  thirty  to  forty  years  ago,  over  and  over  again  in  the  Trumpet. 


808  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

A  brief  statement  of  the  peculiar  views  of  these  two  leading 
founders  of  American  Universalism  is  necessarj',  that  the  character 
of  the  opinions  in  this  early  period  maybe  understood,  and  the  drift 
of  sentiment  in  more  recent  times  may  be  more  distinctly  appre- 
hended and  appreciated.  Mr.  Winchester  has  stated  his  views  of  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  in  these  words. 

Some  suppose  that  all  punishment  and  pain  shall  end  at  the  coming  of  Christ. 
and  mankind  at  once  shall  be  restored  ;  but  destruction  shall  be  to  the  workers  of 
iniquity  and  to  those  who  refuse  to  submit  to  the  Lord  ;  and  as  for  punishment 
ceasing  when  he  first  comes,  it  is  a  mistake  of  great  magnitude,  for  the  punish- 
ment of  the  wicked  will  continue  ages  of  ages  after  the  day  of  judgment.* 

Again  he  says: 
They  can  never  be  loosed  from  it  until  they  are  wholly  subdued.f 

To  a  friend  Mr.  Murray  said,  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  restoration: 

Mr.  Winchester  considers  weak,  ruined  individuals  as  paying  their  own  debts; 
yea,  to  the  uttermost  farthing.  I  see  no  strength  but  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  be  you  as- 
sured, therefore,  I  am  not  of  Mr.  Winchester's  school.^ 

Again  be  says: 

A  second  class  of  Universalists  insist  on  purgatorial  satisfaction,  according  to 
which  every  man  must  come  to  be  his  own  saviour;  for  if  I  must  suffer  as  much  in 
my  own  person  as  will  satisfy  Divine  justice,  how  is  or  how  can  Jesus  Christ  be  my 
saviour?  If  this  purgatorial  doctrine  be  true,  the  ministry  of  reconciliation  com- 
mitted to  the  apostles  must  be  false,  to  wit:  "God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  unto  them  their  trespasses."  In  fact,  I  know  no 
description  of  people  further  from  Christianity,  true  Christianity,  than  such  Uni- 
versalists. ...  As  I  descend  into  the  vale  of  life  these  discoveries  give  me  a 
touch  of  sorrow,  and  I  anticipate  a  harvest  of  evil.  § 

In  these  extracts,  more  of  which  might  be  given,  Mr.  Murray  ex- 
plicitly declares  that  he  is  "  not  of  Mr.  Winchester's  school,"  and 
joins  direct  issue  with  Restorationists. 

Mr.  Murray  believed  that  all  men  had  broken  the  law  of  God,  and 
were  all,  therefore,  justly  exposed  to  its  penalties,  that  these  penalties 
had  been  fully  suffered  by  Christ  for  us  on  the  cross,  and  that  "  His 
punishment  on  the  cross  was  our  punishment  for  sin."  Hence,  strictly 
speaking,  Mr.  Murray  did  not  hold  to  punishment  for  sin  either  in 
this  life  or  in  the  next,  for  Christ  had  suffered  all  the  punishment 
due  to  sin,  and  every  man  must  be  saved  by  faith,  by  a  personal 
acceptance  of  Christ.  Hence  the  miseries  attendant  upon  unbelief 
will  continue  as  long  as  unbelief  shall  continue,  whether  in  this  world 
or  the  next;  but  he  regarded  them  as  unavoidable  consequences,  and 
not  penalties.    It  is  these  unavoidable  consequences  of  sin  and  unbe- 

*  Winchester  on  the  Prophecies.     Vol  I,  p.  265.  t  Murray's  Letters.     Vol.  II,  p.  263. 

;  Ibid.,  p.  278.  S  /bid.     Vol.  II,  p.  130. 


MURRAY  AND   WINCHESTER.  309 

lief,  and  not  punishment  for  them,  which  will  extend  into  the  future 
world,  because  sin  and  unbelief  will  exist  there.  Mr.  Winchester 
held  to  a  day  of  judgment  after  death,  at  which  men  would  be  sen- 
tenced to  punishment ;  but  the  judgment  in  which  Dr.  Murray  believed 
was  designed  to  deliver  men  from  all  sin  and  unbelief,  by  revealing  to 
them  the  character  of  God,  "showing  the  things  that  belong  to  their 
peace,"  and  " making  them  acquainted  with  salvation."  "In  that  day 
all  knees  should  bow  and  accept  Christ  and  enter  into  eternal  rest."* 
The  early  conventions  of  1785  and  1803,  and  of  the  intervening 
period  also,  embraced  men  of  the  two  schools,  Murray's  and  Win- 
chester's, who  agreed  as  to  the  final  happiness  of  all  men ;  and  in 
the  platform  which  was  adopted  in  1803  the  differences  were  ignored, 
as  in  the  second  Article : 

We  believe  in  one  God,  whose  nature  is  Love,  revealed  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
by  one  Holy  Spirit  of  grace,  who  will  finally  restore  the  whole  family  of  mankind  to 
holiness  and  happiness. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  things  during  the  first  period  of  Uni- 
versalism.  i.  It  was  a  departure  from  tlie  generally  accepted  evan- 
gelical theology  chiefly  at  one  point— the  final  salvation  of  all  men. 
It  had  no  taint  of  Unitarianism  or  of  Rationalism.  2.  Murray  held 
to  the  salvation  of  all  men  at  the  general  judgment,  and  that  unbe- 
lievers would  be  in  a  state  of  misery  until  that  time ;  not  penal,  but 
the  natural  consequence  of  sin  and  unbelief,  f  Christ  having  endured 
the  penalty  for  them.  3.  Winchester  held  to  a  local  hell  and  a 
long  period  of  disciplinary  punishment  after  the  general  judgment, 

*See  Trumpet,  August  11,  1832.  Also  Murray's  Hints  to  the  Forming  0/ a  Church.  Bos- 
ton, 1792. 

t  In  further  confirmation  of  the  decidedly  evangelical  character  of  the  views  of  Mr.  Winches- 
ter on  all  points  except  that  of  the  final  restoration  of  all  men.  we  adduce  the  followmg  testimony 
from  Rev.  Enoch  Mudge,  the  first  native  Methodist  preacher  raised  up  in  New  England.  In  a 
letter  in  Zion's  Herald,  March,  1827,  he  gave  an  account  of  an  interview  which  he  had  with  Mr. 
Winchester  a  short  time  before  his  death,  in  which  Mr.  Winchester  related  his  conversations  with 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  whom  he  had  frequently  met  in  England,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  Iq 
those  conversations  their  doctrinal  agreements  and  disagreements  were  freely  discussed. 

"  In  stating  the  points  of  agreement  (with  Mr.  Wesley)  I  well  recollect,"  said  Mr.  Mudge,  "Mr. 
Winchester  commenced  with  a  view  of  the  doctrine  of  the  depravity  of  man  in  his  fallen  state,  a 
full  and  complete  atonement  by  Christ,  the  necessity  of  repentance  and  regeneration,  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith,  of  sanctification.  On  this  he  enlarged  fully,  observing  that  the  doctrine  was  the 
same  •  their  only  difference  was  in  the  manner  of  preaching  it.  He  also  dwdt  on  the  similanty 
of  their  views  with  regard  to  the  general  calls  and  invitations  of  the  Ck)spel,  the  moral  accounta^ 
bility  of  man  and  of  future  rewards  and  punishments-the  necessity  of  being  holy  in  order  to  be 
happy.  Thus  far,"  said  he,  "  we  could  usually  preach  in  nearlv  the  same  strain ;  but  when  we 
went  to  speak  of  the  nature  and  duration  of  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  we  differed,  \.\x 
Wesley  supposing  the  state  of  probation  to  close  with  the  present  life,  and  that  the  states  of  all 
men  are  unalterably  fixed  in  the  day  of  judgment.  He  viewed  punishment  as  Penal  and  eternaJ; 
as  chastisatory  and  designed  for  reclaiming  the  criminal,  and  that  when  reclaimed  they  shall  be 
restored." 


310  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

resulting  in  the  final  salvation  of  all  men.  In  what  proportion  these 
different  opinions  then  prevailed  in  the  denomination  we  have  no 
means  of  judging. 

The  first  Universalist  society  in  the  United  States  was  organized 
by  Rev.  John  Murray,  in  Gloucester,  Mass.,  January,  1779.  At  the 
end  of  the  first  ten  years  from  the  landing  of  Murray,  there  were 
two  societies  and  four  or  five  ministers.  In  1801  there  were  twenty- 
two  preachers  of  that  faith  in  America.  * 


Section  5.— The  Hqyi  Jenisalem  Clmrch. 

was  introduced  into  the  United  States  during  this  period.  In  the 
life-time  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  there  were  but  few  individuals 
who  were  known  to  have  cordially  received  the  doctrines  taught  in 
his  writings.  Swedenborg  did  nothing,  and  there  was  nothing  done 
in  his  day  to  effect  an  organization  of  those  who  accepted  the  doc- 
trines taught  by  him.  Swedenborg  lived  many  years  in  London 
for  the  purpose  of  publishing  his  works,  and  died  there,  in  1772,  in 
the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 

In  1782  a  society  was  formed  in  Manchester  to  print  and 
publish  Swedenborg's  volumes  in  the  English  language.  This 
society  is  still  in  active  existence.  In  1783  meetings  were  es- 
tablished in  London  for  reading  Swedenborg's  works  and  for  free 
conversation,  and  the  first  public  meeting  was  held  the  same  year. 
Those  who  attended  it  were  so  highly  gratified  that  they  determined 
to  promote  their  "  plan  of  holding  up  to  the  view  of  the  world  a 
light  which  could  no  longer  be  concealed  in  a  secret  place  nor  hid 
under  a  bed  or  a  bushel."  Rooms  were  immediately  engaged,  and 
advertisements  were  inserted  in  some  of  the  newspapers  giving  a 
general  invitation  to  all  the  readers  of  Swedenborg's  writings  in 
London  and  elsewhere,  to  join  the  Standard,  "and  by  a  common 
exertion  to  assist  in  extending  the  knowledge  of  them."  This  ad- 
vertisement was  immediately  noticed  by  Mr.  James  Glen,  a  Scotch 
gentleman,  about  to  settle  in  Demarara,  in  South  America.  He 
introduced  himself  to  the  newly-formed  society  at  its  second  meet- 
ing. Mr.  Glen  had  accepted  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  from 
reading  the  treatise  on  Heaven  and  Hell  while  on  the  ocean,  on 
his  return  to  Europe  from  America,  where  he  had  been  to  pur- 
chase a  plantation,  the  book  having  been  presented  to  him  by  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  on  which  he  sailed. 

•  Universalist  Centennial  Volume,  p.  35. 


S  WEDENBORGIANISAf.  8 1 1 

Meetings  for  worship  soon  grew  out  of  these  first  meetings  for 
study  and  conversation,  and  the  next  year,  1784,  in  the  month  of 
June,  Mr.  James  Glen,  who  had  now  reached  the  United  States, 
delivered  public  lectures  in  Philadelphia— the  first  promulgation  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  on  the  continent  of  America. 
These  lectures  were  well  attended,  and  some  of  those  who  were 
present  became  the  first  receivers  of  these  doctrines  in  the  New 
World.  Mr.  Glen  traveled  in  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  Ken- 
tucky, for  the  purpose  of  making  these  doctrines  known.  He  also 
gave  lectures  in  Boston  not  long  after.  He  had  brought  with  him 
from  England  such  English  translations  of  these  writings  as  were 
there  published ;  and  after  he  had  left  for  Demarara  a  further  sup- 
ply of  books  from  England  gave  opportunity  for  others  to  study  the 
writings  of  the  Church.  The  work  of  republication  was  immedi- 
ately begun  and  earnestly  prosecuted. 

In  1795  Rev.  Wm.  Hill  came  to  America  from  England.  He 
preached  new  Church  doctrines  in  Massachusetts — in  Boston.  Ded- 
ham,  Cambridge,  and  Salem.  He  went  back  to  England,  but  after- 
ward returned  to  this  country,  where  he  died,  in  Philadelphia,  in 
the  year  1804.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Jacob  Duche, 
rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  chaplain  to  the 
6rst  Continental  Congress.  In  the  year  1792  a  sermon  explaining 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  was  preached  in  the  court- 
house in  Baltimore,  Md.,  by  Rev.  James  Wilmer,  formerly  a  cler- 
gyman of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  Others  took  up  the  work. 
Among  the  most  efficient  laborers  was  Rev.  John  Hargrove  who 
had  been  a  minister  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  first 
regularly  organized  society  of  the  New  Church  in  this  country  which 
continued  in  existence  was  formed  in  Baltimore,  in  the  year  1798, 
under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Ralph  Mather  and  Rev.  John  Hargrove. 
Mr.  Mather  was  an  Englishman,  and  had  preached  in  England. 
Mr.  James  Glen,  who  attended  the  second  public  meeting  in  London, 
and  who  first  made  known  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  in 
Philadelphia,  was  the  first  who  lectured  upon  them  in  Boston.  A 
few  years  after  Mr.  Glen  was  followed,  as  has  been  said,  by  Rev. 
Wm.  Hill,  who  presented  the  Arcana  Celestia,  and  a  number  of 
the  smaller  works  of  Swedenborg,  in  Latin,  to  the  college  library 
at  Cambridge,  Mass.  A  small  number  of  persons  were  led  by  his 
labors  to  receive  the  doctrines  taught  in  Swedenborg's  writings.* 

*  The  author  is  indebted  to  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Worcester.  M.D..  of  Salem.  Mass.,  for  the  fore- 
going  sketch. 


312  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  4.— Tlie  Shakers. 

These  religionists  arose  in  Europe  in  the  first  half  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  In  1705  they  appeared  in  England.  In  1757  Mrs. 
Ann  Lee  joined  the  Society  and  soon  became  its  conspicuous  head. 
In  1774  she  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  Watervliet, 
near  Albany,  N.  Y.  In  a  religious  revival  among  the  Baptists,  at 
New  Lebanon,  Columbia  County,  in  1780,  some  of  those  most  visi- 
bly affected  visited  "  Mother  Lee,"  and  through  her  were  led  to  be- 
lieve that  they  had  found  the  "  key  to  their  experiences."  Mother 
Lee  traveled  widely  several  years,  performing  alleged  miracles, 
broaching  the  idea  of  a  community  of  property,  forming  her  follow- 
ers into  a  model  for  Shaker  organizations,  and  died  in  1784.  James 
Whitaker,  called  "  Father  James,"  who  came  from  England  with 
her,  succeeded  her  at  the  head  of  the  organization,  and  died  in  1787. 
The  same  year,  Joseph  Meacham,  a  Baptist  preacher,  and  a  convert 
of  Mother  Lee,  collected  her  followers  in  a  settlement  in  New  Leba- 
non, which  thenceforth  became  a  center  of  union.  Under  his  ad- 
ministration in  the  course  of  five  years  eleven  Shaker  settlements 
were  founded;  namely,  at  New  Lebanon  and  Watervliet,  N.  Y. ;  at 
Hancock,  Tyringham,  Harvard  and  Shirley,  Mass. ;  at  Enfield, 
Conn.  ;  at  Canterbury  and  Enfield,  N.  H. ;  and  at  Alfred  and  New 
Gloucester,  Me,     No  other  societies  were  formed  until  after  1800. 


FRENCH  SKEPTICISM. 


813 


CHAPTER   IV. 


THE  FRENCH-AMERICAN  INFIDELITY. 


Sec  I.  Type  of  French  Unbelief. 
"      2.  Introduction  into  America. 
"      3.  Skepticism  Among  Statesmen. 


Sec.  4.  Infidel  Organizations. 
"      5.  Testimonies. 


THE  most  serious  opposing  influence  encountered  by  Christianity 
during  this  period  was  the  gross  infidelity  which  then  abounded, 
surpassing  in  virulence,  extent  and  influence  all  manifestations  of 
skepticism  in  previous  or  more  recent  periods.  The  rising  spirit  of 
"  free  inquiry  "  *  in  the  colonial  period  has  been  briefly  sketched  in 
previous  pages,  and  was  traced  to  its  twofold  origin — deism  in 
England  and  atheism  in  France,  but  reaching  the  colonies  through 
English  channels.     It  will  now  be  seen  coming  from  another  source. 


Section  i.— Peculiar  Type  of  French  UnlDelief. 

Although  somewhat  later  in  its  origin  than  the  English,  French 
infidelity  soon  outstripped  the  former  in  the  evil  race,  and  exerted 
a  wider  and  more  destructive  influence.  About  the  time  of  the 
American  Revolution,  French  deism  culminated  in  atheism  ;  athe- 
ism and  naturalism,  in  materialism.  Doubt  soon  became  almost 
universal,  and  scoffing  burst  into  "  a  scream  of  maniac  rage."  The  / 
growing  climax  of  skepticism  which  had  been  rising  through  the 
century  reached  its  height  in  France  among  the  most  active,  daring, 
witty  and  philosophic  minds  of  that  age.  There,  too,  infidelity 
became  organized,  and  from  that  burning  focus  it  went  forth  upon 
its  evil  mission.  We  cannot  pause  to  speak  at  length  of  the  apostles 
of  the  movement  nor  of  the  passion  and  genius  with  which  they 
entered  upon  their  work. 

By  jibes  and  jeers  corrupting  the  moral  sensibilities,  by  shining  \ 
sophistries  and  soft  subtleties  of  sentiment  relaxing  the  moral  j 
sense,  by  specious  generalities  upon  personal  liberty  and  freedom  of  | 

Pp.  194-196. 


814  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

thought  sifted  into  its  literature,  then  every-where  eagerly  sought 
for,  French  infidelity  went   forth   to  intoxicate  the  world  with  its 
false  but  delicious  dreams.     Men   laughed  at  the  brilliant  Satanic 
wit  of  Voltaire,  wept  in  sympathy  with  the  exquisite  romance  of 
/  Rousseau,  and  stood  in  wonder,  or  followed  in  hesitating  thought 
/  those  master  magicians,  the  Encyclopedists,  as  they  pursued  their 
problem  of  reconstructing  the    universe  without  a  God.     It  sum- 
'  moned  to  its  aid  the  handmaids  of  the  highest  culture;    Criticism 
dipped  her  pen  in  venom  and  performed  its  most  destructive  service  ; 
iArt  chiseled    its  ideas  into  marble,   traced  them  in  glowing  colors 
(upon  canvas,  and  warbled  them  in  most  entrancing  strains;    Poetry 
(invested  them  with  charms  of  imagination  and  measure;  History, 
I  becoming    a    colored    glass,    vitiated   the   testimony   of    the  past; 
while  Philosophy  degraded  herself  to  the  profane  vocation  of  under- 
mining human  society  under  the  specious  pretense   of  emancipat- 
ing it. 
f        There   was   one   extenuating   condition   which,    however,   only 
'    became    more   deceptive   and    ruinous.      In  France,  infidelity  was 
largely  a  revolt  against  a   most    gigantic  and   relentless  despotism 
with  which  religion  had  become  identified  during  a  long  period  of 
papal  intrigue  and  misrule;  and  the  revolutions  which  it  instigated 
were  professedly  in  the  interest  of  popular  deliverance. 


Section  ^.—Introduction  into  America. 

To  Americans  infidelity  was  introduced  in  plausible  forms  in 
^connection  with  the  ideas  of  liberty  and  self-government  then  very 
popular.  Statesmen  and  scholars  were  the  first  victims.  In  a  short 
time  French  styles  of  thought  became  fashionable  in  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  more  especially  in  some  of  the  Middle  and  Southern 
States,  among  gentlemen  who  had  traveled  in  Europe,  the  wits  and 
sprightly  young  men  in  the  colleges,  and  the  extreme  Republicans. 
In  addition  to  these  things,  peculiarly  friendly  relations  existed 
between  our  countrymen  and  the  French  people.  They  had  assisted 
the  American  colonies  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution — a  fact  which 
had  considerable  influence  in  predisposing  many  leading  Americans 
toward  French  thought.  Imbibing  their  ideas,  men  in  high  official 
positions  through  a  long  period  of  years  gave  them  the  benefit  of 
their  favor. 

Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  writing  of  this  period,  with  the  cir- 
cumstances of  which  he  was  personally  familiar,  said  : 


INFIDEL  LITERATURE.  313 

Youths,  particularly,  who  had  been  liberally  educated,  and  who,  wiih  strong 
passions  and  feeble  principles,  were  votaries  of  sensuality  and  ambition,  delighted 
in  the  prospect  of  unrestrained  gratification,  and,  panting  to  be  enrolled  with  men 
of  fashion  and  splendor,  became  enamored  with  the  new  doctrines.  The  tenor  of 
opinion,  and  even  of  conversation,  was  to  a  considerable  extent  changed  at  once. 
Striplings  scarcely  fledged  suddenly  found  that  the  worid  had  been  involved  in 
general  darkness  through  the  long  succession  of  preceding  ages,  and  that  the  light 
of  wisdom  had  just  begun  to  dawn  upon  the  human  race.  All  the  science,  all  the 
information  thai  had  been  acquired  before  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years  stood  in  their 
view  for  nothing.  Experience  they  boldly  proclaimecLa. plodding  instructress  who 
taught  in  manners,  morals  and  government  nothing  but  abecedananless'onsT  fitted 
for  children  only.  Religion  they  discovered,  on  the  one  hand,  to  be  a  vision  of 
dotards  and"TJffrses,  and,  on  the'  othei^.  a  system  of  fraud  ancrtrick,  imposed  by 
priesTcrafrroF^se  purjx>ses  upon  the  ignorantnrnultituder  Revelation  was  found 
to  be  without  authority  or  evKTeMcerand~mbYalob1igatT6n"acobwe^'which  might, 
indeed,  entangle  flies,  but  by  which  creatures  of" stronger  wing  nobly  disdained  to 
be  confined.  The  world  they  resolutely  concruded  to  have  been,  probably,  eternal, 
and  matter  the  only  existence.  Man.  they  determined,  sprung  like  a  mushroom 
out  of  the  earth  like  a  chemical  process  ;  and  the  power  of  thinking,  choice  and 
motivjty  were  merely  the  result  of  elective  afiinities.  If,  however,  there  was  a 
God,  and  man  was  a  created  being,  he  was  created  only  to  be  happy.  As,  there- 
fore, animal  pleasure  is  the  only  happiness,  so  they  resolved  that  the  enjoyment  of 
that  pleasure  is  the  only  end  of  his  creation. 

At  this  period  Europe,  which  annually  ships  to  our  shores  a  vast  quantity  of 
useful  merchandise,  and  together  with  it  a  proportional  assortment  of  toys  and 
mischief,  consigned  to  these  States  a  pfentiful  supply  of  the  means  of  corruption. 
From  France,  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  the  dregs  of  infidelity  were  vomited  upon 
uSj_.Frorn  \.^nt^ System  de  la  Nature  and  the  Philosophical  Dictionary,  down  to 
the  Political  Justice  of  Godwin,  and  the  Age  of  Reason,  th^  whole  mass  o'f  pollu- 
tion was  emptied  upon  this  country.  The  last  two  publications  flowed  m  upon  us 
as  a  deluge.  An  enormous  edition  of  the  Age  of  Reason  was  published  in  France 
and  sent  over  to  America  to  be  sold  at  a  few  pence  per  copy,  and.  where  it  could 
not  be  sold,  to  be  given  away.*  But  I  am  losing  both  you  and  myselCin-this  forest 
of  enorrtiities.  Future  ages  will  hardly  believe  that  any  part  of  this  portentous 
story  could  pass  for  truth  with  men  of  acknowledged  wisdom  and  piety.  Nothing, 
however,  is  more  certairut 


Section  5.— Skepticism  Among  Statesm.en,  Gen- 
erals,  etc. 

Theoretical  infidelity  was  unknown  in  the  earlier  colonial  period. 
The  Colony  of  Virginia  was  entirely  exempt  until  near  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  When  the  first  infidel  book  was  imported  into 
Virginia,  some  time  subsequent  to  1730,  it  produced  such  an  excite- 

♦  It  has  been  asserted  by  a  good  authority  that  the  infidels  of  France  raised  among  theoi- 
selves  in  the  course  of  several  years  three  million  francs  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing,  printing, 
and  distributing  books  to  corrupt  the  minds  of  the  people. 

t  Dwight's  Travels.   Vol.  IV,  pp.  376,  379,  380. 


8  16  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

ment  that  the  governor  and  commissary  communicated  with  the 
authorities  in  England.  Subsequently  infidelity  overran  the  State 
and  her  public  men  were  borne  away  by  its  influence. 
/  It  has  become  a  familiar  fact  that  many  of  the  rising  statesmen  of 
/Revolutionary  fame  were  seriously  in  bondage  to  French  skepticism. 
iSome  should  be  exonerated  from  this  charge.  It  is  well  known  that 
General  Washington  and  Patrick  Henry  escaped  the  contagion, 
though  they  have  been  incorrectly  classed  with  the  skeptics  of  their 
time.  Washington,  in  his  address  to  the  governors  of  the  States  in 
1783,  referred  to  "the  pure  and  benign  light  of  revelation,"  and 
"  the  Divine  Author  of  our  blessed  religion."  Of  Patrick  Henry, 
Bishop  Meade  *  said,  "  He  had  an  abhorrence  of  infidelity.  Early  in 
life  he  was  a  deeply  interested  attendant  upon  the  ministry  of  Rev. 
Samuel  Davies,  D.D.,  and  later  in  life  he  wrote  an  answer  to  Paine's 
Age  of  Reason,  though  it  was  never  published.  Concerning  Edmund 
Randolph,  we  have  his  own  testimony  in  a  letter :  "  When  we  were 
united  (married)  I  was  a  deist,  made  so  by  my  confidence  in  some 
whom  I  revered,  and  by  the  labors  of  my  two  preceptors,  who,  though 
of  the  ministry,  poisoned  me  with  books  on  infidelity."  He  was 
afterward  recovered  from  the  snare  by  the  example  and  prayers  of 
his  pious  wife.f 

Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson  for  a  long  time  yielded  to  the  skepticism 
of  his  times,  and  General  Charles  Lee  was  noted  for  the  boldness  of 
his  infidelity  and  his  reckless  blasphemy.  In  his  will  he  instructed 
his  survivors  "  not  to  bury  him  in  any  church  or  church-yard,  or 
within  a  mile  of  any  Presbyterian  or  Anabaptist  meeting- 
house." X 

As  late  as  1810,  says  Bishop  Meade: 

Infidelity  was  rife  in  the  State,  and  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  was 
regarded  as  the  hot-bed  of  French  politics  and  religion.  I  can  truly  say  that  then 
and  for  some  years  after  in  every  educated  young  man  in  Virginia  whom  I  met  I 
expected  to  find  a  skeptic,  if  not  an  avowed  unbeliever.§  Infidelity  became  rife  in 
Virginia,  perhaps,  beyond  any  other  portion  of  the  land.  The  clergy  for  the  most 
part  were  a  laughing  stock  or  objects  of  disgust.  ] 

Even  Bishop  Madison  became  subject  to  the  suspicion  of  infi- 
delity, though  unjustly.  General  Dearborn,  Secretary  of  War  under 
Jefferson,  was  an  avowed  unbeliever.  On  one  occasion  when  travel- 
ing in  a  public  stage-coach  from  Washington,  D.  C,  he  declared  it  to 
be  his  opinion  that,   "  So  long  as  those  temples  stand  (alluding  to 

*  Old  Families  and  Churches  of  Virginia.    V'  1.  II,  p.  12.  t  Ibid.    Vol.  I,  p.  182. 

X  Ibid.    Vol.  II,  p.  368.  §  Ibid.    Vol.  I.  p.  29.  |  Ibid.    Vol.  I,  p.  52. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN'S  MOTION.  317 

the  church  edifices)  we.  cannot  hope  for  order  and  good  govern- 
ment." Passing  by  a  meeting-house  in  Connecticut,  he  pointed  at 
it  and  with  the  utmost  scorn  exclaimed :  "  Look  at  that  painted 
nuisance." 

The  Framers  of  the  Constitution. 

It  will  not  be  questioned  that  many  of  the  framers  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  were  deeply  imbued  with  the  ideas 
of  the  French  atheistical  school.*  Recently  it  has  been  a  matter 
of  boasting  that  "  the  great  founders  of  our  Government  were  her- 
etics," and  that  "  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  not,  in 
any  sense,  founded  upon  the  Christian  religion."  f 

It  is  well  known  that  in  the  convention  of  1787,  which  framed 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  great  difficulty  was  experi- 
enced in  harmonizing  upon  various  conflicting  questions,  and  at 
one  time  in  the  course  of  their  deliberations  it  was  feared  that  all 
their  efforts  to  find  a  common  basis  of  union  would  utterly  fail. 
Many  days  passed  and  they  made  no  progress.  Finally,  on  the 
28th  of  June,  Hon.  Benjamin  Franklin  arose  in  the  convention  and 
expressed  a  regret  that  they  had  had  no  religious  devotion  during 
their  session,  and  proposed  that  a  chaplain  be  engaged  to  implore 
the  Divine  blessing  and  guidance,  each  morning,  during  the  remain- 
der of  the  session.  His  speech  was  a  beautiful  and  appropriate 
recognition  of  dependence  upon  God  for  guidance  and  success. 
Hon.  Roger  Sherman  seconded  the  motion.  Hon.  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton and  others  feared  lest  prayers  being  introduced  at  that  late  day 
should  excite  among  those  outside  a  suspicion  of  dissensions  within, 
and  lead  to  some  disagreeable  animadversions.  Others  suggested 
that  the  convention  had  no  funds.  Some  other  strange  and  incon- 
sistent pleadings  were  made,  and  finally,  says  Hon.  James  Madison, 
in  his  History  of  the  Debates  of  the  Convention,  "  after  several  un- 
successful attempts  for  silently  postponing  the  matter,  by  adjourning, 
the  adjournment  was  at  length  carried,  without  any  vote  on  the 
motion."  No  further  action  was  had,  and  not  a  single  prayer  was 
offered  in  the  entire  session  of  the  convention  which  framed  our 
national  Constitution.   Is  it  strange  that  a  convention  which  allowed 


♦A  writer  in  \.\\&  Index  (Toledo),  May  13,  1S71,  said:  "All  the  great  men  who  took  part 
with  Mr.  Paine  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  held  the  same  theological  sentiments  "  (as  he  did),  although  "  they  did  not  publicly 
identify  themselves  with  him  in  his  attacks  upon  the  Church  and  its  religion."  "  And  they 
w..uld  have  completely  revolutionized  the  sentiments  of  the  American  people  but  for  the  influ- 
ence of  George  Whitefield  and  John  Wesley." 

t  Mr.  T.  W.  Higginson,  in  Horticultural  Hall  Discourse,  Boston,  January  12,  1873. 


318  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

no  recognition  of  God  in  its  deliberations^  should  have  framed  an 
instrument  in  which  God  is  not  acknowledged?* 

The  statesmen  of  this  period  are  entitled  to  great  credit  for  their 
intellectual  abilities  and  resources,  forming  a  constellation  of  the 
first  magnitude  in  the  realm  of  mind.  The  spirit  inspiring  the  Rev- 
olution, and  the  energy  in  counsel  and  in  action  demanded  by  the 
memorable  crises  from  1773  to  1787,  fostered  and  developed  the 
strongest  intellectual  powers,  and  a  nobility  of  character  belonging 
to  a  superior  order.  We  honor  their  abilities,  are  grateful  for  their 
services  and  admire  their  heroism.  But  their  minds  were  evidently 
tainted  with  the  subtle  poison  of  French  philosophy,  vitiating  their 
religious  perceptixjns.  ^ 


Section  4.— Infidel  Organizations. 

Infidel  clubs  were  very  common  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  in  the  Middle  and  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  on  the  same  plan  and  in  affiliation  with  those  in 
France.  An  early  memoir  of  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  published  in 
1 809,  says : 

A  society  of  Illuminati,  or,  more  properly  called  by  themselves,  Illumznes, 
had  been  estal.lished  in  Virginia.  It  consisted  of  one  hundred  members,  had  its 
regular  officers  as  well  as  members,  and  was  set  afoot  in  1786  by  the  Grand 
Orient  of  France.  From  this  society  a  deputy  was  sent  to  reside  with  the  mother 
society  in  France,  in  order  to  hold  communication  between  the  infidels  and  revo- 
lutionists of  the  iwo  countries,  and  to  give  the  American  society  its  instructions. 
In  New  York  there  was  another  society  of  the  same  kind,  out  of  which  fourteen 
others  at  least  had  sprung. 

The  following  testimony,  from  a  well-accredited  source,  will  still 
more  fully  show  the  character  and  tendency  of  the  infidelity  and  its 
affiliated  clubs  at  this  period  : 

I  knew  a  party  formed  more  than  fifty  years  ago  (about  1786),  in  Orange 
County  and  Smith's  Cove,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of 
destroying  Christianity  and   religious  government.     They  claimed  the  right  to  in- 

*  "  The  opinion  that  the  religious  defect  of  the  Constitution  is  due  to  the  irreligion  of  some 
of  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  time  is  sustained  by  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Franklin,  who,  in  refer- 
ence to  his  motion  for  prayers  in  the  convention,  'imploring  the  assistance  of  Heaven  ani  its 
blessings  upon  our  deliberations,'  sadly  wrote  that,  '  with  but  few  exceptions  the  convention 
thought  prayers  for  Divine  guidance  unnecessary.'  And  further,  by  that  of  Luther  Martin,  a 
delegate  from  Maryland,  who,  in  a  letter  to  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  said  '  there  were  some 
members  so  unfashionable  as  to  think  that  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  and  of  a  state  of 
future  rewards  and  punishments,  would  be  some  security  f"r  the  good  conduct  of  our  rulers.'  " 
Let 'er  0/  Ron.  Felix  R.  Briinot,  of  Pittsburg,  to  the  Convention  to  Consider  the  Subject  of 
Jnsei  ting  a  Recognition  of  the  Divine  Being  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Held 
in  Boston,  Dec.  \b  and  17,  1874. 


ATHEISM  IN   THE  COLLEGES.  319 

dulge  in  lasciviousness  and  to  recreate  themselves  as  their  propensities  and  appe- 
tites should  dictate.  Those  who  composed  this  association  were  my  neighbors ; 
some  of  them  were  my  school-mates.  I  knew  them  wtli,  both  before  and  after  they 
became  members.  I  marked  their  conduct  and  saw  and  knew  their  ends.  Their 
number  was  about  twenty  men  and  some  females.  I  can  give  the  names  and  the 
particulars  of  these  individuals.  For  the  sake  of  the  living  I  will  introduce  the  in- 
itials of  their  names  only,  except  a  few. 

Joshua  Miller  was  a  teacher  of  infidelity,  and  was  shot  off  a  stolen  horse  by 
Colonel  J.  VVoodhull.  N.  Miller,  his  brother,  was  shot  off  a  log  while  he  was  play- 
ing at  cards  on  first  day  morning,  by  Zebed  June,  on  a  scouting  party  for  rob- 
bers. Benjamin  Kelley  was  shot  off  his  horse  for  the  murder  of  one  Clarke,  by  a 
boy,  the  son  of  the  murdered  man  ;  he  lay  above  ground  until  the  crows  picked  his 
bones.  J.  Smith  committed  suicide  by  stabbing  himself  while  he  was  imprisoned 
for  crime.  W.  Smith  was  shot  by  B.  Thorpe  and  others  for  robbery.  S.  T.  be- 
trayed his  own  confidential  friend  for  five  dollars;  his  friend  was  hung  and  himself 
afterward  was  shot  by  D.  Lancaster ;  said  to  he  an  accident;  I  heard  the  report  of 
the  gun  and  saw  the  blood.  J.  A.  was  shot  by  Michael  Coleman  for  ro!)bing 
Abimel  Young,  in  the  very  act.  J.  V.  was  shot  by  a  company  of  militia.  J.  D. 
in  one  of  his  drunken  fits  laid  out  and  was  chilled  to  death.* 

A  similar  fate  befell  the  others.  These  facts,  the  author  says, 
are  supported  by  the  affidavits  of  responsible  men. 

Atheism  in  Yale  College  and  Other  Institutions. 

On  the  election  of  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Yale  College,  in  1795,  he  found  atheistical  clubs  existing 
there,  and  infidelity  in  its  most  radical  forms  prevailed  among  the 
students.  It  was  a  time  of  great  laxity  of  moral  and  religious  sen- 
timent. Young  men  were  fascinated  with  radical  notions  of  mental 
as  well  as  political  independence,  and  were  much  inclined  to  shake 
off  what  they  regarded  as  the  shackles  of  superstition.  "The  de- 
gree to  which  it  prevailed  ma}'  be  judged  from  the  following  fact: 
A  considerable  portion  of  the  class  which  he  (Dr.  Dwight)  first  taught 
had  assumed  the  names  of  the  English  and  French  infidels  and  were 
more  familiarly  known  by  them  than  by  their  own."f  It  required  all 
the  tact  and  eloquence  of  that  able  man  to  suppress  this  great  evil. 
But  under  his  administration  it  was  nearly  rooted  out.  Several  re- 
vivals of  religion,  one  of  which  has  often  been  referred  to  on  account 
of  its  power  and  extent,  were  among  the  effectual  means  of  this 
result. 

Mr.  Thomas  Cooper  came  to  this  country  in  1797  and  figured 
as  a  naturalist,  a  lawyer  and  a  politician.     A  friend  of  Priestley,  an 

*  Practical  Infidelity    Portrayed.      By     Abner    Cunningham.      lamo.      New    York,    D. 
Coolidge  ;  Boston,  J.  Loring ;  Philadelphia,  N.  Kite.     1836.     Pp.  42-46. 
t  Introduction  to  Dwighfs  Theology.     Vol.  I,  p.  20. 


S20  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

early  member  of  the  democratic  clubs  of  England,  then  of  the  affili- 
ated Jacobin  clubs  and  a  Girondist,  under  Mr.  Jefferson  he  rose  to 
favor,  and  was  for  many  years  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Political 
Economy  in  Dickinson  College,  Pennsylvania.  Subsequently  he  held 
high  positions  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  finally  in  Co- 
lumbia College,  South  Carolina.  In  all  these  situations,  by  sophis- 
tical reasonings,  sneers  and  sarcasm,  he  trained  many  youthful 
minds  in    unbelief. 

Paine's  Age  of  Reason  was  introduced  here  about  the  close 
of  the  century,  and  had  an  extensive  circulation.  Great  was 
the  activity  of  European  infidels  in  disseminating  their  senti- 
ments in  our  country.  In  the  year  1800,  Hon.  John  Adams, 
then  President  of  the  United  States,  received  a  letter  from  Ger- 
many proposing  to  introduce  into  this  country  *'  a  company  of 
school-masters,  painters,  poets,  etc.,  all  of  them  disciples  of  Thomas 
Paine."     His  reply  was  characteristic  of  the  man  : 

I  had  rather  countenance  the  introduction  of  Ariel  and  Caliban  with  a  troupe  of 
spirits  the  most  mischievous  from  the  fairy  land.* 

So  threatening  were  the  dangers  which  then  menaced  the  coun- 
try through  the  secret  politico-infidel  clubs  organized  in  affiliation 
with  those  of  France  that  President  Adams  referred  to  them  in 
terms  of  warning  in  a  public  proclamation.  The  facts  are  set  forth 
in  the  Memoir  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made. 

Illuminism  had  been  systematically  embraced  by  various  bodies  of  men  who  as- 
sociated for  its  propagation.  President  Adams,  in  a  proclamation  in  which  he  briefly 
disclosed  the  dangers  thai  threatened  the  country,  had  said:  "The  most  precious 
interests  of  the  United  States  are  still  held  in  jeopardy  by  the  hostile  designs  and 
insidious  arts  of  a  foreign  nation  (France),  as  well  as  by  the  dissemination  among 
them  of  those  principles  subversive  of  the  foundation  of  all  religious,  moral  and 
social  obligations,  that  have  produced  incalculable  mischiefs  and  misery  in  other 
countries."  The  violent  assaults  which  were  made  upon  this  passage  of  the  proc- 
lamation proved  the  truth  and  accuracy  of  the  sentiment.  Enraged  at  this  public 
disclosure  of  their  plans  the  whole  faction  attacked  it. 

The  objects  of  these  societies  were  to  destroy  Christianity  and 
to  revolutionize  government  and  society  generally.  The  belief  in  a 
God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  moral  obligation,  civil  and  do- 
mestic government,  the  right  of  property,  marriage,  chastity  and 
decency  were  objects  of  their  hatred  and  conspiracy,  as  they  had 
been  in  France.  Wherever  they  prevailed  the  most  gross  and  brutish 
manners  and  shameless  immorality  followed. 

♦  Li/e  and  Works  of  John  Adams.     Vol.  IX,  p.  73. 


FRENCH  INTRIGUE.  821 

Jacobinism  in  America. 

The  Jacobin  Club  of  Paris  was  established  at  a  time  when  the 
French  Revolution  had  prostrated  all  legitimate  government,  and 
invested  the  mob,  under  the  name  of  "  the  sovereign  people,"  with 
the  fullest  prerogatives,  even  of  plunder  and  violence.  Among  its 
members  and  leaders  were  Robespierre,  Danton,  Marat,  Collot- 
d'Herbois,  and  Santerre,  supported  by  more  than  two  thousand 
affiliated  clubs  in  France,  and  a  host  of  ferocious  demagogues. 
M.  Genet,  the  minister  of  this  Jacobin  government  to  the  United 
States,  landed  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  April  8,  1793.  England,  then  at 
war  with  France,  had  secured  Russia,  Austria,  Spain  and  Sardinia 
as  allies.  The  United  States  were  professedly  neutral,  although  the 
sympathies  of  a  large  portion  of  the  people  were  with  France,  and 
it  was  only  with  extreme  difficulty  that  Washington  could  restrain 
them  from  violating  the  rules  of  neutrality.  Extensive  depredations 
upon  American  commerce  by  English  vessels,  under  a  series  of 
official  orders  at  variance  with  the  rights  of  neutrality,  increased 
the  difficulty  by  aggravating  the  popular  feeling  against  England. 
The  real  object  of  Genet's  mission  was  to  involve  the  United  States 
in  a  war  with  England,  and  thus  effect  a  diversion  in  favor  of  France. 
For  this  purpose  immediately  on  his  arrival  he  commenced  to  dis- 
tribute naval  and  military  commissions,  and  performed  many  other 
offensive  acts. 

So  great  was  the  popular  sympathy  with  the  French  Revolution 
that  at  his  reception  in  Philadelphia  "  the  dinner-table  was  decorated 
with  the  '  Tree  of  Liberty,'  and  a  red  cap  called  the  *  Cap  of  Liberty' 
was  placed  upon  the  head  of  M.  Genet,  and  from  his  passed  in  suc- 
cession from  head  to  head  around  the  table."*  Those  who  readily 
adopted  the  badges  of  the  Jacobins  were  ready  for  further  steps. 
Immediately  a  club  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  with  a  constitu- 
tion h  la  mode  de  Paris,  which  sent  out  an  invitation  for  the  for- 
mation of  similar  clubs  elsewhere.  The  response  was  general,  and 
they  soon  existed  in  every  direction.  Their  object  was  to  thwart 
the  endeavors  of  Washington  to  maintain  a  neutral  attitude,  to  force 
the  nation  into  an  alliance  with  France,  and  bring  on  a  war  with 
England. 

Great  pains  were  also  taken  to  incorporate  French  follies  and  ex-\ 
travagances  into  American   manners.     The  addresses  Mr.  and  Mrs.  j 
were  held  to  be  aristocratic,  and  Citizen  and  Citizeness  were  urged  as 
more  republican.     On  the  Fourth  of  July  the  President  of  the  United 

*  Life  o'' Hon.  John  Jay,  LL.D.     By  his  son,  Wm.  Jay.     Harpers,  1832.     P.  30a 
21 


322  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

States  was  toasted  in  New  York  City  as  "  Citizen  George  Wash- 
ington." "  It  is  scarcely  credible  to  what  an  extent  the  absurdities 
devised  and  practiced  by  the  French  demagogues,  to  influence  the 
passions  of  the  mob,  were  adopted  and  applauded  by  multitudes  of 
the  hitherto  staid  and  reflecting  citizens  of  the  United  States."  * 
The  French  revolutionists  had  denounced  all  heraldic  bearings  as 
aristocratic,  and  some  began  to  fastidiously  inquire  whether  the 
eagle  upon  the  coins  of  our  Government  and  elsewhere  did  not 
savor  of  royalty,  and  consequently  become  a  scandal  upon  a  repub- 
lican government.  "The  Tree  of  Liberty"  and  "The  Cap  of  Lib- 
erty "  were  everywhere  popular. 

Posterity  will  with  difficulty  believe  the  prostituted  state  to  which  Genet  and  his 
satellites,  the  democratic  societies,  had  brought  the  public  feeling.  By  a  variety  of 
those  artifices  which  familiarize  the  heart  to  cruelty,  they  had  inured  the  multitude 
to  the  contemplation  of  bloodshed  and  to  habitual  ferocity.  At  a  dinner  in  Phila- 
delphia, at  which  Governor  Mifflin  and  his  friend  Dallas  were  present,  a  roasted  pig 
was  introduced  as  the  representative  of  the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI.  It  was  the 
joyful  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  his  murder.  The  head,  being  severed  from 
the  body,  was  carried  round  to  each  at  the  table,  who,  after  putting  on  the  liberty 
cap,  pronounced  the  word  "Tyrant !  "  and  gave  the  head  a  chop  with  his  knife,  t 

In  America,  as  well  as  in  France,  the  most  atrocious  villainies  were  maintained 
to  be  patriotic  acts.  Robbery  was  held  to  be  moral  and  correct  justice ;  murder 
was  maintained  to  be  laudable  ;  and  those  most  execrable  of  all  crimes,  treason 
and  rebellion,  were  dignified  by  the  name  of  national  justice,  because  Jacobinized 
France  gave  the  fashion  to  the  morals  and  opinions  of  this  country,  and  fidelity  to 
her,  under  her  new  rulers,  was  best  asserted  by  treason  to  every  other  country.  \ 

A  liberty  cap,  decorated  with  French  and  American  flags,  was 
placed  with  great  pomp  in  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  in  New  York. 
A  large  concourse  assembled  on  the  occasion  and  united  in  singing 
patriotic  songs,  while  a  detachment  of  militia  attended,  under  arms, 
in  honor  of  the  ceremony.  A  fete  was  given  in  Philadelphia  in 
honor  of  the  revolution  in  Holland.  A  great  crowd  assembled,  an 
altar  was  erected  to  Liberty,  and  before  this  altar  the  mob  chanted 
hymns  to  the  goddess,  took  an  oath  to  be  faithful  to  her  and  never  to 
forget  the  genius  and  the  arms  that  had  restored  freedom.  §  The 
profanity  and  folly  of  this  oath  indicate  its  French  origin. 

Such  was  the  infatuation  that  then  prevailed  under  French  in- 
fluence. The  intimate  relations  which  existed  between  the  two 
countries,  and  an  indebtedness  for  aid  rendered  in  our  Revolu- 
tionary distresses,  made  Americans  easy  victims  to  their  specious 

*  Life  of  John  Jay  ^  p.  3t9. 

t  Memoirs  of  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  with  a  View  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  French  In- 
fluence and  French  Principles  in  the  United  States.     1809.    Vol.  T.  p.  132. 

Xlbid,  p.  133.  ^Life  of  John  Jay,  p.  321. 


JACOBINISM  IN  KENTUCKY.  323 

theories  and  frenzy.  But  for  the  fairness  and  integrity  of  Wash- 
ington and  the  success  of  that  wise  and  incorruptible  statesman, 
Hon.  John  Jay,  in  adjusting  our  pending  difficulties  with  England, 
the  nation  must  have  been  involved  in  fatal  complications  with 
France,  and  become  still  more  fearfully  demoralized  in  manners. 

These  Jacobin  clubs  extended  as  far  west  as  Kentucky,  then  in 
its  infancy,  and  the  seeds  of  infidelity  were  sown  broadcast  over 
that  State.  Their  character  has  been  thus  described  :  "  Politically 
they  were  violent  and  dogmatic;  morally  they  were  corrupting; 
and,  in  respect  to  religion,  they  were  utterly  infidel."  The  nomen- 
clature of  towns  and  counties  in  Kentucky  still  attests  the  French 
sympathies  of  the  first  settlers,  and  it  is  a  very  significant  fact  that 
at  this  period  French  agents  were  able  to  enlist  two  thousand 
recruits  in  this  State  to  attack  the  Spanish  settlements  on  the  Missis- 
sippi. Transylvania  University,  founded  by  the  Presbyterians,  was 
wrested  from  their  hands  and  given  over  to  the  influence  of  infidel- 
ity. *  In  1793  Kentucky  dispensed  with  the  services  of  a  chaplain 
of  the  Legislature — a  measure  significant  of  the  influences  in  the 
ascendency  in  high  places.  Before  the  close  of  the  century  a  con- 
siderable majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  State  were  reputed  to 
be  infidels,  and  the  usual  concomitants  of  vice  and  dissipation  were 
not  wanting. 

Section  5.— Testimonies. 

Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  in  his  Auotobiography,\  bears  a  striking  tes- 
timony.    Speaking  of  this  period   he  says, 

That  was  the  day  of  the  infidelity  of  the  Tom  Paine  school.  Boys  that  dressed 
flax  in  the  barn,  as  I  used  to,  read  Tom  Paine  and  believed  him.  I  read  and 
fought  him  all  the 'way.  I  never  had  any  propensity  to  infidelity  But  most  of  the 
class  before  me  were  infidels,  and  called  each-  other  Voltaire.  Rousseau.  D'Alem- 
hert,  etc.,  etc.  They  thought  the  faculty  were  afraid  of  free  discussion.  But 
when  they  handed  Dr.  Dwight  a  list  of  sul^jects  for  class  disputation,  to  their  sur- 
prise he  selected  this :  "  Is  the  Bible  the  word  of  God  .'  "  and  told  them  to  do  their 
best.  He  heard  all  they  had  to  say,  answered  them,  and  there  was  an  end.  He 
preached  incessantly  on  the  subject  for  si.x  months,  and  all  infidelity  skulked  a»d 
hid  its  head. 

Chancellor  Kent  said : 

In  Tiiy  younger  days  there  were  very  few  professional  men  who  were  not  in- 
fidels, or  at  least  they  were  so  far  inclined  to  infidelity  that  they  could  not  be  called 
believers  in  the  trutli  of  the  Bible.  X 

*  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.  D. 
Vol.  I,  pp.  420,  421.  t  Vol.  I,  p.  43- 

J  In  a  conversation  with  Governor  Clinton,  New  York.     Mr.  Kent  lived  1 765-1847. 


824  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Rev.  Ezra  Ripley,  of  Concord,  Mass.,  said : 

A  large  portion  of  the  learning  not  possessed  by  the  clergy  leaned  to  Deisrh,  it 
it  was  not  decidedly  in  its  favor.  Christianity  and  its  institutions  were  treated  with 
more  than  indifference  and  not  seldom  directly  opposed.  ...  I  have  been  an  eye 
and  ear  witness  of  the  proud  boasting  and  confident  assertions  of  profane  and 
blasphemous  infidels  and  have  seen  the  poison  plentifully  cast  into  the  fountain  of 
literature.  * 

Of  Thomas  Paine  much  has  been  written  without  due  discrimi- 
nation. He  has  been  overestimated  and  overblamed.  Mr.  McMas- 
terf  describes  him: 

We  doubt  whether  any  name  in  our  Revolutionary  history,  not  excepting  that  of 
Benedict  Arnold,  is  quite  so  odious  as  the  name  of  Thomas  Paine.     Arnold  was  a 

traitor,  Paine  was  an  infidel Since  the  day  when   the  Age  of  Reason  came 

forth  from  the  press  the  number  of  infidels  has  increased  much  more  rapidly  than 
it  did  before  that  book  was  written.  The  truth  is,  he  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  of  his  time.  It  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  find  any  where  another  such 
compound  of  baseness  and  nobleness,  of  goodness  and  badness,  of  greatness  and 
littleness,  of  so  powerful  a  mind  left  unbalanced  and  led  astray  by  the  worst  of 

animal  passions Of  all  the  human  kind  he  is  the  filthiest  and  the  nastiest, 

and  his  disgusting  habits  grew  upon  him  with  his  years.  In  his  old  age,  when  the 
frugal  gifts  of  two  States  which  remembered  his  good  work  had  placed  him  beyond 
immediate  want,  he  becatne  a  sight  to  behold.  It  was  rare  that  he  was  sober;  it 
was  still  rarer  that  he  washed  himself,  and  he  suffered  his  nails  to  grow  till,  in  the 
language  of  one  who  knew  him  well,  they  resembled  the  claws  of  birds.  What 
gratitude  was  he  did  not  know. 

The  French  Revolution  inspired  the  enemies  of  religion  for  a 
time  with  confident  expectations  of  a  speedy  triumph.  The  minds 
of  multitudes  were  unsettled,  and  there  was  a  breaking  away  from 
the  old  creeds.  "  Wild  and  vague  expectations  were  every-where 
entertained,  especially  among  the  young,  of  a  new  order  of  things 
about  to  commence,  in  which  Christianity  would  belaid  aside  as  an 
obsolete  system."  X  It  was  confidently  asserted  by  some  that  in 
two  generations  Christianity  would  altogether  disappear.  Such  was 
the  skepticism  that  prevailed  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  present.  The  growth  of  Christianity  in  this 
country  since  these  vain  predictions  has  been  the  most  marvelous§ 
ever  known  in  any  land  or  any  .age. 

*In  his  Half-Century  Sermon,  covering  1778-1828. 

t  History  0/  the  People  0/ the  United  Slates.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.     1884.     Vol.  I,  pp.  150,  etc. 
See  also  Period  II,  Chapter  VII,  Section  i. 

X  Religion  in  America.      Rev.  Rotjert  Baird,  D.  D.      Harper  &  Bros.     1886. 
'^See  next  to  the  last  chapter  in  the  book. 


ROMANISM  IN  AMERICA.  32^ 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 


Sec.  I.   Patriotic  Under  Disabilities.        [      Sec.  4.  Religious  Orders  and  Publica^ 
*'      2.   The  Hierarchy  Established.  tions. 

'*      3.  Progress  in  Individual  States.  -      5.  Indian  Missions. 


Section  i.— Patriotic  Under  Disabilities. 

BEFORE  the  Revolution  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  had  no 
organized  existence  in  the  original  thirteen  United  States. 
Scarcely  any  representatives  of  this  faith  existed  in  New  England, 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia.  Maryland  had  ceased  to  be  a 
Roman  Catholic  colony,  about  one  hundred  years  before  the  Revo- 
lution ;  the  descendants  of  Lord  Baltimore  and  his  companions  and 
nearly  all  the  population  of  the  colony  were  Protestants,  when  our 
national  independence  was  declared.  The  number  of  families  that 
retained  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  and  a  part  of  their  property  was 
very  small  ;  and  among  the  servants  who  continued  faithful  to  that 
religion  but  few  could  have  access  to  their  ministers  or  transmit 
their  faith  to  their  children.  The  clergy  were  objects  of  persecution, 
were  few  in  number,  and  carefully  kept  out  of  the  sight  of  the 
Protestants. 

It  had  been  arranged  by  the  pope  that  the  English  colonies  in 
America  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Apostolic  Vicar  in 
London.  This  arrangement  proved  disastrous,  for  the  London 
official  was  himself  exposed  to  so  many  difficulties  and  persecutions 
that  he  could  render  but  little  aid.  Maryland  had  a  few  private 
Roman  Catholic  chapels,  and  Baltimore  was  a  station  privately 
visited  once  a  month  by  a  priest.  Until  1776  the  devotees  of  the 
papacy  in  Maryland  were  hampered  by  civil  restrictions. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  Roman  Catholics  were  under  no  legal  re- 
straints, so  that  this  colony  afforded  an  asylum  for  Roman  Catholics 
persecuted  in  Maryland  and  elsewhere.  But  it  was  difficult  for  the 
Quakers  to  understand  that  the  papal  faith  ought  to  enjoy  the  same 


826  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

share  of  liberty  which  they  exercised.  Many  obstructions  were  put 
in  the  way  of  erecting  Roman  Catholic  churches,  and  such  impedi- 
ments were  encouraged  by  the  English  Government.  On  one  occa- 
sion, in  the  colonial  era,  the  Philadelphians  appealed  to  the  Privy 
Council  in  England  to  decide  whether  it  was  expedient  to  allow  the 
Roman  Catholics  to  erect  a  building  for  religious  purposes.  The 
response  was,  "  There  is  no  law  in  the  colony  which  authorizes  you 
to  oppose  the  attempt  of  the  Catholics,  but  the  Privy  Council  de- 
sires that  its  execution  may  be  impeded  as  much  as  possible." 
Every-where  else  the  Catholic  religion  was  formally  excluded.  On 
account  of  these  obstacles,  prior  to  1771  the  Irish  Catholics  had 
settled  scarcely  anywhere  except  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 
About  twenty-six  priests  and  25,000  to  30,000  communicants,  with 
no  bishop,  college  or  academy,  represented  the  Catholicity  of  the 
United  States  and  Territories  in  1775. 

The  Continental  Congress  in  1774  proclaimed  the  broadest  tol- 
eration, and  in  1776  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Maryland — some  of 
them  very  rich  and  influential — were  granted  civil  and  religious 
equality.  The  other  twelve  original  States  soon  followed,  though 
eligibility  to  hold  political  offices  was  not  granted  in  many  States 
until  after  the  present  century  opened — not  until  1806,  in  New 
York;  1821,  in  Massachusetts;  1836,  in  North  Carolina;  1844,  in 
New  Jersey.  In  the  States  where  Roman  Catholics  were  the 
original  proprietors  of  the  soil,  Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas,  Indiana. 
Mississippi,  Illinois,  Alabama,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Arkansas,  Wisconsin, 
New  Mexico  and  California,  the  free  exercise  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic religion  was  guaranteed  by  solemn  treaties,  when  they  were 
ceded  to  the  United  States. 

Roman  Catholics  and  the  Revolution. 

The  Roman  Catholics  took  an  active  part  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  One  of  the  most  distinguished  laymen,  Charles  Car- 
roll, of  CarroUton,  Md.,  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. "  Here  go  millions,"  said  Benjamin  Franklin,  as  Mr.  Carroll 
signed  the  paper.  The  first  "sea  fight  "  of  the  Revolution,  in  Ma- 
chias  Bay,  Maine,  May  11,  1775,  resulting  in  the  capture  of  two 
British  store-ships,  was  fought  under  Captain  Jeremiah  O'Brien,  an 
ardent  Roman  Catholic.  Commodore  Barry,  a  pious  Roman  Cath- 
olic, has  been  styled  the  "  Father  of  the  American  Navy."  Sev- 
eral Roman  Catholics  were  members  of  General  Washington's  "  Life 
Guard."  Colonel  Moylan,  prominent  in  many  battles  of  the  Rev- 
olution, was  a  Roman  Catholic.     Roman  Catholic  France  supplied 


ROMANISTS  AND    THE  REVOLUTION.  327 

the  cause  of  the  Revolution  with  soldiers  and  money.  Roman 
Catholic  Spain  threw  open  her  ports  as  neutral  to  the  American 
marine,  and  contributed  aid  to  the  struggling  Republic.  Bishop 
England  said,*  "  More  than  half  the  regular  troops  furnished  by 
Pennsylvania  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution  were  Irish  Cath- 
olics." 

-  After  the  "  Act  of  Toleration,"  adopted  by  Maryland  in  1776. 
the  Roman  Catholics  began  to  erect  churches  in  the  towns  and 
cities ;  but,  like  other  denominations  in  that  period,  growth  was  re- 
tarded by  the  distracting  events  of  the  Revolution.  Nothing  was 
done  in  the  other  colonies  until  after  the  peace  of  1783.  The  proc- 
lamation of  peace  was  a  signal  for  a  general  emigration  from  Europe 
to  America.  Among  the  new  comers  were  large  numbers  of  Roman 
Catholics.  Ireland  sent  over  a  considerable  number,  with  a  half 
dozen  priests,  who  settled  chiefly  in  the  cities.  In  1784  the  papal 
nuncio  at  Rome  wrote  to  Rev.  Father  Carroll  at  Baltimore,  inquir- 
ing what  number  of  missionaries  were  needed  to  serve  the  interests 
of  the  Church  in  America.  Mr.  Carroll,  in  his  reply,  represented, 
the  Roman  Catholic  population  as  follows:  Maryland,  16,000  ;1 
Pennsylvania,  7,000;  other  States,  3,000;  total,  26,000.  Besides! 
these  other  Roman  Catholic  authorities  have  estimated  their  popu- 
lation in  Ohio,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  the  Mississippi  valley  at 
4,000,  Indian  converts  not  included.  But  this  Church  had  reached 
a  point  of  very  rapid  growth,  chiefly  by  immigration.  By  1800  they 
numbered  about  100,000. 


Section  ;?.-Tlie  Hierarchy  Establislied  in  the  United 

States. 

We  have  noticed  that  previous  to  the  Revolution  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  America  depended,  in  spiritual  matters,  on  the  Vicar 
Apostolic  residing  in  London.  Peace  being  restored  and  independ- 
ence o-ained,  this  relation  could  no  longer  be  maintained.  It  was 
deemed  desirable  to  give  dignity  and  stability  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic reliaion  by  the  establishment  of  the  hierarchy  m  the  United 
States.  "^  The  clergy,  therefore,  in  1784,  petitioned  the  pope  to  pro- 
vide for  their  necessities.  His  holiness  applauded  their  zeal  com- 
plied with  their  request,  and  appointed  Rev.  Dr.  John  Carroll,  S.J.. 
"  Superior  of  the  missions  in  the  United  States."  In  1789  he  was 
appointed  and  consecrated  Bishop.    • 

*  Letter  to  the  Lyons  Propaganda  in  i8j6. 


328  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  First  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  in  the  United  States. 

Bishop  Carroll  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  a  son  of  Daniel  Car- 
roll, a  stanch  Irish  Roman  Catholic,  "  who  had  preferred  the  con- 
fiscation of  his  property  to  the  renunciation  of  his  faith."  When 
thirteen  years  of  age,  this  son  was  sent  to  Europe  to  be  educated. 
He  became  a  novitiate  and  in  due  time  took  the  full  vows  of  the 
Society  of  the  Jesuits.  After  spending  more  than  twenty  years  in 
Europe,  he  returned  June  6,  1774,*  and  identified  himself  with  the 
interests  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Maryland.  In  1776,  by 
request,  he  accompanied  the  American  embassy,  consisting  of  Dr. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Samuel  Chase,  and  his  own  brother,  Charles  Car- 
roll, to  seek  the  activ?  assistance  of  the  Canadians  in  the  Revolution. 
His  religious  influence  and  ecclesiastical  relations,  it  was  supposed, 
would  be  helpful  ;  but  the  mission  was  not  successful.  Throughout 
the  great  struggle  he  sympathized  with  the  colonies,  and  is  said  to 
have  cherished  great  respect  for  General  Washington.  By  the 
unanimous  resolution  of  Congress  he  was  elected  to  pronounce  the 
eulogy  upon  General  Washington,  Feb.  22,  1800,  a  master-piece 
of  eloquence,  patriotism  and  classic  taste. 

Immediately  upon  his  accession  to  the  episcopacy  Bishop 
Carroll  undertook  four  enterprises  for  the  development  and  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  this  country — the  educa- 
tion of  youth,  the  formation  of  a  national  clergy,  the  erection  of 
churches  and  the  foundation  of  female  communities  to  care  for  the 
sick  and  orphans.  The  preliminary  steps  toward  the  erection  of  a 
college  at  Georgetown  were  taken  by  him  in  1789,  the  "  ex-Jesuits  " 
having  appropriated  a  part  of  the  society's  property  for  that  pur- 
pose. This  religious  Order,  as  has  been  before  noticed,  had  existed 
in  the  Maryland  Colony  from  its  foundation,  but  Jesuits,  after  1773, 
were  under  the  ecclesiastical  ban  of  the  pope.  "  They  kept  up  a 
sort  of  union  among  themselves,  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  after 
the  suppression  of  their  Order,  for  the  purpose  of  more  effectually 
conducting  the  Maryland  mission  and  of  managing  their  temporal- 
ities, of  which  they  were  not  despoiled  in  America  as  they  had  been 
in  Europe."  f  Being  too  few  to  perform  the  functions  both  of  mis- 
sionary priests  and  teachers,  they  called  to  their  aid  priests  of  other 

♦  At  this  time  there  was  not  a  single  public  place  of  Roman  Catholic  worship  in  Maryland.  Old 
St.  Peter's,  at  Baltimore,  had  been  closed  before  its  completion  and  so  remained  several  years.  The 
chapels  on  the  Jesuit  farms  and  a  few  private  chapels  or  oratories  were  the  only  places  of  worship 
possessed  by  the  Catholics  of  the  province.  The  number  of  Catholic  cler^men  in  Marjland  at 
that  time  was  nineteen,  all  ex-Jesuits.  There  were  also  three  in  Pennsylvania,  ex-Jesuits  also. 
For  names  and  localities  see  /.ives  of  Deceased  Calholic  Bishops,  Vol.  I,  p.  39. 

t  Lives  0/ the  Deceased  Bishops  0/ the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.     Vol.  I,  p.  123. 


THE  CLERGY  REINFORCED.  329 

orders,  among  whom  were  Rev.  Louis  Dubourg,  subsequently 
Bishop  of  New  Orleans,  and  Rev.  Ambrose  Mar^chal,  two  distin- 
guished Sulpicians.  But  before  the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits,  in  1814, 
this  Order  had  exclusive  direction  of  this  college.  The  institution 
was  opened  in  1790,  just  two  years  before  Washington  was  selected 
for  the  national  capital.  In  1791  the  Theological  Seminary  of  St. 
Sulpice,  and  soon  after  St.  Mary's  University,  were  founded  near 
Baltimore,  by  members  of  the  Sulpician  Order  who  fled  from  France 
to  escape  the  terrors  of  the  French  Revolution. 

Exiled  French  Clergy. 

The  reign  of  terror  drove  to  this  count-ry  a  large  number  of 
Roman  Catholic  clergy,  many  of  whom  were  eminent  for  learning. 
Between  1791-1799  twenty-three  French  priests  sought  our  shores. 
With  their  aid  Bishop  Carroll  furnished  his  rising  educational  insti- 
tutions with  competent  instructors,  multiplied  missions  and  ex- 
tended the  circle  of  the  Church  into  New  England,  the  South  and 
the  West.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  exiled  French  Catholic 
priests  were  Abb^  John  Dubois,  who  landed  in  1791  and  subse- 
quently became  Bishop  of  New  York;  the  Abb^s  Benedict  Flaget, 
John  B.  David,  Stephen  Badin,  Francis  Matignon,  Ambrose  Mare- 
chal,  Gabriel  Richard  and  Francis  Ciquard,  all  of  whom  came  in 
1792.  In  the  year  1794  Abbe  Louis  Dubourg  and  Abbes  John 
Moranville,  Donatian  Oliver,  and  Rivet  arrived.  In  1796  came 
Abbe  Fournier,  a  missionary  in  Kentucky,  and  Abbe  John  Lefevre 
Cheverus,  afterward  Bishop  of  Boston.  In  1798  Abbe  Anthony 
Salmon  joined  his  friend,  Fournier,  in  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky. 

*'  The  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,"  says  a  Roman 
Catholic  writer,*  "  is  deeply  indebted  to  the  zeal  of  the  exiled  French 
clergy.  No  portion  of  the  American  Church  owes  more  to  them 
than  that  of  Kentucky.  They  supplied  our  infant  missions  with 
most  of  our  earliest  and  most  zealous  laborers,  and  they  likewise 
gave  to  us  our  first  bishops.  There  is  something  in  the  elasticity  and 
buoyancy  of  the  French  character  which  adapts  them  in  a  peculiar 
manner  to  foreign  missions.  They  have  always  been  the  best  mis- 
sionaries among  the  North  American  Indians  ;  they  can  mold  their 
character  to  suit  every  circumstance  and  emergency ;  they  can  be 
at  home  and  cheerful  every-where." 

The  foundation  of  the  Georgetown  College  (opened  in  1790)  and 


*  Sketches  of  the  Early   Catholic  Missions  0/  Kentucky.      By  Rev.  M,  J.  Spalding,  D.D. 
Louisville.     1845.     P.  56. 


330  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  Sulpician  Seminary  at  Baltimore  gave  character  and  stability  to 
Mr.  Carroll's  diocese,  and  in  November,  1791,  he  called  his  priests 
together  and  held  the 

First  Roman  Catholic  Synod  in  America. 

Twenty  ecclesiastics  were  present.  At  this  meeting  it  was  re- 
solved to  ask  his  holiness  for  a  division  of  the  United  States  into 
several  dioceses,  or  at  least  the  appointment  of  a  coadjutor  who 
should  share  with  Bishop  Carroll  the  burdens  of  the  episcopate. 
Pius  VI.  acceded  to  the  last  request,  and  Father  Leonard  Neale 
was  appointed  coadjutor  in  1800.  Mr.  Neale  was  born  in  Maryland, 
in  1746,  and  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  first  colonists  under 
Lord  Baltimore.  He  was  educated  in  Europe,  at  St.  Omers,  Bruges, 
and  also  at  Liege,  where  he  was  ordained  a  priest,  in  the  Society  of 
the  Jesuits,  a  short  time  before  the  issuance  of  the  famous  bull  of 
Pope  Clement  XIV,  suppressing  the  Order.  Fulfilling  a  mission 
in  South  America,  he  came  to  Maryland  in  1783.  Aftet  serving 
the  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  as  president  of  Georgetown  Col- 
lege, in  1800  he  was  appointed  coadjutor  of  Bishop  Carroll,  cuvi 
jure  siiccessionis. 

A  large  accession  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States  was  realized  in  1793  by  French  Catholic  refugees  from  St. 
Domingo.  The  French  population  of  the  island  is  estimated  to 
have  been  40,ocx),  most  of  whom  emigrated  to  escape  massacre,  and 
many  of  the  mulattoes  followed  them.  A  very  large  portion  of 
them  came  to  the  United  States.  In  a  single  day,  July  9,  1793, 
fifty-three  vessels  bearing  refugees  came  to  Baltimore.  These  ac- 
cessions largely  augmented  the  wealth  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
populations  of  New  York  city,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Charleston 
and  New  Orleans. 


Section  5.— Progress  in  the  Several  States. 

New  York. 

The  stringent  laws  enacted  in  the  colonial  era  against  the 
Roman  Catholic  priests  have  been  duly  noticed.  In  conse- 
quence of  these  severe  enactments  but  few  Roman  Catholics 
could  be  found  in  that  province  down  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 
When  the  new  Government  arose,  independent  of  the  English 
crown,  the  minds  of  the  people  were  strongly  averse  to  Romanism, 
and  the  prejudices  already  existing  were  strengthened  by  the  pro- 
tection extended  by  the  English  Government  to  the  Roman  Cath- 


ROMANISM  IN  NEW   YORK.  S31 

olics  in  Canada,  by  the  celebrated  "Quebec  Act"  of  1774.  On 
the  assumption  of  power  by  the  Provincial  Congress  the  Roman 
Catholics  remained  fettered.  Bonds  so  tightly  riveted  could  not  be 
easily  sundered.  Even  during  the  severe  struggles  of  the  Rev- 
olution, when  the  colonists  largely  predicated  their  hope  of  success 
upon  the  co-operation  of  Roman  Catholic  France,  and  when  La- 
fayette was  leading  our  troops  and  Kosciusko  and  DeKalb  were 
training  our  crude  soldiery,  the  New  York  Convention  of  1777  did 
not  modify  the  restrictions  against  Roman  Catholics.  Hon.  John 
Jay  moved  that  persons  seeking  naturalization  should  be  required 
"  to  abjure  and  renounce  all  allegiance  and  subjection  to  all  and 
every  foreign  king,  priest,  potentate  and  state,  in  matters  ecclesias- 
tical and  civil."  The  restriction,  though  adopted,  became  inope- 
rative through  the  action  of  Congress,  which  assumed  the  control 
of  naturalization,  and  with  this  attempt  all  legislation  opposed  to 
the  free  exercise  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  ceased. 

After  the  evacuation  of  New  York  city  by  the  British  in  1783, 
such  Roman  Catholics  as  were  in  the  city  assembled  for  the  public 
celebration  of  the  offices  of  religion.  In  1784  the  Legislature  re- 
pealed the  law  of  1700  in  regard  to  "popish  priests  and  Jesuits." 
Rev.  Father  Farmer,  S.J.,*  who  came  on  occasionally  from  Philadel- 
phia, was  the  first  officiating  priest,  using  for  religious  purposes  such 
large  rooms  as  could  be  obtained,  sometimes  a  loft  over  a  carpen- 
ter shop  near  Barclay  Street,  sometimes  the  parlor  of  the  Spanish 
Consul.  An  Irish  Capuchin,  Rev.  Charles  VVhelan,  succeeded 
Father  Farmer  and  became  the  first  settled  priest.  His  flock  in 
1785  numbered  about  200  persons.  In  1785  an  act  of  incorporation 
of  St.  Peter's  Church  was  obtained  from  the  Legislature,  and  early 
in  1786  five  lots  were  purchased  from  the  trustees  of  Trinity  Church, 
at  the  corner  of  Barclay  and  Church  Streets.  The  Spanish  Ambas- 
sador, Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui,  laid  the  corner  stone,  and  its  chief 
benefactor  was  Charles  III.,  King  of  Spain,  who  contributed  $10,000  f 
toward  the  erection  of  the  edifice.  Father  Nugent  assisted  a  short 
time  in  the  care  of  the  church.  In  1787  Rev.  William  O'Brien,  a 
Dominican,  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  St.  Peter's.  Soon  after, 
he  visited  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  funds  to  finish  and 
adorn  the  church.  The  Archbishop  of  Mexico,  a  former  fellow- 
student  of  Father  O'Brien,  received  him  kindly  and  aided  his  col- 
lections so  that  $4,900  were  raised,  besides  $1,000  from  Puebla  de 
los  Angeles. 

*  Father  Farmer  came  to  this  country  in  1752  and  died  in  1786. 
t  There  is  some  question  about  this  amount. 


332  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

New  England. 

The  early  settlers  in  this  section  brought  with  them  the  strong 
prejudices  of  their  times,  and  took  every  possible  precaution  against 
the  intrusion  of  papal  emigrants.  Their  measures  were  so  effect- 
ual that  but  few  entered  New  England  until  after  the  Revolution. 
None  came  as  voluntary  emigrants,  but  some  poor  Irish  were  sold 
there  as  slaves,*  and  others,  at  a  later  period,  came  as  redemptioners. 
These  unfortunates,  occasionally  visiting  French  settlements  as 
sailors  or  servants,  sought  the  religious  services  of  Roman  Catholic 
priests.  On  the  devastation  of  Acadia,  in  1756,  some  of  the  de- 
ported inhabitants  were  landed  in  utter  destitution  on  some  points 
of  the  New  England  coast.  Reduced  from  a  state  of  competence, 
they  disdained  to  become  menials,  and  claimed,  though  without 
much  avail,  the  rights  of  prisoners  of  war.  The  law  prevented  Ro- 
man Catholic  priests  from  entering  the  colonies;  and,  thus  deprived 
of  their  favorite  religious  ordinances,  they  were  called  "  Neutrals," 
and  were  spoken  of  as  "  still  ignorant,  bigoted  Catholics,  broken- 
spirited,  poor,"  etc.  Many  of  them  died  leaving  their  children 
amid  Protestant  influences  ;  others  returned  to  Nova  Scotia,  others 
reached  Canada,  and  others  went  to  Louisiana,  France,  or  the  West 
Indies. 

A  few  Roman  Catholics  are  supposed  to  have  gathered  in  Bos- 
ton, and  others  were  scattered  in  the  interior,  but,  under  penal  laws, 
and  deprived  of  religious  instruction,  their  children  grew  up  Protest- 
ants. Among  these  was  General  Sullivan,  a  hero  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. But  with  the  Revolution  changes  came.  When  General 
Washington  appeared  in  the  camp  at  Boston,  at  the  opening  of  the 
war,  he  found  preparations  on  foot  for  burning  the  pope  in  effigy, 
and  issued  an  order  forbidding  the  "  ridiculous  and  childish  custom." 
He  expressed  surprise  "  that  there  should  be  officers  and  soldiers 
in  his  army  so  void  of  common  sense  as  not  to  see  the  impropriety 
of  such  a  step  at  this  juncture,  at  a  time  when  we  are  soliciting,  and 
have  already  obtained  the  friendship  and  alliancef  of  the  people  of 
Canada,  whom  we  ought  to  consider  as  brethren  embarked  in  the 
same  cause — the  defense  of  the  liberty  of  America.  At  this  junc- 
ture and  under  such  circumstances  to  be  insulting  their  religion  is 
so  monstrous  as  not  to  be  suffered  or  excused." 

About  this  time  Washington  sent  a  message  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Indians  in  Maine,  inviting  them  to  join    the  cause  of  freedom. 

♦See  section  on  Indentured  Servitude,  in  the  Colonial  Era,  page  220. 

t  The  alliance  for  which  the  colonists  were  then  laboring  was  not  obtciined,  though  they  were 
then  hopeful  of  securing  it. 


TOLERATION  INDUCED  BY  THE   WAR.  833 

Delegates  of  those  tribes,  led  by  Ambrose  Var,  came  and  conferred 
with  the  Massachusetts  Council  and  promised  to  aid  in  the  struggle, 
stipulating  one  request :  "  We  want  a  black  gown  or  French  priest. 
Jesus  we  pray  to,  and  we  will  not  hear  any  prayer  *  that  comes  from 
Old  England."  The  terms  were  accepted  by  the  very  body  that  had 
ever  before  bitterly  pursued  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood.  The 
Indians  joined  the  American  cause  sincerely — the  St.  Johns,  the  Pas- 
samaquoddies,  the  Abenakis,  and  the  Penobscots ;  Orono,  a  chief  of 
the  latter  tribe,  bearing  a  commission,  which  he  honored  by  his  vir- 
tues and  his  bravery. 

The  alliance  of  the  Americans  with  France  brought  Roman 
Catholic  fleets  and  armies  across  the  Atlantic.  Count  D'Estiang 
entered  Boston  harbor  in  1778,  tarrying  there  three  months,  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  services  performed  for  the  fleet  were  witnessed  by 
many  Bostonians.  A  funeral  procession  of  an  officer,  with  a 
crucifix  at  its  head,  traversed  the  streets  of  the  city.  Such  were 
some  of  the  modifications  wrought  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
times. 

After  the  close  of  the  Revolution  a  few  Roman  Catholics  were 
found  in  Boston — some  French  and  Spaniards,  and  about  thirty 
Irish.  A  chaplain  of  the  French  navy,  Claude  Florent  Bouchard 
de  la  Poterie,  settled  among  them.  He  was  soon  followed  by  Rev. 
Louis  Roussellet.  The  next  was  Rev.  John  Thayer,  a  native  of 
Boston  and  a  descendant  of  an  old  New  England  family,  educated 
for  the  Congregational  ministry,  who,  during  his  travels  in  Europe, 
renounced  Protestantism  and  adopted  the  Roman  Catholic  faith. 
After  a  period  of  study  at  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  in  Paris,  he 
was  duly  ordained  to  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  and  assigned  to 
the  care  of  the  Church  in  Boston,  where  he  arrived  January  4,  1790. 

The  chapel  on  School  Street,  first  erected  by  French  Protestants, 
was  formally  consecrated  for  Roman  Catholic  worship  in  1788.  Here 
they  remained  about  fifteen  years,  until  the  Cathedral  on  Franklin 
Street  was  consecrated,  in  1803. 

Of  the  four  eminent  Roman  Catholic  clergy  exiled  from  France 
on  account  of  the  Revolution,  who  came  to  this  country  in  1792,  two 
were  sent  by  Bishop  Carroll  to  New  England — Rev.  Francis  Mat- 
tignon,  D.D.,  t.o  Boston,  and  Rev.  Francis  Ciquard,  to  Maine.  After 
the  arrival  of  Dr.  Mattignon,  Father  Thayer  extended  the  scope  of 
his  labors  to  more  remote  points,  continuing  in  New  England  until 
1799.  In  1796  Rev.  John  Louis  de  Cheverus,  another  French  clergy- 
man, came  to  Boston.     He  visited  the  scattered  Catholics  in  Salem, 

*  Namely,  religion. 


334  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Newburyport,     Portsmouth,     Damariscotta,     Bristol,    Waldoboro, 
Plymouth,  etc. 

South  Carolina. 

In  1786  the  mass  was  first  celebrated  in  Charleston  by  an  Italian 
priest,  a  chaplain  on  a  ship  bound  for  South  America.  It  occurred 
in  the  house  of  an  Irish  Catholic,  and  twelve  persons  were  present. 
A  little  later  Father  O'Reilly,  an  Irish  priest,  began  to  exercise  his 
ministry  among  them,  and  in  1789  the  erection  of  a  church  was 
commenced.  In  1793  Rev.  Dr.  O'Gallagher,  a  native  of  Dublin,  a 
man  of  superior  intellect  and  eloquence,  was  sent  to  Charleston  by 
Bishop  Carroll,  and  cared  for  the  flock.  Papal  refugees  from  St. 
Domingo  and  emigrants  from  Maryland  soon  swelled  the  number, 
and  they  were  enabled  to  erect  a  very  creditable  church  edifice. 

Kentucky. 

The  first  Roman  Catholics  known  to  have  settled  in  this  State 
'were  Dr.  Hart  and  Wm.  Coomes,  the  former  a  devoted  Irish  Catho- 
lic and  the  other  a  native  of  Maryland.  "  They  both  came,"  says 
Archbishop  Spaulding,*  "in  the  spring  of  1775,  among  the  very  first 
white  people  who  came  to  Kentucky."  In  1785  about  twenty  Ro- 
man Catholic  families  emigrated  from  Maryland  to  Kentucky,  which 
number  was  steadily  augmented  b}?"  new  arrivals.  Rev.  Mr.  VVhalen, 
an  Irish  Franciscan,  took  charge  of  the  Kentucky  mission,  traveling 
by  a  wild  and  dangerous  path  to  the  scene  of  his  arduous  duties, 
and  reaching  his  destination  in  the  spring  of  1787.  After  two  and 
a  half  years  of  excessive  labor  his  failing  health  compelled  him  to 
leave,  and  Rev.  Father  Badin  followed  in  1793,  traveling  on  foot 
from  Baltimore  to  Pittsburg,  descending  the  river  on  a  flat-boat  to 
Mayville,  and  thence  on  foot  to  Lexington.  Here  a  church  was 
erected,  "  a  temporary  hut  covered  with  clapboards,  and  unprovided 
with  glass  in  the  windows.  A  slab  of  wood,  roughly  hewed,  served 
for  an  altar.     Such  was  the  first  Catholic  church  in  Kentucky." 

Louisiana. 

In  1793  New  Orleans,  then  under  the  Spanish  dominion,  was 
made  an  episcopal  see,  and  Rev.  Don  Luis  Penalver  y  Cardenaz,  D.D., 
a  distinguished  Spanish  divine,  was  appointed  the  first  bishop,  but 
did  not  take  possession  until  1795,  and  remained  only  until  1802, 
when  he  was  elevated  to  the  archbishopric  of  Guatemala. 

*Skelches  0/  Early  Kentucky  Missions. 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC   PUBLICATIONS.  333 

Indiana. 

In  1792  Father  Joseph  Flaget,  a  refugee  from  the  troubles  in 
France,  arrived  in  Baltimore,  and  was  appointed  by  Bishop  Carroll 
to  the  distant  mission  of  Vincennes.  After  a  slow  journey  by  wagon 
to  Pittsburg  he  was  detained  there  six  months  by  the  low  waters 
of  the  Ohio,  and  late  in  December  reached  Vincennes.  He  found 
both  church  and  people  in  an  unhappy  condition.  Though  origi- 
nally settled  by  Roman  Catholics,  Vincennes  had  been  so  long  with- 
out priest  or  sacraments  that  their  religion  was  nearly  extinguished. 
After  two  years  of  very  trying  labor  he  returned  to  Maryland. 


Section  4.— Religions  Orders  and  Ptiblications. 

In  1790,  at  the  solicitation  of  Bishop  Carroll,  four  Carmelite  nuns 
came  from  Antwerp  and  founded  a  convent  of  their  Order  near  Port 
Tobacco,  Md.  In  1792  the  Order  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Clare,  or  Visi- 
tation Nuns,  established  a  convent  in  Georgetown,  D.  C.  In  1790 
the  Order  of  St.  Augustine  was  established  in  Philadelphia.  In  the 
same  year  the  Sulpicians  founded  a  seminary  near  Baltimore.  The 
Jesuits  have  been  elsewhere  mentioned. 

Before  the  Revolution  a  few  Roman  Catholic  books  were  printed 
in  Philadelphia,  such  as  the  Garden  of  the  Soul,  Folloiving  of 
Christ,  etc.,  and  some  Catholic  books  were  kept  on  sale  near  old 
St.  Joseph's.  In  1784  "  C.  Talbot,  late  of  Dublin,  printer  and  book- 
seller," issued  in  Philadelphia  an  edition  of  Reeves  s  History  of  the 
Bible.  He  appears  to  have  been  the  first  Roman  Catholic  publisher 
in  the  United  States.  In  1789  another  publisher  issued  Roman 
Catholic  books — Mr.  T.  Lloyd.  Matthew  Carey  published  a  quarto 
Roman  Catholic  Bible  in  1790,  and  for  twenty  years  published  a 
large  number  of  prayer-books,  catechisms,  and  controversial  and 
devotional  works. 


Section  5.— Indian  Missions. 

The  Illinois  and  the  Lake  missions  among  the  Indians  had  con- 
siderably declined  before  the  country  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain 
in  1763. 

In  1660  Menard  began  to  convert  the  Kiskakons.  and  undertook  to  minister  to 
the  fugitive  Hurons.  His  successors  established  missions  among  the  Chippewas 
and  Nez  Perces,  on  Lake  Superior  ;  the  Ottavvas,  both  Kiskakon  and  Sinagos,  in 
their  various  posts,  among  the  Pottawotamies,  Wmnebagoes  and  Menominees,  on 


338  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Green  Bay ;  and  among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Mascoutens,  Kickapoos,  and  some 
families  of  the  Miamis  in  the  interior  of  Wisconsin.  All  these  tribes  still  exist,* 
except  the  Mascoutens.  merged  probably  into  the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  All  were  to 
some  extent  converted  to  Catholicity  before  that  sad  period  for  the  French  missions 
when  Choiseul  directed  the  destinies  of  France.  For  thirty  years  there  was  no 
priest  west  of  Detroit,  and  the  Catholic  Indians,  thus  left  to  themselves,  when  not 
well-grounded  by  time  in  Christianity,  or  removed  from  pagan  influence,  lost  much 
ol  their  fervor  and  even  of  their  faith. 

So  complete  was  the  failure  of  these  Jesuit  Indian  missions,  as 
related  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Shea.f     He  adds : 

'  Not  only  have  the  narratives  of  the  missionaries  perished,  but  also  the  philolog- 
ical works  I  which  they  composed  ;  and  at  this  day  there  is  no  trace  of  any  gram- 
mar, vocabulary,  catechism,  or  prayer-book  in  any  of  the  dialects  of  Wisconsin 
and  Michigan. 

Small  bands  of  Indians  retired  west  of  the  Mississippi,  some  of 
which  are  now  under  Roman  Catholic  influences.  But  frequent  in- 
termarriages took  place  between  French  officers  and  soldiers  and  the 
Indians,  out  of  which  many  of  the  older  French  families  in  Michigan, 
Illinois,  Indiana,  Wisconsin  and  Missouri  sprang.  Among  these 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  was  retained,  and  they  constituted  the 
nucleus  of  the  earliest  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  those  States. 
Michigan  was  settled  by  Roman  Catholics  from  France  and  Canada, 
not  far  from  1680,  and  the  papal  religion  was  the  only  religion  known 
in  that  region  until  about  the  close  of  the  war  of  18 12.  Of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri  almost  the  same  statement  may  be 
made.  The  first  settlements  were  papal,  and  the  nuclei  of  Roman 
Catholic  churches  now  existing  in  those  States  were  in  existence 
long  before  the  Protestant  churches  entered  them.  The  Roman 
Catholic  population  in  Ohio  and  the  Upper  Mississippi  valley  in 
1785,  which  is  earlier  than  the  date  of  the  first  Protestant  Church 
in  those  regions,  has  been  estimated  by  a  Catholic  writer  at  4,000.  § 
Louisiana  and  Florida  were  wholly  Roman  Catholic  until  after  the 
opening  of  the  present  century.  There  are  no  evidences  of  mission- 
ary efforts  under  the  Spanish  rule.  In  1793  the  Papal  Church  in 
Louisiana  was  deemed  to  be  of  sufficient  importance  to  call  for  the 
establishment  of  an  episcopal  see  in  New  Orleans. 

*  J.  G.  Shea,  writing  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 

t  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions  in  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  pp.  379,  38a 

X  These  were  very  few  and  of  a  meager  character. 

§  De  Courcey's  History  0/  the  Catholic  Church  in  Uu  United  States,  p.  54. 


WHIGS  AND   TORIES. 


337 


CHAPTER  VL 


MORALS. 


Sec.  I.  Post  bellum  Irritations. 
"     2.   Political  Insubordination    and    Bit- 
terness. 
"     3.  The  Family,  Dueling,  etc. 


Sec.  4.  The  Social  and  Physical  Condition, 
Penal  Inflictions,  etc. 
'*     5.  Intemperance. 
"    6.  Survey  of  the  Dark  Period. 


^ 


Section  l.-Post  iDellum  Irritations,  etc. 

HE  Revolution  at   last    accomplished,  and   the   foreign    evils 


JL  which  it  threw  off  being  no  longer  felt,  but  forgotten,  new 
troubles  arose,  the  remedies  for  which  could  not  be  easily  devised. 
The  people  began  to  grumble,  became  sullen  and  hard  to  please. 
No  longer  united  by  external  danger,  old  animosities  and  new  jeal- 
ousies broke  forth  and  the  Union  seemed  likely  to  be  dissolved. 
British  debts  had  been  confiscated  in  some  colonies ;  British  creditors 
were  making  common  cause  with  refugees  and  other  enemies  of 
independence,  and  the  treaty  stipulations  in  regard  to  the  Tories 
were  not  satisfactory.  There  were  three  parties;  the  smallest  the 
Tories,  who  hoped  for  forgiveness  and  the  advantages  of  place  and 
power'  the  largest  and  most  influential  the  violent  Whigs,  who 
would  drive  every  loyalist  from  the  States ;  then  there  were  other 
Whigs,  less  extreme,  who  recommended  leniency.  Between  the  two 
branches  of  the  Whigs  an  active  discussion  went  on,  the  loyalists 
saying  little.  A  multitude  of  sermons  were  preached  and  pamphlets 
published.  "  Letters  to  Refugees,"  "  Last  Advice  to  the  Refugees" 
and  -Considerations  for  the  Refugees"  crowded  upon  the  editors 
of  the  newspapers. 

The  editor  of  a  New  England  paper  exhorted  his  readers  "  never 
to  make  friends  with  those  fiends,  the  refugees."  "As  Hannibal," 
said  he,  "  swore  never  to  be  at  peace  with  the  Romans,  so  let  every 
Whig  swear  by  his  abhorrence  of  slavery,  by  liberty  and  religion, 
by  the  shades  of  departed  friends  who  have  fallen  in  battle,  by  the 
ghosts  of  those  of  our  brethren  who  have  been  destroyed  on  board 
22 


338  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  the  prison-ships  and  in  loathsome  dungeons,  never  to  be  at  peace 
with  those  fiends,  the  refug^ees,  whose  thefts,  murders  and  treasons, 
have  filled  the  cup  of  woe."  At  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  Stamford, 
Conn.,  the  Tories  were  forbidden  to  return.  Harsh  laws,  passed 
while  the  war  was  still  raging,  were  in  many  of  the  States  re-enacted 
or  suffered  to  remain  on  the  statute-books ;  but  in  New  York  the 
most  severe  acts  were  necessary  to  satisfy  the  angry  multitude. 
Tories  and  Englishmen  were  scarcely  safe.  Summary  vengeance 
was  sometimes  inflicted.  Offensive  names  which  the  newspapers 
refused  to  publish  were  proclaimed   by  the  watchman — *'  Past  ten 

o'clock,  and is  a  vile  hypocrite  and  an  enemy  of  freedom." 

In  South  Carolina  refugees  coming  to  recover  their  abandoned 
plantations  were  slaughtered.  The  people  of  Charleston  vowed 
that  no  Tory  should  find  an  asylum  in  their  city. 

Wretched,  indeed,  was  the  condition  into  which  Congress  fell. 
"  Rudely  formed  amid  the  agonies  of  the  Revolution,"  the  Confed- 
eration had  never  been  revised  and  perfected.  Each  of  the  States 
retained  its  sovereignty  and  asserted  this  right  against  the  general 
Government,  toward  which  they  acted  as  though  dealing  with  a  for- 
eign foe.  The  general  Congress  degenerated  into  a  debating  club 
of  an  inferior  order.  Neglected  by  its  own  members,  discarded  by 
mutinous  troops,  reviled  by  the  press,  its  acts  possessed  no  influ- 
ence. Driven  by  the  jibes  and  taunts  of  a  band  of  drunken  plow- 
men it  entered  upon  a  career  of  uncertain  wanderings.  First,  it 
goes  to  Princeton,  where,  under  the  guns  of  fifteen  hundred  regulars, 
it  passes  its  resolutions  in  Nassau  Hall.  Thence  it  adjourns  suc- 
cessively to  Annapolis,  to  Trenton  and  to  New  York,  mercilessly 
ridiculed  at  every  step  by  the  press.  We  cannot  here  follow  further 
these  unhappy  events,  but  must  sketch  more  widely. 

Moral  deterioration  is  a  concomitant  and  a  consequence  of  war. 
About  one  half  of  the  thirtyyears  extending  from  1753  to  1783  were  oc- 
cupied by  the  French  and  Indian  and  the  Revolutionary  wars,  and 
other  Indian  wars  followed.  The  moral  effect  was  what  might  be  easily 
conceived.  The  withdrawal  of  so  many  men  of  all  ages  from  the  quiet 
and  conservative  pursuits  of  industry  to  military  life,  away  from  the 
restraints  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  sanctuary,  and  in  intimate  asso- 
ciation with  unprincipled  and  skeptical  men  of  foreign  lands,  engen- 
dered, in  many  minds  hitherto  virtuous,  laxity,  unrest  and  moral  reck- 
lessness. The  twenty  years  following  the  Revolution  was  a  time  of  the 
lowest  general  morality  in  American  history,  fully  attested  by  the 
biographies  and  newspapers  of  that  period  and  the  records  of  eccle- 
siastical bodies.     In  the  churches  there  was  much  complaint  of  gen- 


MORAL  DETERIORATION^.  330 

eral  lukewarmness  and  grievous  apostasies.  Many  were  the  lamenta- 
tions and  warnings  of  good  men,  though  faintly  heard  by  the  public 
ear,  and  exerting  but  little  influence  to  arouse  the  people  to  relig- 
ious activity.  Primitive  morality  passed  away  and  Sabbath-break- 
ing, profanity  and  other  gross  vices  abounded.  The  faithful  minis- 
ters  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  deeply  deplored  the  moral 
condition  of  the  country.  At  the  session  of  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York,  in  1778,  the  Report  on  the  .State  of  the 
Church  emphasized  "  the  lamentable  decay  of  vital  piety  "  and  "  fhe 
gross  immoralities,"  "  increasing  to  an  awful  degree."  The  next 
year  they  mention  the  "  great  and  increasing  decay  of  vital  piety,  the  J 
degeneracy  of  manners,  the  want  of  public  spirit,  and  the  prevalence 
of  vice  and  immorality  throughout  the  land."* 


Section  ;^.— Political  InstilDordination  and  Bitterness. 

A  general  sentiment  of  insubordination  growing  out  of  the  polit- 
ical revolutions  of  the  civilized  world  seized  young  and  old,  and 
developed  high  notions  of  freedom,  personal  independence  and  a 
strong  tendency  to  resist  authority.  "Infidel  philosphers  found 
ready  listeners  when  they  represented  the  restraints  of  religion  as 
fetters  upon  the  conscience,  and  moral  obligations  as  shackles  imposed 
by  bigotry  and  priestcraft."  f 

Resistance  to  authority,  which  for  the  purpose  of  revolution  had  been  prescribed 
as  a  remedy  had  now  become  habitual  from  constant  application.  That  which 
was  at  first  nauseous,  and  reluctantly  taken  as  a  medicine,  had  now  become  pleas- 
ing to  their  palates,  and.  like  their  daily  food,  seemed  necessary,  almost,  to  their 
existence  The  wholesome  jealousy  of  power  which  had  hitherto  been  so  salutary 
now  degenerated  into  a  distemper,  and  the  great  object  of  it.  the  British  Govern- 
ment bein-  removed,  another  was  necessary  to  supply  it  with  the  means  of  existence 
For  the  very  purpose  of  revolution  a  spirit  had  been  raised  in  the  country  which 
it  was  easy  to  foresee  would  with  great  difficulty,  if  at  all.  be  laid,  or  confined  withm 
proper  bounds.  Every  individual  had  for  years  been  encouraged  and  accustomed 
to  vaunt  about  his  rights,  and  even  to  think  any  sort  of  government  an  impositioi.. 
The  very  lessons  taught  them  .  .  .  were  to  be  brought  forth  in  domestic  scuffle 
against  their  leaders  ;  and  demagogues  of  a  subordinate  class  were  thickly  scattered 
through  the  country  to  influence  the  tempers  and  poison  the  opinions  of  the  masses 
of  the  people  even  against  the  shadow  of  government.^ 

In  consequence  of  these  things,  a  spirit  of  misrule  and  injustice, 
accompanied  by  a  general  relaxation  of  moral  principle,  discontent, 

*  Minutes  0/ the  Synod  0/ ^mS,  1119.  ,s,,     Pt^c 

t  Annals  0/  Yale  College.     By  Hon.  Ebenezer  Baldwin.     New  Haven.  1831.    P.  MS- 
X  Memoirs  0/  Thomas  Jefferson,  1809.    Vol.  I,  p.  i?- 


340  CHRISTIANITY  IX   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

heart-burnings  and  complaints,  prevailed.  Licentiousness  of  sen- 
timent and  of  conduct  followed  directly  in  the  footsteps  of  liberty, 
the  offspring  of  the  profane  alliance  into  which  she  had  been  drawn 
with  French  infidelity.  Desecration  of  the  Sabbath,  neglect  of  the 
sanctuary,  profanity  and  disrespect  of  the  Bible,  shown  in  low  cavils, 
were  common  in  not  a  few  of  even  the  New  England  towns,  in 
which  the  last  vestiges  of  Puritan  morals  seemed  to  have  been  irre- 
coverably effaced. 

This  corruption  extended  into  civil  and  literary  circles.  The 
newspapers  of  those  days  partook  of  the  general  demoralization. 
Mr.  Jefferson  referred  to  it  in  decided  terms  in  1807.  He  said: 
"  Nothing  can  now  be  believed  which  is  seen  in  a  newspaper.  Truth 
itself  becomes  suspicious  by  being  put  into  that  polluted  vehicle. 
The  real  extent  of  this  state  of  misapprehension  is  known  only  to 
those  who  are  in  a  situation  to  confront  facts  within  their  knowledge 
with  the  lies  of  the  day,"  etc.  These  lines  were  written  in  an  era 
of  bad  feeling  between  the  Republicans  and  the  Federalists  of  the 
old  school — a  period  of  bitterness  which  has  had  no  parallel  in  any 
of  the  partisan  strifes  of  our  days. 

But  the  state  of  feeling  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph 
had  existed  much  longer  than  some  may  suppose.  It  sprang  up 
soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  Jacobin 
intrigue  inflamed  it  still  more.  It  was  the  bane  of  Washington's 
second  term  and  of  the  administration  of  Adams  also. 

Washington  Assailed. 

With  the  exalted  views  of  Washington  which  now  prevail  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  to  what  an  extent  he  was  then  assailed  and 
maligned.  This  great  and  good  man  was  attacked  with  great  as- 
perity; his  conduct  was  reprobated  by  the  press,  and  in  public  and 
private  addresses;  he  was  even  accused  of  "desiring  to  join  the 
coalesced  despots  of  Europe  in  their  crusade  against  liberty." 
People  were  warned  against  making  Washington  "  an  idol  who 
might  become  dangerous  to  liberty."  One  libeler  applied  to  him 
the  epithets,  "  Faithless,  unprincipled  and  aristocratic  moderatist, 
who  would  offer  up  the  liberties  of  thy  fellow-citizens  on  the  altar 
of  administration,  and  the  sacred  obligations  of  our  country,  though 
perhaps  not  thine,  on  the  altar  of  treachery  and  dishonor!"  The 
Aurora*  charged  upon  him  that  he  was  "  the  source  of  all  the  mis- 
fortunes of  our  country,"  and  said  that  the  name  of  Washington 

*  Article  on  the  Abdication  of  Washington. 


ATTACKS  ON    WASHINGTON.  341 

"  gave  a  currency  to  political  iniquity  and  legalized  corruption." 
The  notorious  Thomas  Paine  bitterly  assailed  Washington  in  a 
private  letter,  from  which  we  take  the  following  extract :  -^ 

"  And  as  to  you,  sir,  treacherous  in  private  friendship,  and  a  hypocrite  in  public 
life,  the  world  will  be  puzzled  to  decide  whether  you  are  an  apostate  or  an  impostor ;  ^ 
whether  you  have  abandoned  good  principles,  or  whether  you  ever  had  any." 

These  extracts  show  the  temper  of  the  times,  the  bitter  animosi- 
ties and  severe  party  strifes  of  the  last  ten  years  of  the  last  cent- 
ury. Washington  deeply  felt  this  personal  abuse,  and  referred  to  it 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1796.  He  said:  "  I  have  been  ac- 
cused of  being  the  enemy  of  America  and  subject  to  the  influence 
of  a  foreign  country;  and,  to  prove  that,  every  act  of  my  adminis- 
tration is  tortured  and  the  grossest  and  most  insidious  misrepresen- 
tations of  them  made  by  giving  one  side  only  of  a  subject,  and  that, 
too,  in  such  exaggerated  and  indecent  terms  as  could  scarcely  be 
applied  to  a  Nero,  or  a  notorious  defaulter,  or  even  to  a  common 
pickpocket." 

It  was  a  dark  period  in  our  national  history.  Early  in  1796  an 
intimate  acquaintance  of  Washington,  a  gentleman  of  the  highest 
character,  said,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  his  great  friend : 

Our  affairs  seem  to  lead  to  some  crisis,  some  revolution  ;  something  that  I  can- 
not foresee  or  conjecture.  I  am  more  uneasy  than  during  liie  war.  Then  we  had 
a  fixed  object ;  and  though  the  means  and  time  of  obtaining  it  were  problematical, 
yet  I  did  firmly  believe  that  we  should  ultimately  succeed,  because  I  did  firmly  be- 
lieve that  justice  was  with  us.  The  case  is  now  altered  ;  we  are  going  and  doing 
wrong ;  and  therefore  I  look  forward  to  evils  and  calamities.  There  doubtless  is 
much  reason  to  think  and  to  say  that  we  are  woefully  and,  in  some  instances,  wick- 
edly misled.  Private  rage  for  property  suppresses  public  considerations,  and  per- 
sonal rather  than  national  interests  have  become  the  great  objects  of  attention. 

In  answer  to  the  foregoing  letter,  Washington,  among  other 
things,  said : 

Your  sentiments  that  we  are  drawing  rapidly  to  a  crisis  accord  with  mine. 
What  the  event  will  be  is  beyond  my  foresight.  ' 


Section  5.— The  Family.  DtLeling,  etc. 

The  demoralization  consequent  upon  the  spread  of  French  ideas 
extended  also  to  the  family  relation.  As  in  France,  so  in  America, 
in  those  days  there  was  a  weakening  of  matrimonial  ties ;  the  legiti- 
mate harvest  of  deistical  and    atheistical  sentiments.      A  gentle- 

*  Memoirs  of  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  before  quoted.     Vol.  I,  pp.  66,  67. 


342  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

man  writing  a  little  later,  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
said  : 

I  once  cut  out  of  all  the  newspapers  we  received  the  advertisements  of  all  the 
runaway  wives,  and  pasted  them  on  a  slip  of  paper,  close  under  each  other.  At 
the  end  of  a  month  the  slip  reached  from  the  ceiling  to  the  floor  of  the  room,  more 
than  ten  feet  high,  and  contained  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  adver- 
tisements. We  did  not  receive,  at  most,  more  than  one  twentieth  part  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  United  States. 

Dueling  was  another  glaring  evil  of  those  times.  It  had  become 
a  great  national  sin.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  section  of  the 
Union,  the  whole  land  was  deeply  stained  with  blood.  From  the 
northern  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  heard  the  cries  of  lamen- 
tation from  widows  and  the  fatherless.  This  flagrant  crime  was 
often  committed  by  men  high  in  oflfice — the  appointed  guardians  of 
life  and  liberty.  Challenges  passed  within  the  halls  of  Congress, 
and  a  duelist  *  was  nominated  and  by  a  large  majority  elected  to 
the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United  States.  We  had  become  a 
nation  of  murderers  by  tolerating  and  honoring  the  perpetrators  of 
the  crime. 

Many  of  the  safeguards  of  our  day  did  not  then  exist.  Letters 
and  packages  were  opened  and  read  by  the  mail-carriers.  For  a  long 
time  after  the  Revolution,  men  who  transacted  important  business 
corresponded  in  cipher.  Some  cities  were  famous  for  routs  and 
riots,  luxury  and  display;  but  the  routs  were  generally  over  before 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Theaters  were  proscribed  and,  in 
Massachusetts,  held  in  abhorrence,  and  the  stringent  laws  against 
them  in  earlier  times  were  re-enacted  in  1784.  In  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  also  they  were  discarded,  and  plays  were  pronounced 
immoral.  But  in  Baltimore,  which  had  obtained  "a  high  reputation 
for  jollity,"  they  were  allowed,  and  in  some  other  places.  Balls, 
routs  and  dancing  assemblies,  alternating  with  theaters,  were  the 
favorite  amusements  of  the  Baltimoreans.  Lewd  songs  and  coarse 
jokes  were  not  uncommon.  But  a  large  part  of  the  community 
kept  aloof  from  such  spectacles.  About  1784-85  a  long  discussion 
sprang  up  in  many  cities  in  regard  to  theaters,  which  continued 
several  years.  It  was  not  until  the  close  of  Washington's  first  ad- 
ministration that  a  company  of  players  showed  themselves  in  Boston. 

In  the  autumn  of  1792,  under  various  pretenses,  several  perform- 
ances were  allowed  in  Boston,  Finally,  "  it  was  announced  that 
'  Douglas  and  the  Poor  Soldier,'  a  moral  lecture,  in  five  parts,  would 
be  presented.    But  Hancock  was  Governor,  and  not  a  man  to  be  de- 

*  Aaron  Burr. 


FIRST    THEATER  ERECTED  IN  BOSTON.  343 

ceived  by  a  name  or  to  tolerate  so  bold  an  invasion  of  the  law.  One 
night  in  December,  therefore,  while  the  company  was  playing  the 
moral  lecture  of '  School  for  Scandal,'  and  the  play  had  gone  as  far 
as  the  end  of  the  second  act,  the  sheriff  suddenly  rushed  upon  the 
stage  and  carried  off  Sir  Peter  to  the  jail.  The  house  in  a  fit  of 
fury  denounced  the  Governor,  damned  liberty,  and  pulled  down  and 
trampled  under  foot  a  painting  of  the  Governor's  Arms  that  hung 
before  the  stage  box.  The  next  number  of  the  Centinel  W2t.s  full  of 
cards.  One  expressed  the  thanks  of  Harper,  the  arrested  comedian, 
for  the  sympathy  manifested  by  the  audience  on  the  evening  of  his 
arrest.  A  second  informed  the  public  that,  at  the  request  of  the 
selectmen,  the  performance  would  be  discontinued  for  a  while.  A 
third,  it  was  pretended,  came  from  the  tavern-keepers,  and  stated, 
amid  a  profusion  of  thanks,  that  since  the  theater  had  been  stopped 
the  tap-rooms  had  been  crowded,  that  the  tapsters  no  longer  slept 
over  the  empty  pots,  and  that  the  cry  of  'Coming,  sirs;  coming, 
sirs,'  was  nightly  heard  on  every  side."  * 

The  plays  were  soon  resumed,  and  a  year  later  the  first  theater 
was  erected  in  Boston. 


Section  4.— Tlie  Pliysical  and  Social  Condition,  Penal 
Institutions,  etc. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  says  Mr.  McMasters.t  that  a  wonderful  amelioration 
has  taken  place  since  that  day  in  the  condition  of  the  poor.  Their  houses  were 
meaner,  their  food  was  coarser,  their  clothing  was  of  commoner  stuff,  their  wages 
were,  despite  the  depreciation  that  has  gone  on  in  the  value  of  money,  lower  by 
one  half  than  at  present.  A  man  who  performed  what  would  now  be  called  un- 
skilled labor,  who  sawed  wood,  who  dug  ditches,  who  mended  the  roads,  who 
mixed  mortar,  who  carried  boards  to  the  carpenter  and  bricks  to  the  mason,  or 
helped  to  cut  hay  in  the  harvest  time,  usually  received,  as  the  fruit  of  his  daily  toil, 
two  shillings.  Sometimes,  when  the  laborers  were  few,  he  was  paid  more,  and  be- 
came the  envy  of  his  fellows  if  at  the  end  of  a  week  he  took  home  to  his  family 
fifteen  shillings,  a  sum  now  greatly  exceeded  by  four  dollars.  Yet  all  authorities 
agree  that  in  1784  the  hire  of  workmen  was  twice  as  great  as  in  1774. 

On  such  a  pittance  it  was  only  by  the  strictest  economy  that  a  mechanic  kept 
his  children  from  starvation  and  himself  from  jail.  In  the  low  and  dingy  rooms 
which  he  called  his  home  were  wanting  many  articles  of  adornment  and  of  use 
now  to  be  found  in  the  dwellings  of  the  poorest  of  his  class.  Sand  sprinkled  on 
the  floor  did  duty  as  a  carpet ;  there  was  no  glass  on  his  table ;  there  was  no 
china  in  his  cupboard  ;  there  were  no  prints  on  his  wall.  What  a  stove  was  he  did 
not  know  ;  coal  he  had  never  seen  ;  matches  he  had  never  heard  of.  Over  a  fire  of 
fragments  of  boxes  and  barrels,  which  he  lit  wi'h  the  sparks  struck  from  a  flint,  or 

*  History  of  the  People  of  t lie  United  States.     By  Mc Masters.     Vol.  I,  pp.  94,  95. 
Mbid.   Vol.  I,  p.  96. 


344  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

with  live  coals  brought  from  a  neighbor's  hearth,  his  wife  cooked  up  a  rude  meal 
and  served  it  in  pewter  dishes.  He  rarely  tasted  fresh  meat  as  often  as  once  in  a 
week,  and  paid  for  it  a  much  higher  price  than  his  posterity.  Every  thing,  indeed, 
which  ranked  as  a  staple  of  life  was  very  costly.  Corn  stood  at  three  shillings  the 
bushel,  wheat  at  eight  and  sixpence;  an  assize  of  bread  was  fourpence;  a  pound 
of  salt  pork  was  tenpence.  Many  other  commodities  now  to  be  seen  on  the  tables 
of  the  poor  were  either  quite  unknown  or  far  beyond  the  reach  of  his  scanty 
means.  .   .  . 

If  the  food  of  an  artisan  would  now  be  thought  coarse  his  clothes  would  be 
thought  abominable.  A  pair  of  yellow  buckskin  or  leathern  breeches,  a  checked 
shirt,  a  red  flannel  jacket,  a  rusty  felt  hat  cocked  up  at  the  corners,  shoes  of  neat's 
skin  set  off  with  huge  bucklers  of  brass,  and  a  leather  apron  comprised  his  scanty 
wardrobe.  The  leather  he  smeared  with  grease  to  keep  it  soft  and  flexible.  His 
sons  followed  in  his  footsteps,  or  were  apprenticed  to  neighboring  tradesmen.  His 
daughter  went  out  to  service.  She  performed,  indeed,  all  the  duties  at  present  ex- 
acted from  women'of  her  class;  but  with  them  were  coupled  many  others  rendered 
useless  by  the  great  improvement  that  has  since  taken  place  in  the  conveniences  of 
life.  She  mended  the  clothes,  she  did  up  the  ruffs,  she  ran  on  errands  from  one  end 
of  the  town  to  the  other,  she  milked  the  cows,  made  the  butter,  walked  ten  blocks 
for  a  pail  of  water,  spun  flax  for  family  linen,  and,  when  the  year  was  up,  received 
ten  pounds  for  her  wages.     .     .     . 

But  there  is  one  other  change  which  has,  it  must  be  admitted,  done  far  more  to 
increase  the  physical  comforts  of  the  poorest  class  than  better  food,  higher  wages, 
tiner  clothes — men  are  no  longer 

Imprisoned  for  Debt. 

No  crime  known  to  the  law  brought  so  many  to  the  jails  and  prisons  as  the 
crime  of  debt ;  and  the  class  most  likely  to  get  into  debt  was  the  most  defenseless 
and  dependent,  the  great  body  of  servants,  of  artisans,  and  of  laborers — those,  in 
short,  who  depended  on  their  daily  wages  for  their  daily  bread.  One  hundred  years 
ago  the  laborer  who  fell  from  a  scaffold,  or  lay  sick  of  a  fever,  was  sure  to  be  seized 
by  the  sheriff  the  moment  he  recovered,  and  be  carried  to  jail  for  the  bill  of  a  few 
dollars  which  had  been  run  up  during  his  illness  at  the  huckster's  or  the  tavern. 

There  is,  indeed,  scarce  a  scrap  of  information  bearing  upon  the  subject  extant 
which  does  not  go  to  prove  beyond  question  that  the  generation  which  witnessed 
the  Revolution  was  less  merciful  and  tender-hearted  than  the  generation  which 
witnessed  the  civil  war. 

Brutality. 

Our  ancestors,  it  is  true,  put  up  a  just  cry  of  horror  at  the  brutal  treatment  of 
their  captive  countrymen  in  the  prison-ships  and  hulks.  So  great  and  bitter  was  their 
indignation  that  money  was  to  be  stamped  with  representations  of  the  atrocities  of 
which  they  complained,  that  their  descendants  to  the  remotest  generation  might 
hold  in  remembrance  the  cruelty  of  the  British  and  the  sufferings  of  the  patriots. 
Yet  even  then  the  face  of  the  land  was  dotted  with  prisons  where  deeds  of  cruelty 
were  done  in  comparison  with  which  the  foulest  acts  committed  in  the  hulks  sink 
to  a  contemptible  insignificance. 

For  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  peace  there  was  in  Connecticut  an  under- 
ground prison  which  surpassed  in  horrors  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.     This  den. 


PRISON  HORRORS.  343 

known  as  Newgate  Prison,  was  in  an  old  worked-out  copper-mine  in  the  hills  near 
Granby.  The  only  entrance  to  it  was  by  the  means  of  a  ladder  down  a  shaft, 
which  led  to  the  caverns  under  ground.  There,  in  little  pens  of  wood,  from  thirty 
to  one  hundred  culprits  were  immured,  their  feet  made  fast  to  iron  bars  and  their 
necks  chained  to  beams  in  the  roof.  The  darkness  was  intense  ;  the  caves  reeked 
with  filth ;  vermin  abounded  ;  water  trickled  from  the  roof  and  oozed  from  the 
sides  of  the  caverns ;  huge  masses  of  earth  were  perpetually  falling  off.  In  the 
dampness  and  the  filth  the  clothing  of  the  prisoners  grew  moldy  and  retted  away 
and  their  limbs  became  stiff  with  rheumatism.  The  Newgate  Prison  was  perhaps 
the  worst  in  the  country,  yet  in  every  county  were  jails  such  as  would  now  be 
thought  unfit  places  of  habitation  for  the  vilest  and  most  loathsome  of  beasts.  At 
Northampton  the  cells  were  scarce  four  feet  high,  and  filled  with  noxious  gases  of 
the  privy  vaults,  through  which  they  were  supposed  to  be  ventilated.  Light  came 
in  from  two  chinks  in  the  walls.  At  the  Worcester  prison  were  a  number  of  like 
cells,  four  feet  high  by  eleven  long,  without  a  window  or  a  chimney  or  even  a  hole 
in  the  wall.  Not  a  ray  of  light  ever  penetrated  them.  In  other  jails  in  Massa- 
chusetts the  cells  were  so  small  that  the  prisoners  were  lodged  in  hammocks 
swung  one  over  the  other.  In  Philadelphia  the  keeps  were  eighteen  feet  by  twenty 
feet,  and  so  crowded  that  at  night  each  prisoner  had  a  space  six  feet  by  two  to  lie 

down  in.  . 

Into  such  pits  and  dungeons  all  classes  of  oflfenders  of  both  sexes  were  mdis- 
crimmately  thrust.  It  is  therefore  not  at  all  surprising  that  they  became  seminanes 
of  every  conceivable  form  of  vice  and  centers  of  most  disgusting  diseases.  Pros- 
titutes plied  their  calling  openly  in  the  presence  of  men  and  women  of  decent  sta- 
tion and  guilty  of  no  crime  but  an  inability  to  pay  their  debts.  Men  confined  as 
witnesses  were  compelled  to  mingle  with  the  forger,  besmeared  with  the  filth  of  the 
pillory,  and  the  fornicator  streaming  with  blood  from  the  whippmg-post,  while  here 
and  there  among  the  throng  were  culprits  whose  ears  had  just  been  cropped  or 
whose  arms,  fresh  from  the  branding  iron,  emitted  the  stench  of  scorched  flesh. 

THE  Entire  System  of  Punishment. 
was  such  as  cannot  be  contemplated  without  mingled  feelings  of  pity  and  disgust. 
Offenses  to  which  a  more  merciful  generation  has  attached  no  higher  penalty  than 
imprisonment  and  fine  stood  upon  the  statute-books  as  capital  crimes. 

Modes  of  punishment  long  since  driven  from  the  prisons  with  execrations  as 
worthy  of  an  African  kraal  were  looked  upon  by  society  with  a  profound  mdiffer- 
ence.  The  tread-mill  was  always  going.  The  pillory  and  the  stocks  were  never 
empty  The  shears,  the  branding-iron,  and  the  lash  were  never  idle  for  a  day.  In 
Philadelphia  the  wheel-barrow  men  still  went  about  the  streets  m  gangs,  or  ap- 
peared with  huge  clogs  and  chains  hung  to  their  necks.  I"  Delaware,  which  to 
this  hour  treats  her  citizens  with  the  degrading  scenes  of  the  wh.ppmg-post  twenty 
crimes  were  punished  with  a  loss  of  Ufe.  Burglary  and  rape  ^f  °7  ^^  -;^^^^- 
craft,  were  among  them.  In  Massachusetts  ten  crimes  were  declared  b>  the  Gen- 
eral Court  to  be  punishable  with  death. 

There  the  man  who.  in  a  fit  of  anger  or  in  a  fit  of  drunkenness,  was  heard  curs- 
ing and  swearing,  or  spreading  evil    reports  of  his  neighbor  was  first  set  in  the 
stocks  and  then  carried  off  to  the  whipping-post  and  sound  y  flogged.     If  how- 
e  °er  he  was  so  unfortunate  as  to   be  caught  in  the   arms  of  a  prostitute  he  wa 
suffered  to  escape  with  a  fine.     In  Rhode  Island  a  perpetual  mark  of  shame  was 


346  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

for  many  offenses  judged  to  be  a  most  fitting  punishment.  There  a  counterfeiter 
was  punished  with  a  loss  of  a  piece  of  his  ear,  and  distinguished  from  all  other 
criminals  by  a  large  C  deeply  branded  on  his  forehead.  A  wretch  so  hardened  as 
to  be  recommitted  was  branded  on  the  arm.  Keepers  knew  no  other  mode  of 
silencing  the  ravings  of  a  madman  than  tying  him  up  by  the  thumbs  and  flogging 
him  till  he  was  too  exhausted  to  utter  a  groan. 

The  misery  of  the  unfortunate  creatures  cooped  up  in  the  cells,  even  of  the 
most  humcfriely  kept  prisons,  surpassed  in  horror  any  thing  ever  recorded  in  fiction. 
No  attendance  was  provided  for  the  sick,  no  clothes  were  distributed  to  the  naked. 
Such  a  thing  as  a  bed  was  rarely  seen,  and  this  soon  became  so  foul  with  insects 
that  the  owner  dispensed  with  it  gladly.  Many  of  the  inmates  of  the  prisons 
passed  years  without  so  much  as  washing  themselves.  Their  hair  grew  long,  their 
bodies  were  covered  with  scabs  and  lice  and  emitted  a  horrible  stench.  Their 
clothing  rotted  from  their  backs  and  exposed  their  bodies  tormented  with  all  man- 
ner of  skin  diseases  and  a  yellow  flesh  cracking  open  with  filtli.  The  death  rate 
often  stood  as  high  as  sixty  in  the  thousand.  As  if  such  tortures  were  not  hard 
enough  to  bear,  others  were  added  by  the  half-maddened  prisoners. 

"  Garnishing." 

No  sooner  did  a  new-comer  enter  the  door  of  a  cell  than  a  rush  was  made  for 
him  by  the  inmates,  who  stripped  him  of  his  clothing  and  let  him  stand  stark 
naked  till  it  was  redeemed  by  what,  in  the  peculiar  jargon  of  the  place,  was  known 
as  drink-money. 

It  sometimes  happened  that  the  prisoners  were  in  possession  of  a  carefully  pre- 
served blanket.  Then  this  ceremony  called  garnishing  was  passed  over  for  the 
yet  more  brutal  one  of  blanketing.  In  spite  of  prayers  and  entreaties  the  miser- 
able stranger  was  bound,  thrown  into  the  blanket  and  tossed  till  he  was  half  dead 
and  ready  to  give  his  tormentors  every  superfluous  garment  to  sell  for  money. 
With  the  tolls  thus  exacted  liquor  was  bought,  a  fiendish  revel  was  held,  and 
when  bad  rum  and  bad  tobacco  had  done  their  work,  the  few  sober  inmates  of  the 
cell  witnessed  such  scenes  as  would  be  thought  shocking  in  the  dance-houses 
which  cluster  along  the  wharves  of  our  cj'reat  seaboard  towns. 

To  a  generation  which  has  beheld  great  reforms  in  the  statutes  of  criminal  law 
and  in  the  discipline  of  prisons  and  jails,  to  a  generation  which  knows  but  two 
crimes  worthy  of  death — that  against  the  life  of  the  individual  and  that  against  the 
life  of  the  State — which  has  expended  fabulous  sums  in  the  erection  of  reforma- 
tories, asylums  and  penitentiaries,  houses  of  correction,  houses  of  refuge  and 
houses  of  detention  all  over  the  land  ;  which  has  furnished  ever)'  State  prison 
with  a  library,  with  a  hospital,  with  workshops  and  with  schools,  the  brutal  scenes 
on  which  our  ancestors  looked  with  indifference  seem  scarcely  a  reality.  Yet  it 
is  well  to  recall  them,  for  we  cannot  but  turn  from  the  contemplation  of  so  much 
misery  and  so  much  suffering  with  a  deep  sense  of  thankfulness  that  our  lot  has 
fallen  in  a  pitiful  age,  in  an  age  when  more  compassion  is  felt  for  a  galled  horse 
or  a  dog  run  over  at  a  street  crossing  than  our  greatgrandfathers  felt  for  a  woman 
beaten  for  cursing  or  a  man  imprisoned  for  debt.* 

But  there  was  one  great  evil  which  stood  out  more  prominently 
than  others,  requiring  a  more  extended  notice. 

*  History  of  tfu  People  of  tfu  United  States.     By  McMasters.     Vol.  I,  pp.  96-102. 


INCREASE  OF  INTEMPERAXCE.  347 

Section  o.— Intemperance. 

The  first  Continental  Congress,  in  1774,*  uttered  a  decided 
manifesto  against  the  evil  of  intemperance  in  these  words : 

Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  several  legislatures  immediately  to 
pass  laws  the  more  effectually  to  put  a  stop  to  the  pernicious  practice  of  distilling, 
by  which  the  most  extensive  evils  are  likely  to  be  derived  if  not  quickly  prevented. 

But  this  action  was  soon  forgotten  by  the  Government  itself 
during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  supplies  of  distilled  liquors 
were  voted  by  Congress  for  the  army  under  the  fatal  delusion  that 
they  were  necessary  in  the  hardships  and  dangers  to  which  the 
soldiers  were  exposed  in  that  severe  struggle.  In  consequence  of 
this  action  a  diseased  appetite  was  not  only  fostered  where  it 
already  existed,  but  was  also  awakened  in  many  who  had  not  hith- 
erto experienced  its  insatiable  longings. 

During  the  war  the  commerce  of  the  colonies  was  cut  off  and 
with  it  the  supply  of  foreign  beer  and  wines,  and  hence  almost  all 
the  liquor  which  was  then  used  was  distilled  spirits — the  most  fiery 
and  vitiating  of  all  the  beverages  ever  presented  to  the  lips  of  man  ; 
and  this  was  soon  in  demand  for  almost  every  purpose  of  cure  or 
sustenance.  The  absence  of  the  foreign  supply,  and  a  more  exten- 
sively vitiated  appetite,  increased  the  demand  and  gave  a  great  im- 
pulse to  the  business  of  distillation.  In  the  course  of  three  years 
the  consumption  of  grain  became  so  great  that  it  was  feared  that  a 
famine  would  ensue  in  the  army.  In  1779  the  army  began  to  suffer, 
and  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  enacted  a  law  preventing  the  distil- 
lation of  all  kinds  of  grain  or  meal,  except  r>^e  and  barley.  But  the 
check  was  only  temporary. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  there  was  a  great  increase  of  this 
terrible  evil  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  The  soldiers,  on 
being  discharged,  carried  out  into  the  communities  the  appetites 
which  they  had  formed,  and  many  others,  long  inclined  to  the  mod- 
erate use  of  the  milder  articles  from  which  they  had  been  cut  off, 
had  become  addicted  to  those  of  the  most  powerful  and  deteriorat- 
ing character.  Hence  we  find  that  during  the  forty  years  after  the 
close  of  the  war  intemperance  attained  its  greatest  proportions,  and  it 
was  often  referred  to  in  those  days  by  European  travelers  as  "  the  most 
striking  characteristic  of  the  American  people."  The  statistics  of 
1792  and  18 10  afford  abundant  confirmation  of  these  statements. 
In  1792  there  were  2,579  distilleries  in  the  United  States.     In  1810 

♦For  a  sketch  of  intemperance  in  the  colonial  era,  see  pp.  212-214,  Liquor  Problem  in  all 
Ages.     By  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  D.  D.     Phillips  &  Hunt.     New  York  City. 


348  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

they  numbered  14,191,  being  an  increase  nearly  sixfold,  while  the 
population  had  increased  less  than  twofold.  During  the  year  ending 
September  30,  1792,  there  had  been  of  foreign  distilled  spirits  im- 
ported (exports  deducted,  leaving  the  quantity  actually  consumed) 
4,567,160  gallons;  wines  (exports  deducted),  1,267,723  gallons;  dis- 
tilled in  the  United  States,  5,171,564  gallons.  Total  consumed  in 
this  country,  11,008,447  gallons.  But  the  population  of  the  country 
at  that  time  was  4,173,024,  which  would  be  an  average  of  two  and 
one  half  gallons  for  every  man,  woman  and  child,  including  slaves, 
who,  however,  were  not  allowed  to  use  liquors. 


Section  ^.—General  StirYey  of  tlie  Dark  Period. 

During  the  last  decade  of  the  last  century  many  good  men  be- 
came seriously  concerned  in  view  of  the  low  condition  of  piety  and 
morals  which  almost  every-where  prevailed.  A  few  testimonies  from 
some  of  these  men  will  assist  in  reproducing  a  distinct  view  of  the 
situation.  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt,  a  distinguished  Episcopal  clergy- 
man of  Virginia,  writing  in  1794,  said : 

The  present  time  is  marked  by  peculiar  traits  of  impiety  and  such  an  almost 
universal  inattention  to  the  concerns  of  religion  that  very  few  will  attend,  except 
on  Sunday,  to  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord.*  .  .  .  The  state  of  religion  is 
gloomy  and  distressing ;  the  Church  of  Christ  seems  to  he  sunk  very  low.t  .  .  . 
Little  regard  and  reverence  is  paid  to  magistrates  and  persons  in  public  office  X  on 
account  of  the  prevalence  of  the  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution. 

The  state  of  morals  in  the  new  Territories  was  especially  bad. 
Rev.  Peter  Cartwright  in  his  Autobiography  bears  testimony  to  the 
condition  of  a  portion  of  Kentucky. 

Logan  County,  when  my  father  moved  into  it  (1793),  was  called  "  Rogue's  Har- 
bor." Here  many  refugees  from  almost  all  parts  of  the  Union  fled  to  escape  pun- 
ishment or  justice ;  for,  although  there  was  law,  yet  it  could  not  be  executed,  and 
it  was  a  desperate  state  of  society.  Murderers,  horse-thieves,  highway  robbers, 
and  counterfeiters  fled  there,  until  they  combined  and  actually  formed  a  majority. 
Those  who  favored  a  better  state  of  morals  were  called  "  Regulators."  But  they 
encountered  fierce  opposition  from  the  "  Rogues,"  and  a  battle  was  fought  with 
guns,  pistols,  dirks,  knives,  and  clubs,  in  which  the  "Regulators  "  were  defeated. 

Gallipolis,  Ohio,  was  originally  settled  by  French  infidels,  and  as 
late  as  1815,  although  it  was  the  "  county  seat  and  a  flourishing 
town,"  yet   it  was  without  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.      Cleveland, 

*  Li/e  of  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt.  Written  by  himself.  Baltimore,  Warren  &  Hanna,  1805. 
P.  5.  i  Ibid.,  p.  129.  Xlbid.,  p.  15. 


GENERAL  DEMORALIZATION.  349 

Ohio,  was  settled  in  1799.     In  1803  Rev.  Joseph  Badger  visited  this 
place  and  said  of  it : 

Infidelity  and  profaning  the  Sabbath  are  general.  They  bid  fair  to  grow  into  a 
hardened  corrupt  societj'.* 

Western  New  York,  like  many  other  new  localities,  was  settled 
by  bold  and  enterprising  men.  speculators  in  land,  and  men  whose 
misfortunes  or  vices  or  roving  disposition  inclined  them  to  disregard 
the  more  staid  habits  and  associations  of  older  communities,  and  to 
cast  off  the  obligations  of  religion  and  good  morals.  It  was  then  a 
common  saying  that  "  Religion  had  not  got  west  of  the  Genesee 
River."  Some  of  the  towns  were  hot-beds  of  infidelity,  and  the 
books  of  Paine,  Voltaire,  etc.,  were  largely  circulated.  A  writer  in 
those  days  describing  the  condition  of  the  new  regions,  said :  "  In 
most  of  the  communities  there  was  no  other  vestige  of  the -Christian 
religion  than  a  faint  observance  of  Sunday,  and  that  merely  as  a 
day  of  rest  for  the  aged  and  a  play-day  for  the  young."  In  the  older 
communities  many  of  the  pulpits  were  filled  by  a  formal  and  worldly 
ministry,  or  by  men  who  had  fled  from  the  ecclesiastical  censures  of 
the  lands  across  the  ocean,  and  the  Church  was  generally  conformed 
to  the  gay  society  around  it. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1798,  in  its 
pastoral  letter,  indulged  in  language   of  alarm  and  expostulation: 

Formidable  innovations  and  convulsions  in  Europe  threaten  destruction  to 
morals  and  religion  ;  scenes  of  devastation  and  bloodshed  unexampled  in  the  his- 
torj'  of  modern  nations  have  convulsed  the  world,  and  our  country  is  threatened 
with  similar  calamities.  We  perceive  with  pain  and  fearful  apprehension  a  gen- 
eral dereliction  of  religious  principle  and  practice  among  our  fellow-citizens,  a  visi- 
ble and  prevailing  impiety  and  contempt  for  the  laws  and  the  institutions  of  religion, 
and  an  abounding  infidelity  which,  in  many  instances,  tends  to  atheism  itself. 
The  profligacy  and  corruption  of  the  public  morals  have  advanced  with  a  progress 
proportioned  to  our  declension  in  religion.  Profaneness.  pride,  luxury,  injustice, 
intemperance,  lewdness,  and  every  species  of  debauchery  and  loose  indulgence 
greatly  abound. 

Solemn  exhortations  to  the  churches  followed,  to  be  read  from 
all  the  pulpits,  and  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  appointed.  In 
some  Presbyteries  the  first  Tuesday  of  every  quarter  throughout 
each  year  was  observed  for  this  purpose,  from  1796  to  the  close  of 
the  century.  On  the  first  Friday  in  March  in  1796,  the  Methodist  ' 
Episcopal  Church  t  observed  a  general  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for 
the  same  reasons  as  those  here  given.  The  means  of  resistance 
against  these  evils  were    then  comparatively  small.      There  were 

*  Memoirs,  p.  46.  +  See  Bangs's  History  of  Methodism.     Vol.  II,  p.  22. 


SSO  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

large  tracts  of  the  country  in  which  the  people  were  either  not  sup- 
plied with  churches  at  all  or  the  supply  was  very  scanty.  There  were 
also  but  few  religious  books,  and  no  tracts,  for  tract  societies  had 
not  then  been  organized,  and  the  age  of  Bible  societies  had  not 
dawned.  During  all  the  colonial  history  no  English  Bible  was  per- 
mitted to  be  published  in  the  land,  and  the  people  were  entirely  de- 
pendent on  the  mother  country.  Bibles  were  therefore  very  ex- 
pensive and  scarce.    After  the  troubles  arose  with  the  mother  country 

''  it  became  difficult  to  obtain  a  supply  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  there  were 
not  more  than  four  million  Bibles  in  the  whole  world.  Since  the 
organization  of  Bible  societies  hundreds  of  millions  have  been  printed 
and  scattered  abroad.  In  1777  the  American  Congress  directed  the 
Committee  on  Commerce  to  import,  at  their  expense,  twenty  thou- 
sand English  Bibles  from  Holland,  Scotland,  or  elsewhere,  into  the 
different  States  of  the  Union.  In  178 1  Congress  recommended  an 
edition  of  the  Bible  which  had  then  been  just  published  by  Robert 
Aiken,  of  Philadelphia,  the  first  edition  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ever 
printed  in  America.  These  things  occurred  before  the  influence  of 
French  infidelity  had  become  so  general.  So  meager  were  the  means 
of  resistance  against  the  great  evils  which  were  flooding  the  nation. 
Our  country  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  be  the  battle-ground  of  a 
great  impending  religious  conflict.  Here  was  no  State  Church,  nor 
>    could  the  civil  arm  be  stretched  out  to  defend  or  sustain  Christianity. 

'  The  right  of  free  discussion  was  secured  by  law  to  belief  and  unbe- 
lief alike.  Nor  was  the  battle  to  be  fought  for  America  only,  but 
for  mankind,  for  we  were  destined  to  be  a  great  cosmopolitan  people, 
a  mediatorial  nation  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Under  such  disadvantages  did  Christianity  commence  the  work  of 
the  present  century  in  the  United  States,  and  with  such  high  re- 
sponsibilities. The  question  to  be  decided  was,  Shall  this  American 
nation  be  Christian  or  infidel  ?  A  question  which  could  not  be 
decided  by  an  appeal  to  arms,  but  by  the  working  of  silent  and  subtle 
convictions  pervading  the  realm  of  ideas,  and  relying  on  spiritual 
influences  and  agencies  alone. 


TEMPERANCE  SEED-SOWERS.  331 


CHAPTER  VII. 


REFORMS   INITIATED 


Sec.  I.  Early  Temperance  Seed-Sowing.      |    Sec.  2.  Early  Antislavery  Seed-Sowing. 


Section  2.— Early  Temperance  Seed-Sowing. 

LIKE  all  other  reforms  from  a  low  condition  of  general  demoral- 
ization penetrating  the  entire  framework  of  society,  the  re- 
verse movement  was  very  small,  feeble  and  inconstant  in  its  begin- 
ning. A  long  succession  of  temperance  men  can  be  traced  down 
through  the  ages  to  our  times,  who  have  withstood  the  prevailino- 
drinking  usages,  by  which  vast  multitudes  have  been  borne  down 
to  ruin.  Even  during  the  dark  and  troublous  period  of  the  last 
quarter  of  the  last  century,  the  first  seed-sowing  of  reform  may  be 
traced,  chiefly  in  scattered  individual  movements,  from  which  ample 
harvests  have  since  been  reaped. 

The  efforts  of  the  Hon.  John  Adams  to  restrain  the  sale  and  use 
of  intoxicating  drinks  in  his  native  town,  near  the  close  of  the 
colonial  era,  have  been  frequently  noticed.  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin 
was  a  man  of  strict  temperance  habits.  While  employed  as  a  jour- 
neyman printer  in  London  he  often  protested  against  the  drinking 
usages  of  his  fellow  printers,  and,  in  after  life,  amid  the  allurements 
of  more  exalted  stations,  maintained  his  strict  temperance  princi- 
ples. The  Society  of  Friends  from  their  origin,  in  a  very  corrupt 
and  dissolute  age,  were  noted  for  the  inculcation,  both  by  precept 
and  example,  of  the  strictest  doctrine  of  temperance,  and  scrupu- 
lously instilled  those  ideas  into  the  minds  of  their  children.  The 
Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Friends  in  New  England,*  in  1784,  incorpo- 
rated into  the  discipline  a  special  clause  respecting  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits,  which  was  regarded  as  permanently  binding  on  all  their 
members.  Rev.  John  Wesley  at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry  was 
convinced  that  intemperance  was  a  great  foe  to  true  religious  prog- 

*  American  Quarterly  Temperance  Magazine.     Albany,  Nov.,  1833,  pp.  367,  368. 


362  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ress,  and  not  only  preached  against  it,  but  also  insisted  upon  the 
most  rigid  temperance  among  his  ministers  and  people.  A  rule 
which  he  prescribed  for  his  societies  excluded  *'  drunkenness,  buying 
or  selling  spirituous  liquors,  or  drinking  them,  except  in  cases  of 
extreme  necessity"  The  early  Methodists  in  this  country  were  not 
less  decided  than  Mr.  Wesley  in  their  opposition  to  the  drinking 
usages  of  that  period.  At  the  Conferences  held  in  1780  and  1783 
decided  action  was  taken.     In  the  latter  year  they  inquired  : 

Shall  our  friends  be  permitted  to  make  spirituous  liquors,  sell  and  drink  them 
in  drams  1  Answer.  By  no  means ;  we  think  it  wrong  in  its  nature  and  conse- 
quences, and  desire  all  our  preachers  to  teach  the  people,  by  precept  and  example, 
to  put  away  this  evil. 

In  1784  the  first  Conference  was  held,  by  which  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  formally  organized.  This  body  adopted  the 
foregoing  rule  of  Mr.  Wesley,  and  made  it  obligatory  upon  every 
member  of  the  Church.  Revs.  Dr.  Thomas  Coke  and  Francis  As- 
bury,  the  first  Bishops  of  the  Church,  in  their  Notes  on  the  Disci- 
pline, alluding  to  this  rule,  said: 

Far  be  it  from  us  to  wish  or  endeavor  to  intrude  upon  the  proper  religious  or 
civil  liberty  of  any  of  our  people.  But  the  retailing  of  spirituous  liquors  and  giv- 
ing drams  to  customers  when  they  call  at  the  stores  are  such  prevalent  customs  at 
present,  and  are  productive  of  so  many  evils,  that  we  judge  it  our  indispensable 
duty  to  form  a  regulation  against  them.  The  cause  of  God,  which  we  prefer  to 
every  other  consideration  under  heaven,  requires  us  to  step  forth  with  humble  bold- 
ness in  this  respect. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  founders  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  in  America  deserve  to  be  regarded  as  among  the  first 
and  most  decided  movers  in  this  great  reform.  It  is  also  a  well- 
known  fact  that  the  house  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  the  constant  home  of  the  early  Methodist  itinerants,  toward 
whom  he  was  strongly  inclined.  Asbury  and  Coke  visited  him  often, 
and  doubtless  in  their  conversations  contributed  something  to  pre- 
pare him  for  the  active  part  he  perfprmed  in  this  great  reform. 
It  is  a  just  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  great  and  good  man,  a 
man  of  superior  scientific  attainments,  of  patient,  philosophic  re- 
search, of  rare  progressive  spirit,  a  zealous  reformer  and  a  devout 
Christian,  to  say  that  this  great  movement  is  indebted  for  its  origin  to 

Dr.  Benjamin  Rush, 

of  Philadelphia.  Other  men  had  inculcated  temperance,  both 
by   precept    and  example,  and   thus  stood  as  lights  in  dark  ages. 


DR.  BENJAMIN  RUSH.  333 

but  Dr.  Rush  resolutely  undertook,  by  extensive  efforts,  long 
persevered  in,  amid  the  arduous  duties  of  his  profession,  to 
withstand  this  great  and  desolating  evil,  both  through  the  press 
and  by  personal  influence  with  the  leading  men  of  his  time.  And 
it  will  be  seen  as  we  proceed  that  to  his  efforts  the  earliest  perma- 
nent temperance  organizations  may  be  directly  traced.  His  antece- 
dents indicate  that  he  was  a  fit  man  for  such  a  work.  As  early  as 
1774,  when  a  member  of  the  provisional  assembly  of  Pennsylvania, 
he  moved  the  first  resolutions  in  favor  of  our  national  independ- 
ence, and  on  the  23d  of  June,  1776,  when  a  member  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  he  was  appointed  the  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Independence.  Such  a  spirit  was  not  to  be  appalled  in  view  of 
the  antiquity  and  magnitude  of  this  terrible  scourge. 

As  early  as  1785  Dr.  Rush  published  his  celebrated  essay  on  The 
Effects  of  A  rdent  Spirits  on  the  Human  Mind  and  Body.  It  attracted 
considerable  attention  and  exerted  a  manifest  influence  for  good  ;  so 
that,  according  to  Hildreth,*  at  the  celebration  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  in  Philadelphia,  July  4,  1788,  ardent 
spirits  were  excluded  from  the  entertainment,  American  beer  and 
cider  being  the  only  liquors  used.  Nor  was  this  all.  He  made 
earnest  and  repeated  efforts  with  the  leading  official  ministers  and 
ecclesiastical  bodies  of  that  day  to  influence  them  to  proper  action 
on  this  subject;  and  we  find  him  corresponding  with  the  elder  Adams 
and  Dr.  Jeremy  Belknap,  of  New  Hampshire,  on  this  subject.  In 
his  first  letter,  dated  May  6,  1788,  he  says  : 

The  commerce  in  African  slaves  has  breathed  its  last  in  Pennsylvania.  .  .  . 
I  am  encouraged  by  the  success  that  has  finally  attended  the  exertions  of  the 
friends  of  universal  freedom  and  justice  to  go  on  in  my  romantic  schemes  (as  they 
have  often  here  been  called)  of  serving  my  countrymen.  My  next  oliject  shall  i)e 
the  extirpation  of  the  abuse  of  spirituous  liquors.  For  this  purpose  I  have  every 
year  for  several  years  past  republished  the  inclosed  tract  two  or  three  weeks  before 
harvest.  The  effects  of  this  perseverance  begin  already  to  show  themselves  in  our 
State.  A  family  or  township  is  hit  with  this  publication  one  year  that  neglected  or 
perhaps  ridiculed  it  the  year  before.  Associations  are  forming  in  many  places  to 
give  no  spirits  at  the  ensuing  harvest.*  The  Quakers  and  Methodists  take  the  lead 
in  these  associations,  as  they  have  often  done  in  all  enterprises  that  have  morality 
or  the  happiness  of  society  for  their  object.f 

The  following  extract  from  another  original  autograph  letter 
from  Dr.  Rush  to  Dr.  Belknap,  dated  July  13,  1789,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  New  England  Historical   Society,  will  show  in  his  own 

»  Vol.  IV,  p.  69. 

+  Original  autograph  letter  in  the  possession  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Boston, 
Mass.      Copied  by  consent  of  the  Society.     See  Belknap  Papers.     Vol.  I,  p.  138. 
23 


384  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

words  the  depth  of  interest  in  this  subject,  and  also  present  some 
other  interesting  facts. 

I  have  borne  a  testimony  (by  particular  desire)  at  a  Methodist  Conference 
against  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  and  I  hope  with  effect.  I  have  likewise 
written  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  in  Maryland  to  set  an  association 
on  foot  against  them  in  his  society.  I  have  repeatedly  insisted  upon  a  pub- 
lic testimony  being  published  against  them  by  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  this  city, 
and  have  suggested  to  our  good  Bishop  White  the  necessity  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  not  standing  neutral  in  this  interesting  business.  Go  thou,  my  friend,  and, 
in  your  circle  of  influence  or  acquaintance,  "  Do  likewise."  * 

The  First  Temperance  Association 

in  this  country  was  formed  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1789,  in 
the  town  of  Litchfield,  Conn.  In  the  Federal  Herald,  \  July  13, 
1789,  it  is  recorded  that — 

Upward  of  two  hundred  of  the  most  respectable  farmers  in  Litchfield  County, 
Conn.,  have  formed  an  association  to  encourage  the  disuse  of  spirituous  liquors, 
and  have  determined  not  to  use  any  kind  of  distilled  spirits  in  doing  their  farming 
work  the  ensuing  season. 

Whether  this  association  had  a  constitution  and  by-laws  does  not 
now  appear,  but  they  had  a  temperance  PLEDGE,  thus  recognizing 
a  principle  which  has  long  been  the  key-stone  of  the  temperance 
reformation.  The  original  copy  of  this  pledge  was  found  in  1833  by 
Hon.  Seth  P.  Beers,  while  administering  upon  the  estate  of  Mr, 
Ephraim  Kirby,  of  Litchfield,  the  first  signer.;}:  After  a  long  preamble 
setting  forth  the  grounds  of  their  action  stands  the  following  pledge  : 

We  do  hereby  associate  and  mutually  agree  that  hereafter  we  will  carry  on  our 
business  without  the  use  of  distilled  spirits  as  an  article  of  refreshment,  either  for 
ourselves  or  for  those  whom  we  employ  ;  and  that,  instead  thereof,  we  will  serve 
our  workmen  with  wholesome  food  and  the  common  simple  drinks  of  our  produc- 
tion. Signed  by  Ephraim  Kirby,  Timothy  Skinner,  David  Buel,  and  nearly  two 
hundred  others. 

Forty-four  years  afterward,  ten  of  the  original  number  were  still 
living  in  Litchfield,  and  one  of  them,  Mr.  David  Buel,  was  residing 
in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety  years,  a  zealous  advo- 
cate of  temperance.  This  was  the  first  voluntary  association  of 
individuals  pledged  to  abstain  from  strong  drink  ever  formed  in 
this  country.  To  the  unfading  glory  of  the  farmers  of  Litchfield 
County  let   it  ever  be   told.     They  were  the  first  to  originate  and 

*  For  fuller  information   in  regard  to  Dr.  Rush  see  Liquor  Problem  in  all  Ages.     By  Rev. 
Daniel  Dorchester,  D.D.     Phillips  &  Hunt.     New  York  City. 
+  Vol.  III.  No.  74.     Published  in  Lansingburg,  N.  Y. 
%  See  Litchfield  Enquirer,  Sept.  26,  1833. 


EARLY  AN  TJ  SLA  VERY  ACTION.  353 

introduce  into  practice  the  principle  of  a  social  covenant  to  promote 
the  disuse  of  ardent  spirits. 

In  the  next  period  this  reform  will  unfold  itself  through  successive 
stages  of  progress  into  a  great  and  mighty  moral  revolution. 


Section  ^^.-Early   Antislavery    Seed-Sowing. 

Societies  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  are  not  of  recent  origin.  A 
considerable  number  of  them  sprang  up  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century.  The  Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society,  the  first 
ever  formed,  was  organized  before  the  Revolution.  In  1784 
it  was  resuscitated.  The  New  York  Abolition  Scociety  was  . 
formed  in  January,  1785,  the  Rhode  Island  Society,  in  1789;  the 
Connecticut  Society,  in  1790;  the  New  Jersey  Society,  in  1792;  and  j 
other  societies  were  organized  in  Delaware,  Maryland  and  Virgmia. 
National  abolition  conventions  were  held  in  1794,  in  1795.  i"  ^804, 
and  subsequently. 

These  early  abolition  societies  embraced  in  their  membership  some  of  the  purest 
philanthropists,  the  ripest  scholars,  most  eminent  jurists,  and  the  best  statesmen  of 
that  age  They  were  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  were  loyal  to  the  pre- 
cepts  of  Christianity.  Ever  zealous,  earnest,  and  devoted,  they  labored  effectively  | 
in  the  cause  of  emancipation  and  the  general  elevation  of  the  African  race.  For 
several  years  national  conventions,  in  which  these  societies  were  represented,  were 
annually  held.  Earnest  arguments  and  appeals  were  made  by  these  conventions 
to  Congress,  to  the  State  legislatures,  to  the  free  people  of  color,  and  to  the  country, 
to  aid  in  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  the  repeal  of  inhuman  statutes,  the  pro- 
tection of  free  persons  of  color,  and  the  promotion  of  the  general  interests  of  freedom.* 

Among  the  prominent  civilians  engaged  in  these  movements 
were  the  "following:  John  Baldwin,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Anthony 
Benezet,  and  Benjamin  Rush,  in  Pennsylvania;  John  Jay  and  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  in  New  York;  Judge  Baldwin,  in  Connecticut; 
Levi  Lincoln,  Caleb  Strong,  and  Theodore  Sedgwick,  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  George  Washington  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  Virgmia. 
The  more  enlightened  stale.smen  and  philanthropists  of  that  period 
regarded  slavery  as  "  an  atrocious  debasement  of  human  nature,"  f 
and  desired  to  find  some  plan  by  which  it  might  be  abolished  by 
law  This  was  especially  true  of  the  best  portion  of  the  cultivated 
Christian  mind  of  that  day.  They  saw  the  essential  injiistice  and 
enormity  of  slavery,  and  the  duty  of  its  removal,  as  clearly  as  they 
ever  have  since  that  time. ^ ^ 

........  F..,^/  «.  5;.»  P^.r.    B,  H.».  He.,,  Wf^.     Bo.o.  _^.^^^  J.n.es  R. 

Osgood  &  Co.     Vol.  1,  p.  29.  'J 


y 


333  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

But  there  was  a  powerful  class  in  the  Caroh'nas  and  in  Georgia 
that  actively  and  persistently  resisted  every  thing  that  tended  to 
the  destruction  of  a  system  which  secured  to  them  wealth,  social 
distinction,  and  political  power.  There  were  also  "  the  uneducated 
and  unreflecting  masses,"  taking  counsel  of  their  feelings  of  indolence 
and  avarice,  and  of  those  induced,  in  the  language  of  Jefferson, 
*'  by  the  quiet,  monotonous  course  of  colonial  life,  largely  influenced 
and  led,  too,  by  the  dominant  class,  who  had  little  sympathy  with 
these  abstract  ideas  of  right,  justice  and  humanity,  and  little  dis- 
position to  legislate  in  harmony  with  them."  These  two  classes 
hindered  and  prevented  all  legislative  enactments  in  the  Southern 
States  which  tended  either  to  the  modification  or  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  recognition  of  slavery  and 
guarantees  for  its  protection  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

In  the  more  northern  States  different  results  were  secured. 
During  the  Revolution  public  opinion  in  Massachusetts  was  so 
strong  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  that  in  many  of  the 
towns  votes  were  passed  in  the  town  meetings  that  they  would 
y  have  no  slaves  among  them.  The  present  Constitution,  adopted  in 
\  1780,  declares  that  "all  men  are  born  free  and  equal."  "This," 
says  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  a  member  of  the  committee  which  re- 
ported it,  "  was  inserted  not  merely  as  a  moral  and  political  truth, 
but  with  a  particular  view  to  establish  the  liberation  of  the  negroes 
on  a  general  principle,  and  was  so  understood  by  the  people  at 
large,"  who  adopted  the  Constitution  by  a  two  thirds  vote.  "  It 
would  be  difficult,"  said  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  "to  select  words  more 
precisely  adapted  to  the  abolition  of  slavery."  But  even  before 
this  action  slavery  was  virtually  abolished  by  public  opinion.  Nor 
is  there  evidence  that  the  blacks  were  sold  and  sent  south.  In 
1783  a  great  deal  of  public  indignation  was  expressed  at  the  con- 
duct of  Dr.  A ,  who  decoyed  three  blacks  on  board  of  his  vessel 

and  took  them  to  the  West  Indies  for  sale.  Governor  Hancock  sent 
to  all  the  West  India  Islands,  and  the  men  were  promptly  returned 
to  Boston.  * 

In  1780  Pennsylvania  passed  "an  act  of  gradual  abolition." 
Rhode  Island  took  early  action,  providing  that  all  born  of  African 
descent,  after  March,  1784,  should  be  free.  Connecticut,  with  not 
quite  three  thousand  slaves  at  the  time,  as  early  as  1784  provided 


*The  fullest  account  extant  of  slavery  in  Massachusetts  was  written  by  Rev.  Dr.  Jeremy 
Belknap,  in  response  to  inquiries  by  Judge  Tucker,  of  Virginia,  and  published  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Col/ectioiis.     Vol.  IV. 


GRADUAL  EMANCIPATION.  337 

for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  slavery.  The  same  year  New 
Hampshire  became  a  free  State  by  a  judicial  interpretation  of  her 
Constitution.  The  Legislature  of  New  York  in  1785  refused  to 
adopt  a  system  of  gradual  eniancipation.  After  persistent  appeals, 
however,  in  1799,  ^^  enacted  that  all  children  born  thereafter  were 
free. 

The  Religious  Origin  of  the  Antislavery  Movement. 

The  opinion  sometimes  expressed,  that  the  antislavery  move- 
ment was  in  its  origin  a  purely  humanitarian  reform,  is  the  result 
of  hasty  thought.  Some  have  been  accustomed  to  consider 
Franklin,  Jefferson,  Jay,  Rush,  etc.,  as  philanthropists  under 
whose  labors  the  early  abolition  societies  and  emancipation 
acts  in  the  Northern  States  were  inaugurated,  and  forget  that 
the  prime  impulse  was  Christian,  and  that  Christian  men,  includ- 
ing many  eminent  divines,  acted  a  conspicuous  and  the  leading 
part  in  the  programme.  Such  men  constituted  not  only  some 
of  the  best  leaders  but  also  the  rank  and  file,  while  the  religious 
sentiment  furnished  the  chief  pabulum  and  inspiration  of  the  reform. 
It  started  directly  out  of  the  religious  convictions  of  the  people, 
and  was  dependent  for  its  success  upon  the  religious  public.  This 
aspect  of  the  case  has  been  so  constantly  overlooked  by  writers  and 
speakers  on  antislavery  themes  that  it  is  necessary  to  dwell  upon  it 
here  and  unfold  the  action  of  the  religious  bodies.  By  referring  to 
pp.  225-228,  the  earliest  seed-sowing  of  antislavery  will  be  seen, 
under  which  public  opinion  was  so  far  developed  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  followed  in  many  States 
immediately  after  that  event. 

By  the  faithful  and  self-denying  labors  of  devoted  pioneers  and  early  advocates 
of  antislavery.  and  others  of  less  note,  covering  a  period  of  a  hundred  years,  was 
the  Society  of  Friends  at  length  persuaded  to  rid  itself  of  the  system  of  enforced 
servitude.  Nor  was  this  great  work  accomplished  without  much  of  exciiing  dis- 
cussion, stern  rebuke  and  stirring  appeal.  For  with  them,  as  with  others,  the  love 
of  ease  and  the  lust  of  dominion  were  strong,  nor  did  they  at  once  and  easily  let 
go  their  hold  on  the  victims  of  their  power.  And  not  until  the  conscience  of  the 
Society  was  aroused  by  the  unequivocal  decisions  of  its  ecclesiastical  tribunals, 
showing  slavery  to  be  a  sin  to  be  repented  of  and  forsaken,  did  it  achieve  the  high 
distinction  of  being  the  first  and  only  denomination  to  purge  itself  entirely  of  this 
great  iniquity.  * 

The  Presbyterian  Church  and  Slavery.  , 

The  Presbyterians  also  shared  a  part  in  this  early  seed-sowingl 

As  early  as  1774,  and  again  in  1780.  this  subject  was  before  their 

*  jiise  and  Fall  0/  the  Slave  Powtr.     By  Hon.  Henry  Wilson.     Vol  I,  p.  .o 


338  CHRISTIANI FY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Synod.  In  1787  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  declared 
its  approval 

of  the  general  principles  in  favor  of  universal  liberty  that  prevail  in  America  and 
of  the  interest  which  many  of  the  States  have  taken  in  promoting  the  abolition  of 
slavery  ;  yet,  inasmuch  as  men  introduced  from  a  servile  state  to  a  participation  of 
all  the  privileges  of  civil  society,  without  a  proper  education  and  without  pre- 
vious habits  of  industry,  may  be  in  some  respects  dangerous  to  the  community, 
therefore  they  earnestly  recommend  to  all  the  members  belonging  to  their  com- 
munion to  give  those  persons  who  are  al  present  held  in  servitude  such  good  edu- 
cation as  might  prepare  them  for  the  better  enjoyment  of  freedom.  Re-affirmed 
in  1793  and  1795. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  not  formally  organized 
until  the  Conference  called  for  that  purpose  in  Baltimore,  December 
27,  1784.  The  following  is  the  substance  of  the  action  of  this  body 
in  regard  to  slavery: 

I.  As  to  the  nature  of  slavery.  An  abomination;  the  deepest  debasement; 
the  slavery  of  America  more  abject  than  any  other.  2.  They  considered  slavery 
to  be  contrary  to  the  golden  law  of  love,  on  which  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets  ;  contrary  to  the  inalienable  rights  of  mankind  ;  contrary  to  every  prin- 
ciple of  the  Revolution.  3.  Every  one  possessing  slaves,  whether  by  inheritance  or 
otherwise,  was  required  to  emancipate  them  if  it  could  be  done ;  and  no  persons 
holding  slaves  for  the  future  was  to  be  admitted  into  the  Church  unless  he  pre- 
viously promised  to  emancipate  them.  4.  These  rules  were  to  affect  the  members 
of  the  Church  only  so  far  as  they  were  consistent  with  the  laws  of  the  States  in 
which  they  resided.  5.  But  those  who  bought  or  sold  slaves,  or  gave  them  away, 
were  immediately  to  be  expelled,  unless  they  bought  them  in  order  to  free  them.  * 

"  These  rules,"  says  Rev.  Jesse  Lee.  t  "  were  but  short-lived  and  were  offensive 
to  most  of  our  southern  friends,  and  were  so  much  opposed  by  many  of  our  private 
members,  local  preachers,  and  some  of  the  traveling  preachers,  that  the  execution 
of  them  was  suspended  at  the  Conference  held  in  June  following,  about  six  months 
after  they  were  formed,  and  they  were  never  afterward  carried  into  full  force." 

The  Conference  of  1796  adopted  a  fuller  expression  of  its  views, 
among  which  we  notice  astern  disapproval  of  slavery:  security  for 
emancipation  required  of  official  members  holding  them  in  States 
where  emancipation  was  allowed  ;  no  slaveholder  was  to  be  received 
into  the  Church  until  the  preacher  had  spoken  to  him  freely  and 
faithfully  on  the  subject;  every  member  who  should  sell  a  slave  was 
to  be  excluded  from  the  Society ;  members  purchasing  slaves  were 
required  to  execute  a  legal  instrument  of  manumission  after  a  spec- 
ified term,  etc.    This  remained  with  little  modification  for  some  time. 

All  through  these  earlier  years  the  Methodist  Church  maintained 
a  positive  hostility  to  slavery,  which  was  felt  in  the  high  places  in 

*  History  of  the  Great  Secession.  By  Rev,  Chas.  Elliott,  D.D.  Cincinnati,  Sworrasted  & 
Poe.     185s,  p.  35.  t  History  of  the  Methodists,     1810. 


HOSTILITY   TO  SLAVERY.  859 

the  nation.  Its  leading  officials  freely  conferred  with  presidents  and 
governors,  and  were  listened  to  in  legislative  halls  in  behalf  of  the 
slave.  In  the  '  onvention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  Mr.  Ms.rshall,  afterward  Chief  Justice,  kept  back  the  words 
slave  and  slavery  from  that  instrument  by  urging  with  great  em- 
phasis that  if  the  Government  thus  countenanced  slavery  it  would 
lose  the  support  of  the  Methodists  and  the  Quakers. 

The  Congregationalists  and  Slavery. 

Congregationalij.rti  was  originally  confined  almost  entirely  to 
New  England,  and  consequently  has  been  less  embarrassed  by  the 
institution  of  slavery  than  any  other  religious  body.  But  in  the 
colonial  period,  and  for  a  considerable  time  after  the  Revolution, 
this  institution  existed  in  almost  all  the  Northern  States  where  this 
denomination  prevailed.  Several  noble  champions  of  antislavery 
arose  in  her  njinistry  at  an  early  date. 

"  Among  the  earlier  apostles  of  emancipation  was  Dr.  Samuel 
Hopkins,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Newport,  R.  I., 
who  was  as  much  distinguished  for  his  advocacy  of  the  doctrines  of 
human  rights  as  of  the  doctrines  of  the  school  of  theology  which 
bears  his  name.  In  1770  he  deliberately  and  solemnly  resolved  to 
attack  the  system  of  kidnapping,  purchasing  and  retaining  slaves. 
Although  Rhode  Island  had,  as  early  as  1652,  passed  an  act  against 
the  purchase  of  negroes,  she  had  become  deeply  involved  in  the 
slave  trade.  Newport  was  the  great  slave  mart  of  New  England. 
Cargoes  of  slaves  were  often  landed  near  the  church  and  home  of 
the  great  divine.  Before  his  congregation,  thus  deeply  involved  in 
the  guilt  of  slave-trading  and  slave-holding,  he  boldly  rebuked  the 
sin,  and  pleaded  the  cause  of  these  victims  in  a  discourse  of  great 
plainness  and  power.  It  was  an  unselfish  and  heroic  act,  imperil- 
ing his  position  both  as  pastor  and  as  a  recognized  leader  in  the 
Church.  Of  this  noble  act  Whittier  says,  '  It  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  on  that  Sabbath  day  the  angels  of  God,  in  their  wide  sur- 
vey of  his  universe,  looked  upon  a  nobler  spectacle  than  that  of  the 
minister  of  Newport  rising  up  before  his  slave-holding  congregation 
and  demanding,  in  the  name  of  the  Highest,  "  the  deliverance  of 
the  captive  and  the  opening  of  prison  doors  to  them  which  were 

bound."  ' 

"  From  1770  to  1776  Dr.  Hopkins  frequently  spoke  in  behalf  of 
the  slave,  visited  from  house  to  house,  and  urged  masters  to  free 
their  bondmen.  In  the  latter  year  he  published  his  dialogue  con- 
cerning slavery,  together  with  his    address  to  slave-holders.     He 


360  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

dedicated  this  remarkable  production,  said  to  have  been  'the  ablest 
document  which  had  at  that  time  and  on  that  theme  appeared  in 
the  English  language,*  to  the  Continental  Congress.  It  had  a  large 
circulation  among  the  statesmen  of  that  day  and  exerted  a  potent 
influence  on  public  opinion.  This  early  champion  of  the  black  man 
was  cheered  by  the  passage  in  1774  of  a  law  prohibiting  the  im- 
portation of  negroes  into  Rhode  Island  ;  and  in  1784  by  the  passage 
of  an  act  declaring  all  children  born  after  the  next  March  free — re- 
sults to  which  he  had  largely  contributed  by  his  early,  persistent 
and  self-denying  labors.  His  heart  was  gladdened,  too,  by  the 
action  of  his  church.  Instructed  by  his  teachings  and  inspired  by 
his  zeal,  it  declared  slavery  to  be  'a  gross  violation  of  the  righteous- 
ness and  benevolence  of  the  Gospel,'  and  therefore  it  resolved,  '  We 
will  not  tolerate  it  in  this  church.'  "  * 

The  first  meeting  for  the  formation  of  the  Rhode  Island  Abo- 
lition Society  was  held  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  at  Newport. 
The  New  York  Abolition  Society,  among  its  earlier  acts,  printed 
Dr.  Hopkins's  masterly  arguments  against  slavery  and  gratuitously 
circulated  them.  The  Connecticut  Abolition  Society  had  for  its  first 
officers  Rev.  Ezra  Styles,  D.D.,  President  of  Yale  College,  and  Judge 
Baldwin,  both  eminent  Congregationalists,  and  numbered  among 
its  members  many  who  were  eminent  for  piety  and  learning.  Before 
this  society,  in  1791,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  D.D.,  the  younger, 
proclaimed  the  radical  and  uncompromising  declaration  that,  "  To 
hold  a  man  in  a  state  of  slavery  who  has  a  right  to  his  liberty  is  to 
be  every  day  guilty  of  robbing  him  of  his  liberty,  or  of  man-stealing, 
and  is  a  greater  sin  in  the  sight  of  God  than  concubinage  or  forni- 
cation." Rev.  Dr.  Edwards  performed  good  service  on  other  im- 
portant occasions.  In  the  national  Antislavery  Convention  of 
1795  he  was  present,  and  acted  a  conspicuous  part.  This  conven- 
tion sent  out  addresses  to  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  The  address  to  South  Carolina  was  written 
by  Mr.  Edwards. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  original  impulse  of  the  antislavery 
movement  was  religious,  and  that  all  through  the  earlier  history 
which  has  been  sketched  it  derived  its  chief  force  and  strength  from 
religious  sentiment.     (See  also  Period  II,  Chap.  IV,  Sec.  2.) 

*  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power.  By  Hon.  Henry  Wilson,  Boston.  James  R. 
Osgood  &  Co.     1872.     Vol.  I,  pp.  II,  12. 


PERIOD  II. 

FROM  1800  TO  1850 


HOPEFUL  INDICATIONS.  S63 


CHAPTER  I. 


NEW  LIFE  IN  THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES-AN  ERA  OF 
REVIVALS  INAUGURATED. 

Sec   I.  Survey  of  the  Period.  I      Sec.  4-  Subsequent  Revivals. 

"    2.  The  Revival  of  1800  Incepted.  "    5-  College  Revivals. 

"    3.  Character  of  the  Revival.  |         "    6.  Effects. 


w 


Section  i.-A   Survey  of  the  Period. 

ITH  the  opening  of  the  present  century  appeared  numerous 
indications  of  an    immense  advance  of  Christ's  kingdom. 
Formidable  oppositions  were  still  arrayed  against  it,  but  some  old 
institutions,  long  standing  in  its  way,  were  falling  in  pieces,  and  a 
few  nations  which  had  long  rejected  the  Gospel  were  openmg  their 
doors  to  receive  it.     In  India  there  was  a  favorable  change  in  the 
administration  of  civil   affairs.     Infanticide  was   prohibited,      and 
European   education    and    Christian    chaplains,  teachers  and  mis- 
sionaries   had   entered.     China,  under    the   tuition    of    European 
monopolies,  began  to  sympathize  a  little  with  European  ideas,  and 
was  about  to  admit  an   installment  of  missionary  f  teachers.     The 
Turkish    Empire,   successively    humbled   by  Venice,    Russia   and 
Austria,  and  finally  by   France    and   England,    had  settled  into  a 
state  of  submission,  and  was  slowly  adopting  the  ideas,  arts    and 
education  of  Western   Europe.     Africa,  also,   the  land  of  darkness 
and  parodoxes,  was  conscious  of  new  influences  encircling  her.     In 
1787  Sierra  Leone,    purchased  as  a  refuge  for  emancipated  bonds- 
men, became  a  dependency  of  the  British  crown.     In    1795  the  re- 
generation of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  commenced  under  Englih 
influence      From  I7q6  to  1800  the  world   became  acquainted  with 
The  :^nderrul  ::xplo'^^^  of  Bruce  and   Munf^^-^^  ^^^^^^ 

Vanderkemp  commenced  his  labors  among  the  Kafirs  and  the  Hot- 
tentots, and^gypt  and  the  Barbary  States  were  learning  to  stand 
in  awe  of  Christian  nations. 


» In  1802. 


t  Dr.  Morrison  went  to  Canton  in  1807. 


364  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

Europe  had  been  shaken  by  the  throes  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution, the  power  of  papal  intolerance  was  broken,  and  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  was  making  gigantic  strides  across  the  Continent  re- 
constructing its  governments  and  institutions.  In  the  East  Indies 
the  influence  of  Dutch  supremacy  was  already  felt,  and  Christian 
schools  and  usages  were  being  established.  Great  Britain  also 
showed  signs  of  progress.  In  her  American  war  she  had  learned 
useful  lessons  about  popular  liberty,  and  was  favorably  inclined  to 
a  fuller  recognition  of  civil  and  religious  rights. 

New  Christian  institutions  were  organizing  for  the  spread  of 
Christ's  kingdom.  On  the  Continent  of  Europe  the  Netherlands 
Missionary  Society  was  formed  in  1797,  the  Berlin  Missionary  So- 
ciety in  1800,  and  a  little  later  Gutzlaff  went  to  the  coast  of  China 
bearing  the  Gospel.  In  Great  Britain  six  missionary  societies  had 
been  organized  between  1792  and  1800;  the  Religious  Tract  Society 
in  1799,  three  Bible  Societies  between  1800  and  1809.  Sunday-schools 
had  sprung  up  in  England  and  were  being  adopted  in  Protestant 
countries  on  the  Continent. 

Such  is  the  world-wide  survey  of  the  religious  situation  at  the 
opening  of  this  century.  A  general  survey  of  the  period  (1800- 1850) 
now  to  be  considered,  especially  in  respect  to  the  unfavorable 
circumstances  with  which  the  cause  of  religion  had  to  contend,  and 
also  a  brief  view  of  some  of  the  more  striking  peculiarities  and 
movements  of  the  times,  will  prepare  us  to  appreciate  the  rare 
achievements  of  American  Christianity  in  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

Unfavorable  Circumstances. 

The  progress  of  American  Christianity  during  this  period  was 
(not  unattended  with  disadvantages.  The  war  of  18 12  and  the  ex- 
citing circumstances  preceding  and  following  it,  covering  a  period 
of  ten  years,  were  a  serious  detriment  to  the  cause  of  piety.  The 
embargo  and  non-intercourse  acts,  from  1807  to  18 10;  the  capture 
of  more  than  nine  hundred  American  vessels  in  ten  years,  and  the 
Indian  hostilities  on  the  frontiers  under  British  instigation,  kept 
the  country  constantly  excited  long  before  the  war  commenced. 
During  the  war  (18 12-18 15)  frequent  scenes  of  savage  butchery  by 
Indians  and  British  soldiers  on  the  northern  and  western  borders, 
the  capture  and  burning  of  the  national  capitol,  the  attacks  upon 
Baltimore  and  New  London,  Conn.,  and  the  threatening  attitude  of 
the  British  fleet  toward  New  York  and  Boston,  at  times  inflamed 
the  popular  heart  to  frenzy.     Then  followed  the  wars  with  Algiers 


TEMPERANCE  AND   OTHER  REFORMS.  363 

and  the  Florida  Indians.  Moreover,  considerable  division  of! 
opinion  existed  among  American  citizens  in  regard  to  the  war  of  j 
1812.  Party  politics  ran  high  and  domestic  disputes  pervaded  all' 
classes,  from  the  halls  of  legislation  to  the  fireside.  In  consequence 
of  these  things  the  work  of  religion  in  many  places  was  sometimes  1 
either  greatly  embarrassed  or  wholly  checked.  After  1820  the; 
country  was  free  from  foreign  irritations,  and  the  rapidly-extending 
populations  were  becoming  established  in  their  new  centers. 

The  two  decades  from  1830  to    1850  are  among  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  history  of  American  Christianity.     If  inferior  to  the 
former  three  in  the  inauguration  of  new  religious  agencies,  they  were 
nevertheless  characterized    by   other  movements  which    distinctly 
^  marked  them  upon   the   pages  of  history.     The  churches  were  in\ 
the  wake  of  the  great  religious  revivals  which  exerted  such  exten-1 
isive  and  sweeping  power  from    1826  to   1832.     Immediately  after  1 
the  latter  date  the  spiritual  interest   abated  somewhat,  and  there  \ 
commenced  a  series  of  great  and   powerful  agitations.     It  was  pre- 
eminently an  era  of  agitations — ecclesiastical,    reformatory,  social- 
istic, Native-American,  and  that  occasioned  by  the  Mexican  war. 

In  the  year  1830  the  great  temperance  reformation,  slowly  in- 
augurated in  the  preceding  decades,  was  moving  forward  under  a 
powerful  influence,  and  soon  attracted  universal  attention,  enlisting 
the  best  minds  of  the  nation  in  its  behalf.  It  powerfully  shook  the 
whole  land,  penetrated  every  locality,  kindled  its  fires  on  other 
shores,  and  became  an  object  of  world-wide  inquiry  and  admiration. 
The  close  of  this  period  (1850)  is  believed  to  have  been  the  time 
of  the  best  temperance  habits  in  this  country  since  the  introduction 
of  distilled  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

The  great  antislavery  reform  started  upon  a  bolder  and  wider 
career  soon  after  11:^30,  and  down  to  the  close  of  the  period  most 
powerfully  stirred  the  nation,  producing  strife,  bitterness,  divisions 
and  mobs.  The  fight  was  a  severe  one,  and  the  results  were  long 
unfavorable,  producing  distress  and  anxiety.  Instances  of  mob 
violence  were  common  in  the  largest  cities.  After  1843  the  question 
of  slavery  entered  largely  into  political  action  in  primary  assemblies, 
\w  elections  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation ;  while  the  churches  were 
at  no  time  exempt  from  this  seriously-disturbing  influence. 

From  1841  to  1850  the  subject  of  Sabbath  observance  was  kept 
prominently  before  the  attention  of  the  country,  and  very  great  im- 
provement in  the  habits  of  the  people  was  every-where  visible. 

The  internal  difficulties  over  questions  of  policy  and  principle 
arising  out  of  these  reformatory  agitations  disturbed  and  rent  asun- 


366  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

der  several  of  the  largest  religious  denominations.  Previous  to 
1830,  schisms  were  produced  by  Arian  and  Socinian  doctrines  which 
had  crept  into  the  churches.  The  schisms  of  the  next  two  decades 
were  not  occasioned  by  theological  differences,  if  we  except  some 
alienations  caused  by  the  spread  of  "  New  Divinity"  among  the 
Presbyterians  and  the  Congregationalists,  but  by  great  questions  of 
ecclesiastical  polity  or  policy.  The  divisions  which  occurred  in  the 
three  greatest  denominations — the  Presbyterians  (1838),  the  Meth- 
odists (1844),  and  the  Baptists  (1845) — were  preceded  and  followed 
by  long  and  exciting  agitations,  which  seriously  diverted  the 
churches  from  their  appropriate  work.  The  "  New  Divinity,"  the 
"  Bushnell  "  and  the  "  Tractarian  "  controversies  also  engrossed  the 
attention  of  many,  while  the  excitements  connected  with  the  Mor- 
mon movement  and  exodus,  and  the  Millerite,  or  Second  Advent 
agitation  had  a  very  pernicious  effect. 

Socialism  was  first  introduced  by  Robert  Owen  in  1826.  Later 
came  the  more  widely-felt  epoch  of  American  Socialism,  Avhen 
Fourierism  was  introduced  (1842)  and  recommended  to  public  favor 
by  men  of  superior  literary  culture  and  influence.  Fourierism  at- 
tracted much  attention  and  spread  like  an  epidemic,  so  that  in  less 
than  ten  years  thirty-four  socialistic  communities  were  organized. 
Many  persons  were  considerably  influenced  and  religiously  unsettled 
by  socialistic  speculations.  Christianity  was  tested  in  with- 
standing this  assault.  Almost  simultaneously  the  Native  American 
excitement  agitated  the  leading  cities,  and  the  common  school  con- 
test was  inaugurated  by  the  Roman  Catholics  under  the  leadership 
of  Bishop  Hughes.  In  this  period  Naturalistic  and  Materialistic 
ideas  were  introduced  in  connection  with  the  teachings  of  Combe 
and  the  phrenologists,  and  the  first  installments  of  Rationalism  and 
Spiritualism  were  received. 
-  Such  were  the  agitations  which  affected  the  condition  of  the 
\  ■  churches  during  this  period,  distracted  their  attention,  divided  their 

■  energies  and  embarrassed  their  religious  action  and  influence.     Em- 

■  phatically  an  era  of  agitation,  the  atmosphere  was  full  of  the  dust 
|,  of  strife  and  the  din  of  tumults.  The  virtue  and  conserving  po^er 
!    of  Christianity  were  sorely  tested  ;  how   much  more  her  aggressive 

5power  !  And  yet  new  benevolent,  evangelizing  and  educational 
Jjagencies  were  organized  in  large  numbers,  and  the  churches  greatly 
increased  their  number,  strength,  and  efficiency.  The  statistJ£s_of 
the  churches  from  1800  to  1850  show  a  surprisingjncrease,  redupli- 
cating upon  the  population,  and  exceeding  any  previous  ecclesi- 
listical  growth"!?!   ancient  or    modern  times.     The  growth  of~the 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL.  SBTV 

\  evangelical  churches  under  such  circumstances  is  doubtless  owing  \ 
Ito  the  fact  that  most  of  the  great  agitations  were  moral  and  I 
jreligious — a  legitimate  part  of  true  militant  work,  fulfilling  the  pre-  \ 
Idiction,  "  I  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword."  These  agitations  ' 
ilcame  chiefly  out  of  the  quickened  religious  life  of  the  churches, 
l^tirring  the  consciences  of  men.  Christianity  was  both  a  factor  and  / 
i;a  beneficiary.     Whence  came  the  new  life  and  its  intensity? 


Section  2,— The  Revival  of  1800  Incepted. 

Having  taken  this  survey  of  the  period  and  its  exigencies  we 
turn  back  to  the  opening  of  the  century,  that  we  may  ascertain 
how  the  American  churches  were  prepared  by  God  for  such  mag- 
nificent achievements. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  Wesleyan  movement,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  Rowland  Hill  and  John  Newton,  the  churches  of  Great 
Britain  were  rising  to  a  higher  spiritual  life,  and  more  fully  compre- 
hending their  responsibilities  to  the  masses  of  their  own  countrymen 
and  to  the  world.  British  Christianity  had  been  powerfully  quick- 
ened and  new  beneficent  agencies  were  starting  into  being.  There 
were  indications  of  an  immense  advance  all  along  the  lines  of 
Christ's  militant  host. 

Were  the  churches  of  the  New  World  to  share  in  this  onward 
movement  ?  Or  were  they  to  falter  and  fail  under  the  blighting 
influence  of  French  infidelity  and  gross  immorality  abounding 
in  American  communities  ?  We  shall  soon  see  how  it  pleased  God 
to  deliver  them  from  their  spiritual  embarrassments,  and  how  they 
came  forward  to  share  in  the  grandest  advancement  of  His  kingdom 
since  the  apostolic  age. 

The  dark  and  trying  period  through  which  the  country  passed 
at  the  beginning  of  its  national  career  has  been  shown  to  be  one  of 
such  moral  and  spiritual  desolation  that  many  intelligent  citizens 
were  alarmed  in  view  of  the  dubious  religious  prospects.  Days  of 
fasting  and  prayer  were  observed  annually,  quarterly,  monthly,  or 
weekly,  varying  in  different  localities,  with  earnest  intercession  that 
God  would  interpose  in  behalf  of  his  suffering  cause. 

The  Great  Revival  (179^1803). 

I  At  this  time  a  great  revival  of  religion  commenced,  the  influence' 
I  of  which  extended  into  almost  all  portions  of  the  country,  quicken-  , 
j  ing  and  multiplying  churches,  turning  back  the  dark  and  desolating/ 


368  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

floods  of  infidelity  and  immorality,  and  giving  birth  to  numerous 
powerful   religious  and  reforming  agencies.     The  Bible,  Tract,  Ed- 
ucational, Foreign  and  Home  Missionary  Societies  springing  up  in 
the  first   twenty  years  of  this  century  were  outgrowths  from  the 
new  life  infused  by  this  revival  into  the  American  churches.     The 
'  revival  had  its  origin  on  the  remote  frontiers,  in  that  portion  of 
\  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  lying  west  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains 
.  then  known  as  the  "  Cumberland  _Country  " — a  region  of  such  rare 
\  beauty  of  scenery  and  fertility  of  soil  that  it  early  attracted  settlers 
1  from  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.     The  first  token  of  divine  favor 
was  manifested  in  these  new  settlements,  where   the  greatest  hard- 
ships were  experienced    and  the  people  of  God  most  needed  and 
most  earnestly  sought  his  aid.     Like  a  wave  the  new  religious  life 
rose   beyond    the  Alleghanies,    and,  rolling    over  the    mountains, 
fswept  onward  to  the  Atlantic.     This  frontier  population  was  chiefly 
'Presbyterians,    Methodists  and    Baptists.     Rev.    Dr.   Craighead,    a 
man  of  eloquence  and  learning,  formerly  from  North  Carolina,  then 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  Presbyterian  ministry  in  that  region.    The 
preaching    at    that     time,    in     most    localities,    consisted    princi- 
pally of  dry  discourses  upon  a  stiff  and   technical  theology,  or  a 
cold,  speculative  orthodoxy,  which  led  to  no  heart  conviction  nor 
change  of  life.     Persons  of  quiet  and  orderly  lives  were  admitted  to 
the  churches  without  a  religious  experience.* 

Five  men,  three  Presbyterians  and  two  Methodists,  seemed  to 
have  acted    prominent   parts  in   the  forthcoming  revival.     Of  the 

former  were  Revs(4amfes -Sready,  William  McGee  and Hodge  ; 

of  the  latter,  John  McGee  and  William  Burke.     The  McGees  f  were 
brothers. 

Covenants  were  entered  into  by  Christian  people  to  spend  the 
third  Saturday  in  each  month  in  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  outpour- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  one  half  hour  at  sunset  every  Saturday 
night  and  at  sunrise  every  Sunday  morning  in  prayer  for  the  same 
object.  In  the  latter  part  of  1799  the  two  brothers^cGee,  one  a 
Methodist  and  the  other  a  Presbyterian,  started  upon  a  preaching 
tour   from    Tennessee    into   Kentucky.      Their    meetings  on  Red 

*  History  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  By  Rev.  E.  B.  Crisman.  Nashville, 
Tenn.     1870.     Pp.  ig,  20. 

Rev.  David  Rice  (Memoirs),  who  went  to  Kentucky  in  1783,  said  :  "  I  scarcely  found  one 
man  and  but  few  women  who  supported  a  credible  profession  of  religion.  Some  were  grossly 
i;jnorant  of  the  first  principles  nf  religion  ;  some  were  given  to  quarreling  and  fighting,  some  to 
intemperance,  and  perhaps  most  of  them  were  totally  ignorant  of  the  forms  of  religion  in  their 
own  houses."  And  yet  "  many  of  them  produced  certificates  of  having  been  in  full  communion 
and  in  good  standing  in  the  churches  from  which  they  had  emigrated." 

+  Sometimes  written  Magee. 


THE  FIRST  CAMP-MEETING.  369 

River  were  attended  with  remarkable  effects.  At  the  next,  on 
Muddy  River,  many  distant  families  came  with  wagons  and  camped 
in  the  woods.  This  was  the  beginning  of  religious  "camp-meet- 
ings"* in  this  country,  which  have  since  become  a  prominent  in- 
stitution. In  its  origin  it  was  Presbyterian-Methodist.  In  June, 
i8cx),  one  of  these  meetings  was  held  on  Gaspee  River,  a  large 
number  of  people  coming  together  from  a  radius  of  sixty  miles,  the 
services  continuing  from  Friday  to  the  following  Tuesday.  The 
exercises  were  attended  with  powerful  "  awakenings,"  children, 
young  men  and  women,  old  gray-headed  people,  white  and  black, 
dissolute  and  moral,  were  deeply  stirred.  Other  meetings  followed 
in  this  region,  attended  by  the  same  influences  and  producing  simi- 
lar results.  Many  were  sacramental  occasions,  in  which  Presbyterian 
and  Methodist  ministers  united  in  the  ordinances  and  other  services. 
A  meeting  was  held  in  Cambridge,  Ky.,  soon  after  the  introduction 
of  these  peculiar  gatherings,  which  produced  a  general  sensation. 
Thousands  of  persons  were  present  from  many  parts  of  the  State, 
and  even  from  Ohio,  and  it  continued  one  week.  Hundreds  fell  to 
the  earth  as  dead  men  under  the  preaching.  At  another,  held  at 
Cobbin,  Ky.,-it  was  extravagantly  estimated  that  "  twenty  thousand 
persons  were  present,"  that  "  thousands  f  fell  as  if  slain  in  battle  ;  " 
and  the  ''  influence  was  felt  throughout  the  State."  Astonishing 
effects  attended  another  on  Desher's  Creek,  at  which  it  was  said 
that  "  the  people  fell  und^r  the  power  of  the  word  like  corn  before 
a  storm  of  wind."  Rev.(vyilliam  McKendree,  subsequently  Bishop 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  then  presiding  elder  in  this 
region,  engaged  heartily  in  the  work,  and  his  biographer  has  said 
that  "  no  small  part  of  the  impetus  which  was  given  to  the  work 
was  by  his  preaching  and  superior  wisdom.":]:  Rev.  William  Burke, 
a  Methodist  itinerant,  was  also  an  active  laborer.  The  work  went 
on  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  several  years,  and  left  behind  per- 
manent results. 


Section  5.— Character  of  the  ReviYal. 

From  deists,  then  numerous  in  Kentucky,  and  from  formal 
religionists  the  revival  encountered  opposition;  but  it  went  on,  and 
Sabbath-breakers,  profane  swearers,  drunkards  and  skeptics  were 
transformed.     Congregations  increased  ;  new  churches  were  organ- 

*See  Metkodist  Afagazine,  1821,  p.  189,  for  an  account  of  these  first  meetings,  from  the  jjen 
of  John  McGee. 

+  Bangs's  History  0/  Methodism.     \o\.  II,  p.   108.  %  Fry's  Life  0/  McKendree,  p.  68. 

24 


370  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ized,  and  old  ones  were  built  up.  Strange  and  astounding  were  many 
of  the  phenomena,  yet  deists  were  constrained  to  confess  that"  from 
whatever  cause  the  revival  might  proceed  it  made  the  people  bet- 
ter." It  promoted  friendly  tempers  where  before  there  were 
numerous  and  fatal  feuds.  The  religious  engagedness  and  sincerity 
were  so  great  as  to  disarm  suspicions  of  hypocrisy  and  produce  a 
deep  conviction  of  divine  power.  Eminent  divines  closely  scruti- 
nized the  character  of  the  work.  Rev.  Samuel  Ralston,  D.D.,  of  Al- 
leghany County,  Pennsylvania,  was  in  the  midst  of  the  scenes,  and 
declared  that  '*  the  work  was  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God  and 
kindred  to  the  great  revival  in  Scotland  and  New  England."  Rev. 
Moses  Hedge,  D.D.,  of  Virginia,  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Ashbel  Green, 
D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  said  : 

This  work  seems  to  lead  to  a  more  clear  and  distinct  view  of  the  operation  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  upon  the  heart  of  a  sinner  in  his  conversion  and  subsequent 
communications  than  can  be  obtained  from  ordinary  revivals. 

Rev.  Geotge  A.  Baxter,  D.D.,  of  Washington  Academy,  Virginia, 
who  visited  Kentucky  in  l8oi,  and  personally  inquired  into  the 
character  of  the  revival,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander 
recorded  the  following  testimony : 

On  my  way  I  was  informed  by  settlers  on  the  road  that  the  character  of  Ken- 
tucky travelers  was  entirely  changed,  and  that  they  were  as  remarkable  for  sobriety 
as  they  had  formerly  been  for  dissoluteness  and  immorality.  And  indeed  I  found 
Kentucky,  to  appearance,  the  most  moral  place  I  had  ever  seen.  A  profane  ex- 
pression was  hardly  ever  heard.  A  religious  awe  seemed  to  pervade  the  country. 
.  .  .  Upon  the  whole,  I  think  the  revival  in  Kentucky  the  most  extraordinary  that 
has  ever  visited  the  Church  of  Christ ;  and,  all  things  considered,  it  was  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country  into  which  it  came.  Infidelity  was 
triumphant  and  religion  was  on  the  point  of  expiring.  Something  extraordinary 
seemed  necessary  to  arrest  the  attention  of  a  giddy  people  who  were  ready  to  con- 
clude that  Christianity  was  a  fable  and  futurity  a  delusion.  This  revival  has  done 
it.  It  has  confounded  infidelity  and  brought  numbers  beyond  calculation  under 
serious  impressions. 

Similar  testimonies  were  given  by_Rev.  David  Rice,  a  leading 
Presbyterian  minister  of  Kentucky,  and  by  (J-cv.  Messrs.  Samuel 
Miller,  D.D., (Archibald  Alexander,  D.D.,  and/James  Welsh,  a  com- 
mittee of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  appoin- 
ted to  investigate  the  character  of  the  revival. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  this  great  revival  in  the  South-west.  But 
it  was  not  confined  to  that  region.  In  August,  1801,  it  had  reached 
Cross  Roads,  Orange  County,  N.  C. ;  the  next  year  the  eastern  part 
of  the  State  ;  then  it  spread  into  South  Carolina,  northern  Georgia 
and  Virginia,  and  thence  northward  through  the  Middle  States. 


EXTENT  OF    THE  REVIVAL.  371 

Revivals  in  New  England,  etc. 

Simultaneously  with  these  movements  the  revival  influences  ap- 
'peared  in  the  more  northern  section  of  the  country.  In  Connecticut 
it  preceded  the  work  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  although  it  seems 
not  to  have  been  so  extensive.  Powerful  revivals*  were  experienced 
in  the  following  Connecticut  towns:  Somers,  in  1797;  Canton, 
1798-9;  Torringford,  1798;  New  Hartford,  1798-9;  Torrington, 
1798-9;  Plymouth,  Harvvinton,  Goshen,  Farmington,  Norfolk, 
Bristol,  Burlington,  Avon,  Bloomfield  and  Middlebury,  in  1799. 
From  the  year  1800  they  became  more  numerous  and  extensive  in 
western  New  England.     Rev.  Bennett  Tyler,  D.D.,  said  : 

Within  the  period  of  five  or  six  years,  commencing  with  1797,  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  churches  in  New  England  were  visited  with  "times  of  refreshing 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  t 

/Rev  Ebenezer  Porter,  D.D.,:|:  said  : 
The  day  dawned  which  was  to  succeed  a  night  of  more  than  sixty  years.  As 
in  the  valley  of  Ezekiel's  vision,  there  was  a  great  shaking.  Dry  bones,  animated 
by  the  breath  of  the  Almighty,  stood  up  new-born  believers.  The  children  of  Zion 
beheld  with  overflowing  souls,  and  with  thankful  hearts  acknowledged  "this  is  the 
finger  of  God."  The  work  was  stamped  conspicuously  with  the  impress  of  its 
Divine  author,  and  its  joyful  effects  evinced  no  other  than  the  agency  of  Omnipotence. 

rRev.  Edward  D.  Griffin,  D.D.,  said  :§ 

I  could  stand  in  my  door  at  New  Hartford,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and 
number  fifty  or  sixty  contiguous  congregations  laid  down  in  one  field  of  Divine 
wonders,  and  as  many  more  in  different  parts  of  New  England. 

'  (]R.ev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.D.,  and<^Ir.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  both  emi- 
nently successful  laborers  in  great  Christian  enterprises  in  the  first 
half  of  the  present  century,  were  converts!  in  these  revivals. 

In  the  year  1800  a  revival  commenced  in  Palmyra,  NewJVork, 
and  extended  to  Bristol,  Bloomfield,  Canandaigua,  Richmond,  Lima, 
and  other  places.  In  New  Jersey  revivals  of  extraordinary  extent 
and  continuance  were  experienced  under  the  labors  of  Rev.  E.  D. 
Griffin,  D.D.,  at  Newark,  in  1802;  and  another  at  BaskingridCTe  in 
1803,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Robert  Finlay,  D.D.,  which  ex- 
tended to  many  neighboring  churches,  and  also  into  more  distant 
and  mountainous  regions  among  the  workmen  in  the  iron  mines  and 
furnaces.     Four  years  later  these  seasons  were  renewed. 

♦See  New  England  Revivals.  By  Rev.  Bennett  Tyler,  D.D.  Massachusetts  Sabbath-school 
Society.     Boston.    1846. 

+  Ibid.     Preface,  p.  5.  X  Subsequently  professor  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 

%  Lectures  on  Revivals.     By  Rev.  W.  B.  Sprague,  D.D.     Appendix,  p.  152. 

I  Am.  Quar.  Register,  1840.  Vol.  I,  p.  346.  Also  Li/e  0/ Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.D.  Pp. 
I2|  IS* 


372  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  f:f.— Subsequent  ReYiYals. 

Since  the  great  quickening  of  1800,  revivals  of  religion,  before  so 
rare,  have  been  of  more  frequent  occurrence,  affording  some  of  the 
brightest  pages  in  religious  history.  Modes  of  divine  operation 
characterizing  Christianity  in  the  apostolic  age  have  become  more 
common,  and  large  masses  of  people  have  been  wonderfully  moved 
and  changed.  It  will  be  impossible  to  fully  sketch  these  religious 
phases  and  mention  all  the  places  where  these  visitations  have 
occurred,  but  a  few  data  will  be  given  which  will  show  a  marked 
advance  upon  the  two  previous  centuries.  Inasmuch  as  such  an 
exhibit  must  necessarily  be  only  partial,  and  the  history  of  no  other 
denomination  affords  such  good  materials  prepared  at  hand  as  Rev. 
Dr.  G\\\Qtt^sHisiory  of  the  Presbyterian  C/iurch,  a  comprehensive 
statement  of  the  revivals  of  the  latter  denomination  during  the  first 
quarter  of  the  century  will  be  given. 

Beginning  with   the  year   1804,  a  marked  advance    in  nearly  all 

.parts  of  the  Church  was  mentioned.  The  report  on  the  state  of 
religion  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1805  was  of  "a  varied  char- 
acter;" that  of  1806  speaks  of  the  general  extension  and  pros- 
perity of  the  Church  ;  that  of  1807  speaks  in  language  of  admoni- 
tion and  apprehension;  that  of  1808  speaks  of  a  powerful  revival 
in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  under  Dr.  Griffin,  and  another  in  the 
Synod  of  Albany,  but  expresses  "  cause  for  sorrow  and  humiliation." 
From  1808  to  18 13,  a  troublous  period  in  the  nation,  there  were 
few  extended  revivals,  but  a  steady  growth,  increasing  the  member- 
ship of  the  denomination  in  four  years  twenty-five  per  cent.  The 
assemblies  of.  18 14-15  mention  some  special  outpourings  of  the 
Spirit,  but  with  loud  warnings  on  account  of  the  deleterious  influence 
of  the  war,  intemperance  and  other  vices.  The  report  of  1816  men- 
tions great  revivals  in  New  York  city,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  Troy 
and  other  large  places,  and  in  nine  presbyteries.     The  report  in  18 17 

J  speaks  of  "  wonders  of  mercy  "  in   the   Presbytery  of  New  Jersey, 

1  in  which  fifteen  hundred  conversions  were  reported,  of  five  hundred 
in  the   city  of  Troy,  and  of  other  revivals  in  seven  other  different 

/presbyteries.  The  report  of  1818  speaks  of  revivals  in  seventeen  of 
the  twenty-six  congregations  in  the  Cayuga  Presbytery,  of  six  or 
eight  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  four  other  presbyteries.  In  1819 
revivals  were  reported  as  having  prevailed    in  northern,  central  and 

\ western  New  York  ;  in  the  Grand  River  Presbytery,  Ohio ;  in 
northern  New  Jersey  and  in  eastern  Tennessee.  In  1820  there  were 
reports  of  revivals  in  between  seventy  and  eighty  churches,  fifteen 


ADDITIONS   TO    THE  CHURCHES.  873 

of  which  were  contiguous  congregations.  In  1821  fourteen  hun- 
dred accessions  were  made  to  the  church  in  the  Presbytery  of 
Albany;  one-thousand  in  the  Presbytery  of  Hudson,  while  four- 
teen other  presbyteries  had  also  been  visited  and  about  seven 
thousand  other  accessions  had  been  made  to  the  churches.  In  182 1 
mention  was  made  of  revivals  in  nine  presbyteries,  as  well  as 
throughout  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  and  in  numerous  localities  in 
northern  and  central  New  York.  In  1823,  thirty  presbyteries  repor- 
ted revivals.  Less  revivals  were  reported  in  1824;  but  in  1825 
more  than  twenty  presbyteries  reported  revivals.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that  during  the  period  often  years  (181 5- 1825)  not  less  than 
fifty  thousand  additions  were  made  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  as 
the  fruits  of  these  revivals.  Similar  movements  continued  during 
the  remainder  of  this  period. 

Such  were  the  revivals  during  the  first  thirty  years  of  this  cent- 
ury  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  one  of  the  most  staid  religious  1 
bodies  of  the  land.     The  Methodist  and  Baptist  churches,  if  their   1 
record  could  be  fully  sketched,  would  show  still  more  numerous  and    I 
powerful    revivals  and   greater  accessions.     The  additions    to    the 
churches,  from  1800  to  1830,  were  relatively  very  large. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  increased  from  40.000  to  173,229,  or  fourfold. 
;        The  Congregational  Church  increased  from  75,000  to  140,000,  or  twofold, 
j        The  Baptist  Church  increased  from  100,000  to  313.138,  or  threefold. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  increased  from  64,000  to  476, 1 53,  or  sevenfold. 

Nothing  like  such  an  increase  had  ever  before  been  known, 
though  it  has  since  been  paralleled  and  even  exceeded,  for  the  new 
revival  era  has  continued  to  our  times. 

The  revivals  thus  far  mentioned  occurred  chiefly  in  the  Presby- 
terian and  Congregation.il  churches.     At  the  same  time  among  the 
Baptists  and  the  Methodists   the  movement  was  even  more  power- 
ful.     In  the  space  of  three  years  (1800-1803)  the  communicants  of  \ 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  increased  from  64,890  to  104,070.* 

A  New  Condition. 

How  great  the  contrast  as  compared  with  almost  any  period  in 

I  the  previous  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  if  we  except  the  time  of 

jthe  Edwardian  and  VVhitefieldian  revivals,  extending  through  little 

imore  than  a  single  decade!       Rev,  (^benezer   Porter,   D.D.,  said 

that   until  this  time   there   had   been   no   revival    in   his   church  f 

in  its  entire   history.      Many  New  England  churches  had  had  no 

♦General  Minutes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.    1800-1803.  +  Washington,  Conn. 


374  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

revival  for  twenty-five,  forty,  sixty  and  even  one  hundred  years. 
Rev.(^r.  Storrs,  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  had  a  revival  in  his  church 
in  1811,  but  could  find  no  evidence  of  a  previous  revival  in  the 
preceding  one  hundred  years.*  Rev.(pr.  Snell,  of  North  Brook- 
field,  Mass.,  said  :  f 

From  the  time  that  Rev.  G.  Whitefield  passed  through  this  county  to  1817,  a 
period  of  about  seventy-five  years,  there  was  no  extensive  movement  of  a  religious 
nature  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  in  this  place.  The  first  revival  of  religion 
with  which  God  ever  blessed  this  people,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  commenced 
in  the  autumn  of  1816. 

Rev.fE.  D.  Griffin,  D.D.,  said  :  % 

Long  before  the  death  of  Whitefield,  in  1770,  extensive  revivals  in  America  had 
ceased,  and  except  one  in  Stockbridge,  and  some  other  parts  of  Berkshire  County, 
Mass.,  about  the  year  1772,  and  one  in  the  north  quarter  of  Lime,  Conn.,  about 
the  year  1780,  and  one  in  several  towns  in  Litchfield  County,  Conn.,  about  the 
year  1783,  I  know  of  none  which  occurred  afterward  until  the  time  of  which  I  am 
to  speak  (about  1 797-1 803). 

Rev.  ^hbel  Green,  D.D.,  President  of  Princeton  College,  said  :  § 

For  the  long  period  of  forty  years  (1773-1813)  there  was  nothing  in  Nassau 
Hall  that  had  the  appearance  or  name  of  a  religious  revival. 

Rev.  (Luther  Hart,  of  Connecticut,  said  :  f 

From  an  examination  of  all  the  records  which  we  have  been  able  to  command, 
and  from  a  pretty  extensive  inquiry  of  the  living,  we  cannot  find  more  than  fifteen 
places  in  New  England  in  which  there  was  a  special  work  of  grace  during  the  first 
forty  years  after  the  "  Great  Revival  " — that  is,  under  Edwards  and  Whitefield. 

Thus  was  the  spell  of  worldliness,  formalism  and  unbelief  effect- 
uallv  broken  and 

New  Spiritual  Movements  Ushered  In. 

Conspicuous  among  the  evangelists  of  this  period  were  Rev. 
Asahel  Nettleton,  of  Connecticut,  who  commenced  his  ministry  in 
181 1,  and  Revs.  Charles  G.  Finney.  Jacob  Knapp,  and  John  .Lord, 
who  came  forward  later.  About~"the  year  1826  certain  "  iiewjTieas- 
ures,"  as  they  were  called,  began  to  be  employed  for  arresting  the 
attention  of  men  and  bringing  them  to  Christ.  They  consisted 
chiefly  in  a  bolder  and  more  denunciatory  style  of  preaching,  pray- 
ing for  individuals  by  name,  reading  at  the  commencement  of  a 
meeting  notes  handed  to  the  preacher  by  individuals   requesting 

*  Semi-centennial  Sermon.  t  Ibid. 

X  Lectures  on  Revivals  0/  Religion.  By  Rev.  Wm.  Sprag;ue,  D.D.  Albany.  1832.  Ap- 
pendix, p.  151. 

§  Ibid,  p.  130.  I  Christian  Spectator,  June,  1833. 


FOUR  DAYS'  MEETINGS.  37S 

prayers  for  impenitent  friends,  inviting  seekers  to  an  "  anxious  seat," 
and  committing  seekers  to  special  promises.  In  the  Presbyterian 
and  Congregational  churches  these  were  new  measures,  and  much 
controversy  arid  estrangement  was  produced.  A  convention  for  the 
consideration  of  these  measures  was  held  at  New  Lebanon,  N.  Y., 
July  18-28,  1827,  composed  of  twenty  clergymen  from  New  York 
and  New  England.  The  discussion  was  able  and  spiritual,  but  no 
agreement  was  reached ;  the  revivalists  continued  to  use  their 
peculiar  methods  as  before,  and  the  revivals  went  on.  * 

In  1827  "  FourDays'_Mfi£tijElgs,''  so  called  because  usually  held 
throughtour  days,  the  entire  time  each  day  and  evening  being 
sacredly  devoted  to  religious  services,  were  instituted  in  New 
Hampshire  by  that  remarkable  man,  Rev.  John  Lord,  and  widely 
adopted  in  other  States  with  great  results.  From  1826  to  1832 
revivals  of  religion  were  very  common  and  of  unusual  power,  con- 
sidered by  some  "  the  most  general  and  remarkable  work  of  grace 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  American  Church."  Divine  influences 
descended  like  abundant  showers  of  rain,  cities  and  rural  localities 
sharing  alike  in  the  blessings.  It  laid  and  cemented  the  foundations 
of  many  city  churches,  and  filled  the  colleges  and  theological  semi- 
naries with  consecrated  young  men,  who  have  spent  many  years 
since  in  the  Gospel  ministry.  In  the  city  of  New  Haven  in  a  single 
lyear  (1831)  nine  hundred  conversions  were  reported.  Revivals  of 
religion  were  intimately  connected  with  the  great  temperance  reform  f 
of  that  time,  the  two  movements  mutually  supplementing  and  help- 
ing each  other.  From  about  the  first  of  February,  183 1,  through 
five  succeeding  months  an  unusual  interest  pervaded  the  whole 
United  States.  Thousands  never  before  moved  gave  attention  to 
personal  religion.  It  was  estimated  upon  a  credible  basis  of  facts 
that  during  these  five  months  a  special  revival  interest  was  felt  in 
not  less  than  fifteen  hundred  towns,  besides  more  than  as  many 
others  which  shared  in  some  degree  in  the  refreshing,  and  that  more 
than  fifty  thousand  persons  professed  to  have  become  partakers  of 
saving  grace,  over  three  hundred  of  whom  were  students  in  colleges. 
Many  persons  of  eminent  character  and  influence  shared  in  the 
quickening.  The  principal  cities  were  signally  favored,  all  the  lead- 
ing denominations  kindly  and  vigorously  co-operating.  Very  few 
extravagances  were  witnessed,  and  the  practical  fruits  were  numer- 
ous instances  of  reparation  of  injuries  and  restoration  of  plundered 
property.  In  the  six  years  from  1826  to  1832  it  was  estimated 
that    two  hundred   thousand   people   united   with   the  leading  de- 

*  See  Christian  Spectator  for  1827,  p.  499.  tSee  Chapter  IV  of  this  period,  Section  I. 


376  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

nominations  as  communicants,  sixty  thousand  of  whom  were  young 
.men. 

I  The  financial  panic  of  1836-37  was  followed  by  powerful  re- 
vivals; and,  again,  revivals  accompanied  the  Millerite  excitement 
from  1842-45.  In  the  latter  the  work  was  largely  abnormal,  and 
the  churches  were  filled  with  converts  who  soon  dropped  out  of  the 
ranks.  A  serious  reaction  followed,  and  a  painful  declension  closed 
the  period,  extending  through  about  a  dozen  years,  until  the  revival 
of  1857-58. 


Section  5.— College  ReYiYals. 

Nor  were  the  colleges  passed  by  in  these  divine  visitations. 

;       In  Yale  College,  in   j_8o2,  then   under  the  presidency  of  Rev. 

^Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  poured  out. 
ITTfidelity'iir'tlTe  college  at  this  time  has  been  elsewhere*  sketched. 
In  1795  only  eleven  under-graduates  were  members  of  the  college 
church.  .  Four  years  after  the  number  was  reduced  to  four  or  five, 
and  at  one  communion  only  a  single  student  was  present,  several 
others  being  absent  from  town.  In  1801  a  strong  desire  for  an  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Spirit  prevailed  among  the  faithful  few,  who 
met  in  "an  upper  room  "  for  prayer.     Early  in  the  spring  of  1802 

.promising  indications  appeared.     First  a  senior  yielded  to  the  gra- 

Icious  influence,  followed  soon  by  another  senior,  J erermajj .  F^,aEj;s  ; 

Ithen  by  several  more,  then  by  fifty  more,  and  others,  until  seventy-five 
out  of  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  students  in  all  professed  conver- 
sion and  united  with  the  church.   About  one  half  became  ministers  of 

Ithe  Gospel.  Those  were  "  memorable  days."  The  change  in  the 
moral  and  social  aspects  of  the  college  deeply  impressed  the  city. 
After  the  usual  vacation  interruption  the  same  character  predomi- 
nated. This  revival  exerted  such  a  powerful  influence  in  breaking 
the  power  of  the  infidelity  of  that  period  that  it  never  recovered. 
In  1808  there  was  a  revival  in  which  about  thirty  students  professed 
conversion,  three  fourths  of  whom  became  ministers  of  the  Gospel : 
in  1812  and  181 3  about  twenty  students  professed  conversion, 
among  whom  was  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  for  many  years  a  promi- 
nent Congregational  mmister  in  Boston,  of  most  estimable  char- 
acter, and  Secretary  of  the  American  Education  Society;  in  1815 
another  revival,  numbering  eighty  converts,  one  of  whom  was  Rev. 
\Vm.  Nevins,  D.D..  subsequently  a  distinguished  minister  in  Balti- 

*  See  Chapter  IV,  Period  I. 


REVIVALS  IN    THE  COLLEGES.  377 

more;  in  1823-24,  about  thirty  converts ;  in  1827,  thirty  more,  and 
still  another  in  1828.  The  spring  of  1831  will  be  long  remembered 
for  its  wonderful  revival,  and  the  three  following  years  were  char- 
acterized by  an  abiding  religious  interest.  In  the  year  1835  about 
fifty  students  became  hopeful  converts,  and  in  1836-37  there 
were  spiritual  visitations.  In  the  space  of  ninety-six  years  (1741- 
1837)  this  college  was  favored  with  twenty  distinct  effusions  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  of  which  only  three  were  in  the  last  century.  * 

In  Dartmouth  College,  from  1800  to  1830,  there  were  five  re- 
vivals—in 1805,  1815,  1819,  1821,  and  1826.  In  the  revival  of  1815 
sixty  students  professed  conversion.  There  were  also  revivals  in 
1831  and  1834,  and  later.  It  was  said  that  in  the  first  sixty-five 
years  of  this  institution,  as  the  result  of  the  revivals,  ninety-five 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  were  thrust  out,  one  of  whom,  not  to  speak 
of  others,  Rev.  Dr.  Alvan  Hyde,  gathered  into  his  church  more  than 
seven  hundred  converts. 

In  Amherst  College,  founded  in  1821,  after  the  Congregationalists 
abandonedHlTdea  of  retaining  any  control  of  Harvard  University, 
there  were  marked  revivals  in  1823,  1827,  1828,  1831,  and  1835,  be- 
sides others  of  lesser  power,  making  twelve  in  the  first  twelve  years 
of  its  existence.     Rev.(^.  Heman  Humphrey  has  said  :  f 

During  a  considerable  part  of  the  time  three  fourths  of  the  under-graduates 
!  were  professors  of  religion,  and  there  has  always  been  a  majority.  No  class  has 
i  ever  passed  through  the  college  and  graduated  without  witnessing  at  least  one 
'■  revival  and  sharing  in  its  blessings.  Of  the  whole  number  of  alumni  in  1838, 
'  which  amounts  to  556.  nearly  three  fourths  are  professors  of  religion,  and  more 
I  than  half  of  them  are  in  the  ministry  or  preparing  for  it,  and  about  twenty  have 
1  gone  forth  as  missionaries. 

In  Williams  College  there  were  great  revivals  of  religion.  Founded 

when  morats^were~Tow,  and  when  French  infidelity  was  rife,  the 

progress  of  religion  was  slow  at  first ;  but  a  revival  commenced  in 

1805  and  progressed  slowly  through  the  summer.     In  the  summer 

I  of  1806  the  interest  deepened  and  widened,  Messrs.^amuel  J.  Mills 

land^ames  Richards,  subsequently  widely  known   in   evangelizing 

'  labors,  being  prominent  actors.     In  18 12,  the  era  of  serious  national 

embarrassments,  the   religious   interest   ran  low  and   intemperance 

appeared  among  the  students.     Some  hearts  were  moved  to  earnest 

prayer,  and  nearly  forty  students  professed  conversion.    In  181 5  there 

was  another  revival ;  another  in  18 19,  and  one  of  wider  extent  and 

*  For  a  fuller  account  of  Revivals  in  Yale  College  see  American  Quarterly  Register,  1838, 
particle  by  Prof.  Chauncy  Goodrich,  D.D.     P.  289,  etc 
+  American  Quarterly  Register,  1839,  p.  327. 


378  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

power,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  Griffin,  in  1825,  1826, 
and  1827.  Revivals  also  occurred  in  1832,  1838,  1840,  and  still  later. 
Those  of  1838  and  1840  were  very  powerful,  effecting  a  great  change 
in  the  morals  of  the  students.  * 

In  the  year  1831  revivals  occurred  in  fifteen  colleges,  gathering 
in  over  three  hundred  students  as  converts.  Similar  occurrences  in 
numerous  years  might  be  stated  in  the  other  colleges.  The  old 
academies  at  Wilbraham,  Mass. ;  Newbury,  Vt. ;  Kent's  Hill,  Me. ; 
Poultney,  Vt. ;  Amenia,  Cazenovia  and  Lima,  N.  Y.,  and  many  others 
elsewhere,  of  all  denominations,  have  seldom  passed  a  year  without 
some  revival  interest.  Thousands  of  young  persons  have  been  brought 
into  the  clnirches  while  attending  these  institutions. 


Section  e.— The  Effects 

Iof   the  revival   of  1799- 1803   were  extensive,  abiding,  and  in  the 
highest  degree  salutary. 

1.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  reformation  from  a  low  state  of 
morals  and  religion  which  had  long  and  alarmingly  prevailed. 

2.  It  gave  the  first  check  to  the  rampant  infidelity  of  the  times. 

3.  It  exploded  from  the  evangelical  churches  the  remains  of  the 
"  Half- Way  Covenant,"  whose  influence  had  been  so  deleterious. 
Thenceforth  spiritual  religion  came  into  greater  prominence  in  the 
churches. 

M  4.  It  gave  rise  to  the  numerous  evangelizing  enterprises  so  con- 
.jspicuous  in  the  churches  during  the  century.  The  Home  Missionary 
'i movements,  then  slightly  incepted,  were  infused  with  new  life,  mul- 
>|tiplied.  expanded,  and  energized.  An  immediate  powerful  impulse 
1  was  felt  to  spread  the  Gospel  in  destitute  frontiers,  among  the 
I  blacks  and  Indians.  Out  of  this  new  life  also  sprang  Tract,  Bible, 
'I Sunday-school,  educational,  city  and  foreign  mission  societies. 
Rev.^r.  Gardher  Spring f  said: 

From  the  year  1800  down  to  the  year  1825  there  was  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
these  celestial  visitations  spreading  over  different  parts  of  the  land.  During  the 
whole  of  these  twenty-five  years  there  was  not  a  month  in  which  we  could  not 
point  to  some  village,  some  city,  some  seminary  of  learning,  and  say.  "  Behold, 
what  hath  God  wrought  !  " 

Rev^^r.  Heman  Humphrey  said  : 

In  looking  back  fifty  years  and  more  the  great  revival  of  that  period  strikes  me 
m  Its  thoroughness,  in  its  depth,  in  its  freedom  from  animal  and  unhealthy  excite- 

*Am.  Quarterly  Register,  1841.  pp.  472,  473.  ^  Personal  Reminiscences.    Vol.  I,  p.  160. 


EFFECTS  OF   THE  REVIVALS.  879 

ment,  and  its  far-reaching  influence  on  subsequent  revivals,  as  having  been  de- 
cidedly in  advance  of  any  that  had  preceded  it.  It  was  the  opening  of  a  new 
revival  epoch,  which  has  lasted  now  more  than  half  a  century,  with  but  short  and 
partial  interruptions — and,  blessed  be  God,  the  end  is  not  yet.  The  glorious  cause 
of  religion  and  philanthropy  has  advanced  till  it  would  require  a  space  that  cannot 
be  afforded  in  these  sketches  so  much  as  to  name  the  Christian  and  humane  so- 
cieties which  have  sprung  up  all  over  our  land  within  the  last  forty  years.  Exactly 
how  much  we  at  home  and  the  world  abroad  are  indebted  for  these  organizations, 
so  rich  in  blessings,  to  the  revivals  of  1800  it  is  impossible  to  say,  though  much 
every  way — more  than  enough  to  magnify  the  grace  of  God  in  the  instruments  he 
employed,  in  the  immediate  fruits  of  their  labors,  and  the  subsequent  harvests  spring- 
ing from  the  good  seed  which  was  sown  by  the  men  whom  God  delighted  thus  to 
honor.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  modern  missions  sprung  out  of  these  revivals. 
The  immediate  connection  between  them,  as  cause  and  effect,  was  remarkably 
clear  in  the  organization  of  the  first  societies,  which  have  since  accomplished  so 
much ;  and  the  impulse  which  they  gave  to  the  churches  to  extend  the  blessings 
which  they  were  diffusing  by  forming  the  later  affiliated  societies  of  like  aims  and 
character  is  scarcely  less  obvious. 

TAKEN  AL  TOGE  THER  THE  RE  VI VAL  PERIOD  A  T  THE  CLOSE 
OF  THE  LAST  CENTURY  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  PRES- 
ENT FURNISHES  AMPLE  MA  TERIALS  FOR  A  LONG  AND  GLO- 
RIOUS CHAPTER  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  REDEMPTION.* 

*  Dr.  Humphrey  was  a  member  of  Yale  College  in  1802.    See  his  Revival  Sketches. 


380 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  11. 


THE  NEW  LIFE  EXPANDING-THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


Sec.  I.  Moral  and  Religious  Condition. 
"     2.  Ecclesiastical  Beginnings. 
"    3.  Trials  of  Pioneer  Preachers. 


Sec.  4.  Roman  Catholic  Opposition. 
"    5.  Improven.ent  from  1830  to  1850. 
"    6.  Benevolent  and   Educational  Work. 


DURING  the  fifty  years  of  this  period  a  great  change  came 
over  the  vast  western  valley.  Twelve  vigorous  States  with 
rapidly-multiplying  people  were  added  to  the  Union,  and  still 
larger  Territories,  with  the  beginnings  of  civil  order  and  numerous 
schemes  and  enterprises,  were  soon  after  received  into  the  sister- 
hood of  States..  The  population  of  this  region  increased  from 
500,000  in  1800  to  8,247,373  in  1850 — a  sixteenfold  advance.  The 
material  resources  unfolded  in  a  still  greater  ratio,  and  the  bound- 
less capabilities,  outreaching  the  largest  expectations,  called  for  the 
utmost  activity  and  zeal  of  the  churches.  It  soon  became  evident 
that  there  was  to  be  a  struggle  for  the  possession  of  this  inviting 
field.  At  the  outset  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  the  only 
religious  occupant.  Shall  Protestantism  enter,  and  will  Protestant 
enterprise  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  society  and  promptly  bear 
her  ministrations  to  the  new  communities?  Such  was  the  question 
— one  of  great  interest  and  importance. 

The  early  Roman  Catholic  occupancy  of  this  region  has  been 
already  noticed  at  considerable  length  in  previous  chapters.  In 
Illinois,  as  early  as  1683.  the  year  of  the  founding  of  Philadelphia, 
several  permanent  settlements  were  made  under  Roman  Catholic 
direction,  and  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Louisi- 
ana and  Mississippi,  for  about  one  hundred  years  prior  to  the 
present  century,  many  points  were  held  by  the  papists;  in  Alabama 
nearly  as  long,  and  in  Florida  for  more  than  two  hundred  years 
prior  to  this  century.  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Alabama 
and  Louisiana  remained  under  foreign  rule  and  papal  control  until 
1803,  and  Florida  until  1820.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
therefore,  all  the  vast  territory  from  Lake  St.  Clair  to  "  the  howling 


SABBATH  DESECRATION.  881 


wilderness  "  beyond  Wisconsin,  and  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  eastward  on  the  coast  line  to  Florida,  was  under  the 
sole  religious  control  of  Roman  Catholics.  Whatever  religious  oc- 
cupancy there  was,  was  papal,  and  in  some  localities  there  were  very 
considerable  populations  mixtures  of  French,  Spanish  and  Indians. 


Section  1,—Th.e  Moral  and  Religions  Condition. 

of  these  new  regions  at  the  opening  of  this  century  was  most 
deplorable.  Rev.  Jacob  Young,  who  went  to  Illinois  in  1804.  said  : 
"  The  bulk  of  the  people  are  given  up  to  wickedness  of  every  kind. 
Of  all  places  this  is  the  worst  for  stealing,  fighting  and  lying.  *  My 
soul,  come  not  into  their  secret  places  ! '  "  Rev.  Jesse  Walker,  who 
went  to  St.  Louis  in  1820,  said  "  the  population  was  made  up 
mostly  of  Catholics  and  infidels,  very  dissipated  and  wicked."  It 
was  thought  that  no  Protestant  minister  could  gain  access  to  them, 
and  he  was  advised  to  return  to  his  family.  Rev,  Elisha  B.  Bow- 
man, who  went  to  New  Orleans  in  1805,  said  : 

As  for  the  settlements  of  this  country,  there  are  none  that  are  composed  of 
Americans.  From  Baton  Rouge,  the  Spanish  fort,  which  stands  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Mississippi,  down  two  hundred  miles,  it  is  settled  immediately  on  each  bank 
by  French  and  Spaniards.  When  I  reached  the  city  I  was  much  disappointed  in 
finding  but  few  American  people  there,  and  a  majority  of  that  few  may  be  truly 
called  beasts  of  men.  .  .  .  The  Lord's  day  is  the  day  of  general  rant  in  this 
city.  Public  balls  are  held,  traffic  of  every  kind  is  carried  on,  public  sales, 
wagons  running,  and  drums  beating  ;  and  thus  is  the  Sabbath  spent.  ...  I  reached 
the  Opelousas  countiy,  and  the  next  day  I  reached  the  Catholic  church.  I  was 
surprised  to  see  race-paths  at  the  church  door.  Here  I  found  a  few  Americans, 
who  were  swearing  with  almost  every  breath  ;  and  when  I  reproved  them  they  told 
me  that  the  priest  swore  as  hard  as  they  did.  They  said  he  would  play  cards  and 
dance  with  them  every  Sunday  evening  after  mass;  and,  strange  to  tell,  he  keeps 
a  race-horse  and  practices  every  abomination. 

About  twenty  miles  further  he  found  another  settlement  con- 
sisting of  American  people. 

"  They  knew,"  he  says,  "  but  little  more  about  the  nature  of  salvation  than  the 
untaught  Indians.  Some  of  them,  after  I  had  preached  to  them,  asked  what  I 
meant  by  the  fail  of  man,  and  when  it  was  that  he  fell.  They  are  perishing  for 
lack  of  knowledge  and  are  truly  in  a  pitiable  condition." 

Detroit. 

"  Although  Detroit  was  visited  as  early  as  1610,  and  a  settle- 
ment effected  and  a  fort  erected  in  1701,  it  was  not  until  1805  that 
a  Territorial  government  was  established  in  Michigan.     Among  the 


382  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

earliest  settlers  were  emigrants  sent  out  (1749)  from  France  at  the 
expense  of  the  Government.*  In  1801,  when  Rev.  Mr.  Badger,  a 
Congregational  missionary,  reached  Detroit  he  reported  that  '  there 
was  not  one  Christian  to  be  found  in  all  that  region,  except  a  black 
man  who  appeared  pious.'  In  1804  it  was  spoken  of  as  *  a  most 
abandoned  place.*  At  this  time  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Bangs  visited  it 
as  a  Methodist  missionary,  and  a  Congregational  minister  told  him 
that  he  had  preached  in  Detroit  until  none  but  a  few  children 
would  come  to  hear  him.  '  If  you  can  succeed,'  he  added — '  which 
I  very  much  doubt — I  shall  rejoice.'  He  did  not  succeed,  but 
'shook  off  the  dust  of  his  feet  as  a  testimony  against  them  and  took 
his  departure.'  Barely  a  month  elapsed  after  this  significant  expres- 
sion of  disappointed  effort  before  the  place  was  almost  entirely 
destroyed  by  fire,  a  single  house  only  remaining  uninjured."  f  Rev. 
Mr.  Monteith,  in  1816,  said:  "There  is  no  Sabbath  in  this  coun- 
try." It  was  said  of  Mackinaw,  in  1820,  that  "the  Christian  Sab- 
bath had  not  got  so  far."  "The  general  aspect  of  manners  among 
the  troops  gave  an  idea  of  infernal  spirits  rather  than  of  human 
beings."  :|: 

Kentucky. 

The  low  state  of  morals  and  the  prevalence  of  infidelity  in  Ken- 
tucky at  the  close  of  the  last  century  have  been  before  referred  to. 
This  condition  was  somewhat  improved  after  the  great  revival  of 
1800,  but  some  localities  were  not  reached  by  its  influence,  and 
new  centers  of  population  were  constantly  forming  in  wild  regions. 
Professional  men  were  generally  avowed  unbelievers.  In  many 
places  with  a  considerably  large  population  there  was  not  a  place 
of  worship.  Mr.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  who  visited  that  section  in  the 
interest  of  home  missions  in  1813,  spent  a  Sabbath  in  Kentucky  in 
a  town  of  two  or  three  thousand  inhabitants  without  being  able 
to  collect  a  congregation  to  listen  to  the  word  of  life.  Negroes 
stood  in  groups  in  the  streets,  laughing  and  swearing;  boys  played 
and  hallooed,  while  the  men  on  the  outskirts  were  shooting  pigeons 
and  the  more  respectable  class  were  riding  about  for  amusement. 
The  Sabbath  was  distinguished  from  other  days  only  by  greater 
noise,  amusement,  profanity  and  dissipation.  This  was  by  no 
means  a  solitary  case.  Ten  years  later  there  were  three  large  flour- 
ishing churches  in  that  place.  In  1818,  in  Danville,  Ky.,  with  a 
population  of  twelve  hundred  people,  there  was  not  a  single  male 

•  Sketches  of  I  he  City  of  Detroit,  p.  3.  t  Bane:s's  History  0/  Methodism. 

(Gillett's  History  0/ the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,     Vol.  II,  p.  437. 


DENOMINATIONAL  PIONEERS.  383 

member  of  the  Presbyterian  church  ;  and  the  only  other  church 
was  the  Roman  Catholic.  There  were  many  deists  there.  Lex- 
ington had  been  the  head-quarters  of  Jacobinism  in  Kentucky, 
and  for  many  years  after  it  remained  under  the  dominion  of 
infidehty,  which  supplanted  the  Presbyterians  in  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity. This  was  the  predominant  influence  until  1828,  when  a 
powerful  revival  spread  through  the  place,  in  which  five  hundred 
persons  united  with  the  churches.     From  that  time  infidelity  lost 

its  ascendency. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Low,  who  visited  Shawnee  Town,  III.,  about 
eicrht  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash,  in  1817,  said  that 
among  its  two  or  three  hundred  inhabitants  there  was  not  a  single 
one  that  "  made  any  pretensions  to  religion."  "  Their  shockmg 
profaneness  was  enough  to  make  one  afraid  to  walk  the  street, 
and  those  who  on  the  Sabbath  were  not  fighting  and  drinkmg  at 
the  taverns  and  grog-shops  were  either  hunting  in  the  woods  or 
trading  behind  their  counters."  Of  the  five  hundred  inhabitants  of 
Kaskaskia  one  half  were  French  and  Roman  Catholics.  Among 
the  other  half  were  six  professors  of  religion,  two  Presbyterians, 
two  Methodists,  one  Congregationalist  and  one  seceder.  Ihe 
Sabbath  was  scarcely  recognized.* 


Section  ^.-Ecclesiastical  Beginnings. 

In  the  preceding  period  the  origin  of  the  leading  religious 
bodies  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Ohio  was  briefly  si<etched. 
Still  more  distant  frontiers  in  Michigan,  Indiana.  Illmois,  Missouri. 
Mississippi,  etc..  were  penetrated  and  occupied  by  the  advanc.ng 
population  of  the  present  period,  opening  new  doors  for  Christian 

zeal  and  enterprise.  ^  .  •     ^u  .^ 

The  Baptists  were  among  the  first  religious  pioneers  in  these 

new  States.     In  Indiana  several  small  Baptist  churches  were  formed 

aloncr  the  Whitewater  River  about  the  year  1802.     Seven  years  later 

they^ad  increased  to  nine  churches,  with  380  "^-"^^ers   and  wei^ 

organized  into  an   association.     In  Illinois  the  first  Baptist  church 

vv?s  organized  at  New  Design,  in  1796.  and  the  first  association  in 

807    con    sting  of  five  churches.     The  first  Baptists  in  Missouri 

then  Upper  Louisiana)  consisted  of  families  emigrating  from  North 

Carolina'and  Kentucky  as  early  as  1796  -^  /  797'  ^^f -they  id 

several  years  under  the  Spanish  Gov^^m^en^J^n^^ 

^        ,  GiUetf  s  History  0/ the  'presbyterian  Church.     Vol.  II,  p.  416. 


384  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ileges.  Rev.  John  Clark,  an  Englishman  by  birth  and  originally  a 
Methodist,  was  the  first  Baptist  preacher  in  this  State.  No  tole- 
ration being  allowed  to  Protestant  worship  under  Spanish  rule  their 
meetings  were  often  broken  up.  After  this  region  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States,  in  1803,  Protestants  more  freely  entered  it,  and  the 
first  Baptist  church  was  organized  in  1804,  ^t  Tywappity.  The  first 
church  of  this  denomination  in  St.  Louis  was  constituted  in  1818. 
In  Arkansas  a  Baptist  church  was  organized  at  Fourche  a  Thomas, 
Lawrence  County,  in  18 18.  In  Michigan  no  Baptist  church  was 
organized  until  1824,  and  in  ten  years  they  had  increased  to  fifty. 
In  Mississippi  Rev.  Richard  Curtis  organized  a  church  in  1797, 
consisting  of  Baptist  emigrants  from  South  Carolina.  Mr.  Curtis 
suffered  much  from  Spanish  and  papal  intolerance,  and  for  a  while 
was  driven  from  the  region.  Revs.  Messrs.  Cooper,  Snodgrass  and 
Stamply  were  some  of  the  early  pioneer  preachers  of  this  faith,  and  a 
Baptist  Association  was  organized  in  1807  in  the  south-western  part 
of  the  State.  In  181 5  there  were  two  associations,  with  46  churches, 
30  ministers,  and  2,348  members.  A  State  Convention  was  formed 
in  1822.     From  this  State  Baptist  emigrants  entered  Louisiana. 

The  earliest  Congregational  church  in  Michigan  was  organized 
in  1827,  in  Indiana  in  1835.  in  Illinois  in  1833  and  in  the  other 
States  at  still  later  dates.  They  claim  to  have  suffered  much  in  the 
West  as  a  denomination  from  the  relations  which  they  sustained  to 
the  Presbyterians,  many  of  their  first  churches  and  members  being 
absorbed  by  the  latter. 

The   Presbyterians. 

The  first  movement  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Mississippi 
was  made  in  the  autumn  of  1800  by  Rev.  James  Hall,  of  North 
Carolina,  under  a  commission  of  the  General  Assembly.  He  began 
a  mission  in  Natchez,  assisted  by  two  brethren.  Missions  were 
subsequently  established  at  Bayou  Pierre,  Bethany  and  Amity.  In 
1816  the  Mississippi  Presbytery  was  constituted  with  four  ministers. 
The  first  Presbyterian  church  in  Natchez  was  not  formed  until 
1817.  The  oldest  church  was  that  at  Bethel,  organized  in  1804.  In 
18 1 5  the  General  Assembly  sent  Rev.  Ezra  Fisk  to  New  Orleans  to 
labor  four  months.  The  following  year  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  was 
appointed  by  the  trustees  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  to 
visit  New  Orleans  to  examine  into  its  moral  condition  and  establish  a 
church.  He  was  followed  in  1 8 1 8  by  Rev.  Sylvester  Earned.  By  the 
united  labors  of  these  men  the  foundations  of  Presbyterianism  in  that 
city  were  laid.     In  1825  the  Presbytery  of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana 


PRESBYTERIAN  MISSIONARIES.  888 

consisted  of  but  thirteen  ministers,  of  whom  eight  were  mission- 
aries sent  out  by  the  Assembly's  Board.     The  population  of  these 
two  States  was  then  250,000.     One  of  the  earliest  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionaries in  Alabama  was  Rev.  J.  W.  Piatt,  sent  out  by  the  Young 
Men's  Evangelical  Missionary  Society  of  New  York.     He  entered 
upon  his  labors  in  Huntsville  in  1819.     Revs.  Francis  H.  Porter, 
Lucas  Kennedy,  James  L.  Sloss  and  Highland  Hurlburt  were  also 
early  laborers  in  this  field.    In  1825  the  two  presbyteries  of  Alabama 
and  Northern  Alabama,  covering  the  whole  State,  contained  seven- 
teen ministers,  and  in  1830  they  numbered  29  ministers,  41  churches 
and  1,713  members.*     The  first  Presbyterian  church  in  Florida  was 
organized  by  Rev.  William  McWhir  in  1824,  at  St.  Augustine.  At  this 
time  there  was  no  other  Protestant  missionary  in  that  State.     A  mis- 
sionary of  the  Methodist  Church  had  been  laboring  there,  but  had  left. 
For  several  years  this  was  the  only  Presbyterian  church  in  Florida. 
The  first  Presbyterian  missionaries  sent  into  Indiana  were  Rev. 
Thomas  Williamson,  in  1805,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Holt,  in  1806.    The 
first  Presbyterian  church  was  constituted  at  Vincennes  in  1806,  by 
Rev.  Samuel  B.  Robinson.     Rev.  Samuel  Thornton  Scott,  of  Ken- 
tucky,   was  the   first  resident  minister.     In  1830   Presbyterianism 
numbered  in   Indiana  34  ministers,  84  churches   and  about  3,000 
members.     The  earliest    notice  taken  of   Illinois  as  a  missionary 
field  by  the  Presbyterians  was  in  18 16,  when  Rev.  Backus  Wilbur 
was  sent  to  labor  in  that  State.     The  next  year  he  was  followed 
by  Revs.  John  F.  Crowe  and  Eliphalet  W.  Gilbert.     In  1828  the 
Presbytery  of  Illinois  Center  was  organized.     The  first  Presbyterian 
missionary  to  Missouri  reached  St.  Louis  in  1816.     The  population 
was    largely  French  and  Roman  Catholic,  with  only  two  or  three 
professed  Presbyterians.     The  first  church  was  organized  in  1816,  at 
Bellevue,  in  Washington  County.     The  first  in  St.  Louis  was  formed 
in  18 17,   consisting  of  only  nine  members,  and  it  was  eight  years 
before  they  were  able  to  complete  their  house  of  worship.     In  1830 
the  Presbytery  of  Missouri  had  but  8  ministers,  with  86  churches 
and  about  400  members.     The  first  Presbyterian  missionary.  Rev. 
John    Monteith,   reached  Michigan   in   1 8 16,  and    commenced    his 
labors  at  Detroit.     Others  were  sent  soon  after.     In  the  course  of 
a  few  years  churches   were  gathered  at   Monroe,  Meigs,   Detroit, 
Ypsilanti,    Dexter,  Farmington,   Bloomfield,    Pontiac,    Mackinaw, 
Strasburg,  Ann  Arbor,  etc.     The  Presbytery  of  Detroit  was  erected 
in  1827,  consisting  or  five  ministers. 

*  History  of  t/te  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     By  Rev.  E.  H.  GiUett,  D.  D. 
Vol.  II,  p.  392. 
25 


386  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"  A  g[an  of  union  between  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists 
in  the  new  settTcfneiits,''  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  estab- 
lishment of  churches  on  the  frontiers,  was  arranged  and  adopted  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century.  It  was  first  agreed  upon  in  i8or  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  General 
Association  of  Connecticut — the  only  body  of  the  kind  then  existing 
among  the  Congregationalists — and  subsequently  adopted  by  the 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts.  The  provisions  of  this 
"  Plan "  were,  that  "  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  emi- 
grating to  the  new  settlements  of  the  West  should  be  encouraged 
to  foster  a  spirit  of  mutual  forbearance  and  accommodation  ;  "  that 
a  Congregational  church  settling  a  Presbyterian  minister,  or  vice 
versa,  may  still  "  conduct  their  discipline  "  according  to  their  own 
ecclesiastical  principles  ;  and  that  in  case  the  church  should  be  of  a 
mi.xed  character — partly  Presbyterian  and  partly  Congregational — 
they  should  "  choose  a  standing  committee  from  the  communicants 
of  said  church,"  to  issue  all  cases  of  discipline  without  consulting 
any  body  else,  but  allowing  the  condemned  member  to  appeal,  if 
he  were  a  Presbyterian,  to  the  Presbytery,  if  a  Congregationalist  to 
the  Church.  This  compact  is  claimed  by  eminent  Congregational 
authority  to  have  been  uncoiigrcgational,  the  General  Association 
having  no  right  to  make  it,  being  merely  a  body  of  ministers,  and  that 
under  its  operation  "  scores  of  churches  gradually  slid  off  from  the 
Congregational  platform,  as  hundreds  have  since."*  Yet  it  is 
probable  that  it  was  the  means  of  more  widely  extending  the  Gos- 
pel. 

The   Methodists. 

The  Metliodists  ventured  within  the  present  limits  of  the  State  of 
Indiana  in  i803,  f  when  there  were  only  a  few  scattered  settlers, 
and  the  first  society  was  organized  in  Gassaway,  Clark  County.  In 
1810  three  circuits  had  been  formed,  with  four  preachers  and  760 
members.  Rev.  Benjamin  Young  was  sent  to  Illinois  in  1804,  when 
the  population  numbered  a  few  hundreds.  The  following  year  he 
reported  ^j  communicants.  In  1830,  in  Illinois  and  Indiana,  there 
were  reported  22.000  Methodist  communicants.  In  1S03  a  Meth- 
odist local  preacher  by  the  name  of  Freeman  found  his  way  to  De- 
troit and  preached  there.  The  following  year  Rev.  Nathan  Bangs, 
then  traveling  a  circuit  in  Canada,  visited  Detroit  and  preached, 
though  without  apparent  success.     He  was  followed  five  years  later 

♦  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Congregational  Church.    By  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Clark.  D.  D.    Pp.  24 1-2. 
t  Annals  0/ the  MethoAist  Episcopal  Church  in  Indiana.     By  Rev.  Aaron  Wood.  1S54.    P.  3. 


METHODIST  ADVANCES.  387 


by  Rev.  William  Case,  and  subsequently  by  an  Irisli  local  preacher 
named  Mitchell.  The  first  Methodist  Society  in  Michigan  was  or- 
ganized in  i8lo,  in  the  town  of  Monroe,  but  it  was  soon  broken  up. 
The  population  at  that  time  was  a  very  difficult  class  to  mold. 
The  first  permanent  Society  was  formed  in  1815,  and  in  1830  676 
Methodist  communicants  were  reported  from  that  State.  Method- 
ism was  introduced  into  Missouri  in  1804,  by  Rev.  Joseph  Oglesby, 
who  reconnoitered  Missouri  Territory  to  the  extremity  of  the  settle- 
ments, preaching  wherever  he  could  find  a  few  people.  In  1806  he 
was  followed  by  Rev.  Jesse  Walker — "  the  Daniel  Boone  of  Western 
Methodism  " — one  of  the  most  indomitable  spirits  in  its  band  of 
heroic  pioneer  preachers.  The  next  year  Rev.  John  Travis,  then  a 
mere  youth,  was  assigned  to  this  circuit.  In  1816  Missouri  and 
Illinois  were  united  in  a  Conference,  and  called  the  Missouri  Con- 
ference, with  no  western  boundary,  but  "  including  the  last  Meth- 
odist cabin  toward  the  setting  sun." 

About  181 5  or  1816  Methodism  was  introduced  into  Arkansas. 
In  1799  Rev.  Tobias  Gibson,  a  native  of  Georgia,  commenced  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  Methodism  in  Natchez,  Mississippi.  It  was 
a  far-off  region,  reached  by  several  hundred  miles  of  travel  on  horse- 
back through  the  wilderness,  mostly  along  Indian  trails,  until  he 
struck  the  Cumberland  River,  thence  down  that  river  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi in  a  canoe  six  or  eight  hundred  miles  further.  "  The  new 
Society  here  organized  was  like  a  new  sign  in  the  far-off  southern 
heavens.  To  the  pioneer  preachers  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  it 
was  as  the  constellation  of  the  cross  to  spiritual  mariners  in  the 
southern  seas.  It  opened  a  boundless  prospect  of  progress,  and 
the  word  Natchez  sounded  like  a  new  order  of  march  to  the  itiner- 
ants and  their  cause— that  march  which  they  have  since  made  over 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  even  to  the  Pacific  boundary  of 
California."*  Eight  years  later  five  circuits  were  reported  in  that 
south-western  region,  with  six  preachers  and  41 5  members.  In  1803 
the  eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow  penetrated  into  the  present  limits  of 
Alabama,  and  was  there  again  in  1804.  Colonel  Rickett,  in  his  His- 
tory of  Alabama,  says  that  he  preached  the  first  Protestant  sermon  de- 
livered in  that  State.  In  1807  missionaries  were  sent  there  by  Bishop 
Asbury  from  the  South  Carolina  Conference.  The  term  "  mission- 
ary" in  those  days  implied  that  "  they  were  to  push  to  regions  be- 
yond." They  commenced  their  labors  between  the  Oconee  and  the 
Tombigbee  rivers,  an  Indian  country  of  four  hundred  miles  extent.f 

#  Stevens's  History  0/ the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     Vol.  IV,  p.  131. 
t  Ibid.     Pp.  201-2. 


888  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  1805  Rev.  Elisha  W.  Bowman  was  sent  by  Bishop  Asbury  to  intro- 
duce Methodism  into  Louisiana.  He  made  his  way  to  Opelousas 
and  New  Orleans,  traversing  the  whole  country,  preaching  and 
warning  the  people,  whom  he  found  in  a  very  low  state  of  morality, 
thus  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Church  in  that  region.  In  1807 
Rev.  Jacob  Young  was  sent  to  preside  over  the  work  in  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana,  and  was  successively  followed  by  Revs.  John  Mc 
Clure  and  Miles  Harper,  and  soon  after  by  Rev.  William  Winans, 
a  noted  name  in  the  history  of  that  country. 

In  1830  there  were  37  Presbyterian  churches  in  Indiana,  with 
1,700  members;  in  Illinois,  13  churches,  with  about  500  mem- 
bers; in  Missouri,  17  churches,  with  605  members  ;  in  Michigan,  6 
churches;  in  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  64  churches,  with  about 
2,500  members.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  had  16  clergy- 
men in  Ohio,  4  in  Mississippi,  5  in  Kentucky,  3  in  Tennessee,  3  in 
Louisiana,  i  in  Arkansas,  3  in  Missouri,  and  5  in  Michigan.  The 
Cumberland  Presbyterians  numbered  about  7,000  communicants 
and  70  churches  in  all  the  West.  At  this  time  the  German  Reformed 
Church  had  organized  a  Synod  in  Ohio ;  the  Tunkers  had  40  or  50 
churches  in  the  West ;  the  Shakers  had  two  churches  in  Kentucky 
and  2.  in  Ohio ;  and  there  were  a  few  other  small  sects.  The 
Friends  were  established  in  Ohio  in  1812  and  in  Indiana  in  1821 


Section  5— Tlie  Trials  of  the  Pioneer  Preachers. 

and  missionaries  in  the  West,  often  of  the  most  disheartening  char- 
acter, deserve  mention.  Their  labors  extended  through  sparse  vil- 
lages and  open  prairies,  with  individual  settlers  widely  scattered. 
They  traveled  by  Indian  trails  and  marked  trees.  In  the  winter 
the  roads  were  so  bad  and  the  bridges  so  few  that  they  were  some- 
times obliged  to  desist  from  traveling.  Often  sleeping  in  the  woods 
or  on  the  open  prairies  on  their  saddle  blankets ;  cooking  their 
coarse  meals  by  the  way ;  fording  streams  on  horseback  with  saddle- 
bags and  blankets  lifted  to  their  shoulders;  exposed  without  shelter  to 
storms,  and  drying  their  garments  and  blankets  by  camp-fires  when 
no  friendly  cabin  could  be  found,  in  a  few  years  they  became  sal- 
low, weather-beaten  and  toil-worn,  and  appeared  among  their 
brethren  in  the  occasional  ministerial  gatherings  without  decent  ap- 
parel and  unused  to  the  amenities  of  civilized  society.  A  pioneer 
preacher  in  Louisiana  in  1805  wrote  : 


LARGE   CIRCUITS.  389 

Every  day  I  travel  I  have  to  swim  through  creeks  or  swamps,  and  I  am  wet 
from  head  to  feet,  and  some  days  from  morning  to  night  I  am  dripping  with  water. 
I  tie  all  my  "  plunder  "  fast  on  my  horse,  take  him  by  the  bridle  and  swim  some- 
times a  hundred  yards  and  often  further.  My  horse's  legs  are  now  skinned  and 
rough  to  his  hock  joints,  and  I  have  rheumatism  in  all  my  joints.  .  .  .  What 
I  have  suffered  in  body  and  mind  my  pen  is  not  able  to  communicate  to  you ;  but 
this  I  can  say,  while  my  body  is  wet  with  water  and  chilled  with  cold  my  soul 
is  filled  with  heavenly  fire,  and  I  can  say  with  St.  Paul,  "  But  none  of  these  things 
move  me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I  might  finish  my  course 
with  joy." 

These  bold  emissaries  of  the  cross  often  lost  their  way  and 
widely  wandered  over  unbroken  fields.  They  constantly  encoun- 
tered the  most  godless,  reckless  and  degraded  men — sometimes  more 
malicious  and  savage  than  the  wild  Indians  and  ferocious  beasts — 
who  had  fled  thither  from  the  retributions  of  justice  in  the  older 
settlements.  Often  prostrated  by  fevers  or  wasted  by  malaria 
the  years  of  pioneer  service  with  many  were  few  and  severe,  while 
others,  endowed  with  extraordinary  constitutions,  lived  to  become 
apostles  of  moral  heroism,  venerable  in  years  and  weighty  in 
words  and  character.  Peter  Cartwright,  Peter  Akers,  Alfred  Bran- 
son and  Aaron  Wood  came  down  to  our  times,  while  James  B. 
Finley,  Jacob  Young,  William  Winans,  James  Axley,  Jesse  Walker, 
Tobias  Gibson,  and  a  long  list  of  other  honored  names,  belonged 
to  the  militant  ranks  that  fell  in  the  earlier  struggles. 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  large  circuits  of  the  early  itinerant 
preachers  of  the  West.  The  following  careful  statement  will  convey 
a  very  clear  view  of  them.  Rev.  Alfred  Brunson,  who  traveled  one 
of  these  large  circuits  in  1822-3,  says  that  it  "extended  to  all  the 
white  settlements  of  the  Territory  (Michigan),  except  the  one  at  St, 
Mary's,  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  which  was  perhaps  hardly  white. 
From'  Detroit  we  went  north  to  Pontiac,  then  but  a  small  village. 
From  thence  we  went  down  the  Upper  Huron,  now  the  Clinton 
River,  to  Mount  Clemens,  and  thence  down  Lake  St.  Clair  and  river 
to  Detroit,  and  thence  again  to  the  River  Rouse,  and  up  that  stream 
some  seven  miles  to  the  upper  settlement,  thence  back  to  the  river 
and  lake-road  leading  to  Monroe  on  the  River  Raisin  :  up  that  nine 
miles,  mostly  on  an  Indian  trail,  to  the  upper  settlement,  and  back 
by  the  same  path  to  the  lake-road,  and  on  to  the  Maumee  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids,  and  thence  right  back  on  the  lake-road  fifty-eight 
miles  to  Detroit.  It  required  four  weeks  to  get  round,  though  we 
had  but  twelve  appointments."  * 

*A  Western  Pioneer,  or  Incidents  in  the  Life  of  Rev.  Alfred  Brunson,  D.D.     Cincinnati. 
872.     Hitchcock  &  Walden.     Vol.  I,  pp.  267-8. 


390  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  4.~Roman  CattLOlic  Opposition. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  as  late  as  1803  the  region  now 
comprised  in  the  States  of  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Missis- 
sippi and  Alabama  (and  until  1820  Florida  also),  was  subject  to 
foreign  sway,  which  tolerated  only  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  For 
a  long  period,  too,  in  Michigan  and  other  localities  in  the  North- 
west the  papal  religion  held  the  ascendency  among  the  early  mixed 
populations,  greatly  embarrassing  Protestant  efforts.  In  Missouri 
the  early  Baptists  suffered  from  severe  privations  and  were  denied 
freedom  of  worship.  Their  ministers  were  threatened  with  the 
Calaboza  (Spanish  prison),  but  through  the  leniency  of  the  com- 
mandant they  were  permitted  to  escape.  They  were  wholly 
surrounded  by  the  rites  and  laws  of  Romanism.  "  In  these  times 
of  restriction  Rev.  Abraham  Musick  applied  to  Zeno  Trudeau,  the 
commandant  at  St.  Louis,  an  officer  quite  friendly  to  the  Protestant 
emigrants,  for  leave  to  have  preaching  at  his  own  house.  The 
commandant  was  secretly  inclined  to  favor  the  Americans,  but  was 
compelled  to  reject  all  such  petitions  openly,  and  replied  promptly 
that  such  a  petition  could  not  be  granted."  * 

St.  Louis  in  1820. 

The  religious  sentiment  of  St.  Louis  was  almost  wholly  Roman 
Catholic,  and  it  was  not  until  18 18,  fifteen  years  after  ancient  f 
Louisiana  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  that  the  first  Protestant 
society  was  organized  in  that  city.  This  was  a  Baptist  church.  An 
Episcopal  church  was  erected  about  that  time,  and  the  first  move- 
ment to  collect  and  organize  a  Methodist  society  was  made  in  1820. 
The  struggle  for  its  accomplishment  has  had  but  few  parallels  in  the 
modern  history  of  Christianity.  Any  other  man  than  Jesse  Walker 
would  have  been  appalled  and  left  the  city.  He  had  resolved  to 
plant  a  Methodist  society  in  the  Romish  metropolis,  where,  up  to 
that  time,  the  Methodist  itinerants  had  "  never  found  rest  for  the 
soles  of  their  feet."  He  laid  his  plans  and  selected  two  young  min- 
isterial brethren  of  undoubted  courage  to  go  and  stand  by  him  "to 
the  bitter  end." 

When  they  reached  St.  Louis  the  Territorial  Lecjislature  was  in  session  there,  and 
every  public  place  appeared  to  be  full.  The  missionaries  preferred  private  lodgings, 
but  could  obtain  none.  Some  people  laughed  at  them  and  others  cursed  them  to  their 
face.     Thus  embarrassed  at  every  point,  they  rode  into  the  public  square  and  held 

*  American  Quarterly  Register^  1840-1,  p.  173.    Article  by  Rev  John  M.  Peck,  A.M.,  of  Illinois, 
t  Louisiana,  in  the  earlier  period,  comprised  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  all  the  country  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River. 


JESSE  WALKER  IN  ST.  LOUIS.  391 

a  consultation  sitting  on  their  horses.  The  prospect  was  gloomy  enough,  and  every 
avenue  seemed  closed  against  them.  The  young  preachers  expressed  strong 
doubts  as  to  their  being  in  the  path  of  duty.  Their  leader  tried  to  encourage 
them,  but  in  vain.  They  thought,  if  the  Lord  had  any  work  for  them  to  do  there, 
there  would  surely  be  some  way  to  get  to  it.  They  thought  it  best  immediately 
to  return  to  the  place  from  which  they  had  come,  and,  though  their  elder  brother 
entreated  them  not  to  leave  him,  they  deliberately  shook  off  the  dust  of  their  feet 
for  a  testimony  against  the  wicked  city,  and,  taking  leave  of  Walker,  rode  off  and 
left  him  sitting  on  his  horse.  Perhaps  that  hour  brought  with  it  more  of  the  feeling 
of  despondency  to  Jesse  Walker  than  he  ever  experienced  in  any  other  hour  of  his 
eventful  life;  and  stung  with  disappointment  he  said  in  his  haste,  "I  will  go  to 
the  State  of  Mississippi  and  hunt  up  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  He 
immediately  turned  his  horse  in  that  direction,  and  with  a  sorrowful  heart  rode  off 
alone.  Having  proceeded  about  eighteen  miles  he  came  to  a  halt  and  entered  into 
a  soliloquy  in  this  wise,  "Was  I  ever  defeated  before  in  this  blessed  work  .-*  Never. 
Did  any  one  ever  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  get  confounded  ?  No  ;  and 
by  the  g^ace  of  God  I  will  go  back  and  take  St.  Louis."  Then  reversing  his  course, 
without  seeking  either  rest  or  refreshment  for  man  or  beast,  he  immediately 
retraced  his  steps  to  the  city,  and  with  some  difficulty  obtained  lodgings  in  an 
indifferent  inn,  where  he  paid  at  the  highest  rate  for  every  thing.  The  next  morn- 
ing he  commenced  a  survey  of  the  city  and  its  inhabitants.  He  met  with  some 
members  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  who  knew  him,  and  said,  "  Why,  Father 
Walker,  what  has  brought  you  here  ?  "  His  answer  was,  "I  have  come  to  take  St. 
Louis."  They  thought  it  a  hopeless  undertaking,  and  to  convince  him  that  it  was 
so  remarked  that  the  inhabitants  were  mostly  Catholics  and  infidels,  very  dissipated 
and  wicked,  and  that  there  was  no  probability  that  a  Methodist  preacher  could 
obtain  any  access  to  them.  They  seriously  advised  him  to  abandon  the  enterprise 
and  return  to  his  family,  then  residing  in  Illinois.  But  to  all  such  expressions 
Walker  returned  one  answer,  "  I  have  come  in  the  name  of  Christ  to  take  St. 
Louis,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  will  do  it."  * 

His  first  public  experiment  was  in  a  place  occupied  by  the 
Baptists,  but  he  was  soon  excluded  from  this.  He  then  rented  an 
unfinished  dwelling-house.  This  he  fitted  up  himself  with  his  own 
hands.  Five  days  in  the  week  he  taught,  without  fee  or  reward,  the 
rudiments  of  education  to  the  children  who  would  come;  and  several 
evenings  each  week  he  gave  instruction  to  servants  and  other  adults. 
Gradually  his  rude  chapel  was  filled  with  hearers  and  the  school  with 
children.  Then  the  hired  house  changed  hands  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to  vacate  it.  A  gentleman  gave  him  permission  to  cut 
timber  for  a  chapel  in  his  forest,  a  little  way  off  across  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  he  built  a  house  of  worship.  New  friends  rose  up  to 
aid  him.  At  the  close  of  the  year  he  reported  seventy  members 
and  the  chapel  erected  and  paid  for.  He  was  reappointed  to  St. 
Louis  the  next  year,  and  in  1822  the  Missouri  Conference  held  its 
first  session  in  that  city. 

*  SMc/ies.     By  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Morris,  D.D  ,  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


392  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Similar  struggles  attended  the  introduction  of  Protestantism  into 
Louisiana,  Florida  and  Mississippi,  amid  the  formidable  opposition 
of  Romanism.  In  Mississippi  the  first  Baptists  were  driven  away 
by  the  papists. 

Michigan  has  been  alluded  to.  It  has  been  noticed  that  the 
Methodists  did  not  obtain  a  permanent  foothold  there  until  1815, 
and  even  after  that  time  until  1830  their  growth  was  very  slow. 
The  first  Protestant  church  edifice  was  not  erected  until  1818.  The 
first  Baptist  church  was  organized  in  1824,  and  the  first  Con- 
gregational church  in  1827.  The  Presbyterians  entered  the  State 
about  1820.  Rev.  Alfred  Brunson  says*  that  in  1822  there  were 
only  fourteen  Methodist  communicants  in  Detroit,  and  that  in  his 
whole  circuit,  which  embraced  the  entire  settled  portion  of  the 
Territory,  and,  in  addition,  the  Maumee  settlement  in  Ohio,  there 
were  only  130  communicants  of  that  denomination.  The  only  other 
Protestant  minister  at  that  time  in  the  Territory  besides  himself  and 
colleague  was  a  Presbyterian  licentiate  who  was  unordained,  and 
to  whose  flock  Brunson  was  accustomed  to  administer  the  sacra- 
ments. So  slow  amid  the  early  papal  influences  of  that  region  was 
the  introduction  and  spread  of  Protestant  Christianity. 

We  have  prepared  the  following  exhibit  of  the  ecclesiastical  sta- 
tistics of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  reckoning  from  the  Alleghany 
Mountains  westward,  and  south  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  for  the  year 
i  1830  :t 

Denominations. 


Presbyterian 

Methodist 

Baptist 

Protestant  Episcopal 

Cumberland    Presbyterian. 
Other  small  sects 


Ministers. 

^■ocieties  or 
Churches. 

Communicants, 

614 

924 

60,407 

638  t 

1,500 

173.083 

1,063 

1,701 

90,000 

51 

60  § 

2,000  § 

40  § 

70  § 

7,000  5^ 

10% 

200 

16,000  § 

'Total 2,476  4,455  348,490 

The  population  of  this  region  was  about  4,ooo,(X>o  at  that  time. 

Testimonies  as  to  the  Moral  Condition  of  the  West, 

dating  about  1830,  show  that  notwithstanding  all  that  had  been 
done,  and  the  numerous  religious  bodies  organized  and  established 
in  the  Mississippi  valley,  yet  in  many  localities  great  immorality 
and  religious  destitution  still  prevailed. 


*A    Western  Pioneer.     Cincinnati.     1872.     Hitchcock  &  Walden,     Vol.  I,  p.  265. 
I       t  In  part  from  the  American  Quarterly  Register,  1830-1,  p.  135. 
X  Traveling  preachers.  §  Estimated. 


RELIGIOUS  DESTITUTION.  393 

A  gentleman,  writing  from  Louisiana,  said : 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  families  who  have  not  heard  the  Gospel  for 
five,  or  even  ten,  years.  The  part  which  lies  west  of  the  Mississippi  is  in  a  very 
great  degree  destitute  of  all  the  means  of  grace.  Infidelity  and  other  destructive 
errors  extensively  prevail,  and  as  a  consequence  dueling,  gambling,  horse-racing, 
profaneness,  intemperance,  and  Sabbath-breaking  often  cause  the  Chrisfan's 
heart  to  bleed,  and  in  many  places  seem  almost  to  have  incorporated  themselves 
with  the  fashionable,  approved  customs  of  society. 

A  Baptist  clergyman,  writing  from  Ohio,  said: 

We  visit  whole  neighborhoods  sometimes  where  there  has  not  been  a  sermon 
preached  for  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

A  gentleman  from  West  Virginia  said : 
The  whole  country,  to  an  astonishing  extent  around,  is  destitute  of  almost  every 
kind  of  religious  information.     The  people  are  generally  indifferent  to  religious 
subjects, 

A  clergyman  from  Arkansas  wrote : 

In  my  seclusion  here  in  these  western  wilds  my  heart  at  times  is  ready  to  sink 
within  me  at  the  slowness  of  evangelical  movements  toward  poor,  neglected,  un- 
known Arkansas.  As  to  the  religious  and  moral  condition  of  this  country,  it  is 
deplorable  indeed.  On  this  subject  I  could  tell  you  a  tale  which  would  cause  your 
hearts  to  bleed. 

Said  another  gentleman : 

I  have  seen  enough  of  the  West  to  know  that,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  large  por- 
tions of  it  are  growing  up  with  briers  and  thorns. 

Said  another : 

The  progress  of  Romanism,  together  with  open  and  disguised  infidelity,  in  the 
great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  will  require,  according  to  present  appearances,  but 
a  few  years,  to  prepare  from  your  presses  a  tract,  which  you  may  entitle,  The 
Last  Hope  of  the  World  Fallen — America  Ruined.  Be  assured  that  in  all  the  de- 
partments of  benevolence  unprecedented  efforts  must  be  made,  and  made  soon, 
or  our  country  is  lost.  Our  civil  and  religious  institutions,  all  the  blessings  of  a 
free  government,  will  be  swallowed  up  as  with  a  flood,  and  Woe !  Woe !  will  be 
written,  in  tears  and  blood,  all  over  this  once  fair  and  happy  land. 

Said  another: 

The  truth  is  that  Satan,  plotting  the  destruction  of  our  nation,  and  the  over- 
throw of  Christianity  in  it,  has  fixed  his  eye  on  our  new  settlements,  and  has  erected 
and  fortified  his  strongholds,  and  if  they  are  not  wrested  from  him  his  object  in 
a  few  years  will  be  inevitably  attained. 

In  some  parts  of  the  West  at  that  time  it  was  said  that  any 
one  "  might  travel  hundreds  of  miles  and  in  vain  look  for  a  single 
temple  dedicated  to  Jehovah  or  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  break 
the  bread  of  life  to  its  perishing  inhabitants.     The  consequence  is 


394  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

that   many    of    them,    in     regard    to    religious    information,    are 
approaching  a  state  but  little  better  than  heathenism." 

Rev.  Alfred  Brunson  went  to  Detroit  in  1822.     In  a  sketch  of 
his  life*  he  says  : 

When  1  first  came  to  the  place  Sunday  markets  were  as  common  as  week-day 
ones.  The  French  brought  in  their  meats,  fowls,  vegetables,  etc.,  on  Sunday  as 
regularly  as  on  any  week-day.  After  selling  out  they  would  go  to  church,  attend 
mass,  and  perhaps  confess,  and  pay  for  absolution  out  of  their  market  money,  and 
then  go  home  apparently  in  good  spirits.  Nor  did  the  American  and  foreign  pop- 
ulation generally  pay  any  more  respect  to  the  day,  for  they  patronized  the  thing  to 
the  fullest  extent.  On  this  practice  I  proclaimed  a  war  of  extermination.  At  first 
it  made  a  stir.  But  a  young  Presbyterian  minister  who  was  there  joined  me  in  the 
denunciation  of  the  practice,  and  in  a  short  time  the  city  council  decreed  that  Sun- 
day markets  should  cease,  and  in  the  place  thereof  a  market  should  be  opened  on 
Sunday  night.  This  raised  a  great  fuss  among  the  French,  who  from  time  imme- 
morial had  thus  broken  the  Sabbath  and  after  the  market  gone  to  mass,  then  to 
tne  horse-races  in  the  afternoon,  and  fiddled  and  danced  and  played  cards  at  night. 
But  they  made  a  virtue  of  necessity,  and  soon  yielded  to  authority  and  gave  up  the 
Sunday  market,  but  adhered  to  the  other  practices. 

The  following  statement  in  regard  to  a  western  locality  appeared 
in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Tract  Society  for  1830. 

A  circuit  judge,  residing  here,  told  me  that  in  trying  a  certain  case  two  individ- 
uals were  brought  in  as  witnesses,  one  1 5  and  the  other  1 1  years  of  age.  On 
questioning  them  respecting  the  nature  of  an  oath  he  found  that  they  had  never 
seen  a  Bible,  had  never  attended  a  school  or  religious  meeting,  had  never  heard 
of  future  punishment,  of  God,  or  the  devil.  The  father  of  the  children  was  con- 
fused at  the  questions  asked,  and  upon  inquiry  the  judge  found  him  to  be  a  justice 
of  the  peace  in  the  county,  though  he  could  neither  read  nor  write. 

In  Kentucky,  with  a  population  of  687,917  in  1830,  there  were 
only  about  550  ministers,  and  they  had  access  to  about  250,000 
inhabitants,  leaving  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  people  of  the  State 
unprovided  for.  Mississippi  and  Alabama  had  a  population  of 
446,148  souls  and  about  275  ministers,  who  had  access  to  not  far 
from  150,000  inhabitants,  leaving  two  thirds  unprovided  for,  Ohio 
had  937,903  inhabitants  and  about  600  ministers,  who  had  access  to 
not  far  from  400,000  souls,  leaving  over  half  of  the  people  unpro- 
vided for.  Michigan,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana  were  in  a 
still  more  destitute  condition.  But  the  attention  of  the  churches 
in  the  older  States  was  aroused  to  the  urgent  necessities  of  this 
field,  and  home  missionary,  Sunday-school,  and  tract  societies  were 
sending  numerous  laborers  into  it. 


A  Western  Pioneer.    Vol.  I,  p.  273. 


IVI SCON  SIN.  IOWA.  TEXAS.  395 

Section  <5.— Condition  from  1830  to  1850. 

The  Methodists  and  Baptists  entered  Wisconsin  simultaneously. 
The  first  Baptist  church  was  constituted  in  1836,  and  the  first  Asso- 
ciation in  1S38,  composed  of  the  churches  at  Rochester,  South- 
port,  Milwaukee,  Lisbon,  Sheboygan,  Jefferson,  and  Salem.  In 
1840  there  were  15  Baptist  churches  in  the  State,  with  11  ordained 
ministers  and  455  communicants.*  In  1836  two  Methodist  preach- 
ers were  appointed  in  this  State,  Rev.  M.  Robinson,  to  Milwaukee, 
and  Rev.  W.  Royal,  to  Fox  River.  In  1837,  172  members  were 
reported,  and  in  1850  there  was  an  Annual  Conference,  with  75 
preachers  and  8,400  communicants.  Congregationalism  entered 
the  State  in  1838,  and  in  1850  numbered  53  churches. 

The  first  settlements  in  Iowa  began  soon  after  1830.  In  1840 
the  population  of  the  State  was  43,000.  The  first  Baptist  church 
was  formed  at  Long  Creek,  Des  Moines  County,  in  1834,  and  the  first 
Association  in  1839,  consisting  of  3  churches.  An  Anti-Mission 
Baptist  Association  was  formed  the  same  year.  In  1840  there  were 
12  regular  Baptist  churches,  8  ministers,  and  300  members  in  Iowa, 
Methodism  entered  the  State  in  1834.  That  year  the  appointment 
in  the  Minutes  stood,  "  Dubuque  and  Galena  Mission,  Barton  Ran- 
dle,  J.  T.  Mitchell."  In  1850  there  was  an  Iowa  Conference,  with  5 
Presiding  Elders'  Districts,  62  preachers,  and  11,420  communicants. 
The  Congregationalists  entered  the  State  in  1838,  and  in  1850 
they  had  32  churches. 

Methodism  entered  Texas  in  1836.  In  1838,  450  members  were 
reported,  and  a  Presiding  Elders'  District  was  constituted  with  7 
preachers,  among  whom  was  Rev.  Abel  Stevens,t  who  was  appoint- 
ed to  Houston  and  Galveston.  In  1840  tlie  Texas  Conference  was 
organized,  with  19  preachers,  25  local  preachers,  and  1,878  members. 
The  first  Baptist  Association  was  organized  in  Travis,  Austin  County. 
in  1840,  consisting  of  3  churches,  located  at  Travis,  Lagrange,  and 
Independence. 

Section  (?.— Benevolent  and  Educational  Work. 

During  the  year  1829-30  the  American___Hpme  Missionary  Soci- 
ety sent  62  missionaries  into  the  StaTe  of  Ohio,  who  served  90 
congregations  or  mission  districts;  18  to  Indiana,  who  served  26 
congregations  or  districts  ;  3  to  Louisiana,  who  served  4  congrega- 
tions or  districts;    12  to  Illinois,  who  served    15   congregations  or 

*  American  Quarterly  Register,  1841,  p.  182.  t  The  distinguished  historian  of  Methodism. 


396  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

districts  ;  lo  to  Michigan,  who  served  14  congregations  or  districts; 
and  19  to  other  Western  States  and  Territories,  who  served  28 
congregations  or  districts — total,  124  missionaries,  serving  177 
congregations  or  districts.  The  Board  of  Missions  of  thejGeneral 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  XJiurch  the  same  year  sent  to  Ohio 
45  missionaries  ;  to  Indiana,  ii ;  to  Illinois,  4;  to  Alabama,  42;  to 
Kentucky,  6;  to  Tennessee,  6;  to  Mississippi,  5  ;  to  Missouri,  3,  and 
to  the  North-west  Territory,  i — total,  85.  The  Americaij^r^t 
Society  also  entered  this  field.  Prior  to  1827  only  $700  worth  of 
tracts  Had  been  sent  to  the  West.  In  the  year  1829-30  it  reported 
57  auxiliary  societies  in  the  West  and  6  general  agents.  One 
hundred  thousand  pages  of  tracts  had  been  gratuitously  distributed 
in  Mississippi,  and  500,000  pages  had  been  granted  for  distribution 
in  Louisiana.  Permanent  depositories  were  established  in  some  of 
the  principal  towns.  The  whole  amount  of  tracts  sent  into  the 
Mississippi  valley  during  the  year  were  24,099,800  pages,  of  which 
2,655,067  were  for  gratuitous  distribution.  The  American  Temper- 
ance Society  reported  about  200  temperance  organizations-irLjthe 
W^est,  wfth  aboul  20,000  pledged  members.  Th"e~AmericaQ- .Bible 
Society  reported- 12,944  Bibles,  besides  about  11,000  Testaments, 
sent  into  Ohio  during  the  year  1829-30;  into  Kentucky,  14,404 
Bibles  and  about  5,000  Testaments;  into  Tennessee,  6,757  Bibles  and 
about  4,000  Testaments;  into' Indiana,  7,761  Bibles  and  about  as 
many  more  Testaments.  Illinois,  Missouri,  Louisiana,  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  etc.,  received  some,  but  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  agents 
and  making  other  preliminary  arrangements  had  retarded  the  work. 
In  all  the  West  there  were  192  auxiliaries.  The  American  Sunday- 
school  Union  had  about  700  Sunday-schools  and  43,659  scholars  in 
the  West,  and  the  Methodist  Sunday-school  Union  had  about  600 
more  schools  and  about  30,000  scholars  in  those  regions.  The 
Dutch  Reformed,  the  Baptist,  Congregational,  and  other  denomina- 
tions were  also  making  strenuous  efforts  in  this  direction ;  but  con- 
siderable difficulty  was  experienced  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  with  stated  religious  services  to  give  a  per- 
manent nucleus  to  these  organizations. 

Educational  Institutions. 

Notwithstanding  the  arduous  labors,  privations,  and  poverty  of 
the  early  settlers  of  these  regions  they  did  not  overlook  the  work 
of  education,  but  began  to  lay  the  foundations  of  these  institutions 
simultaneously  with   the  organization  of  the  communities.     In  the 


EDUCATIONAL  PROVISION.  397 

year  1800  there  were  2  of  these  higher  institutions  of  learning  be- 
yond the  Alleghanies — i  at  Greenville,  Green  County,  Tenn.,  founded 
in  1794,  and  the  other,  the  Transylvania  University,  at  Lexington, 
Ky.,  founded  in  1798.  From  1800  to  1830,  24  others  were  estab- 
lished ;  namely,  the  University  of  Nashville,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in 
1806;  another  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  and  the  South  and  West  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  at  Maysville,  Tenn.,  in  1821 ;  3  in  Kentucky — at 
Danville,  Princeton,  and  Augusta ;  2  in  Illinois — Illinois  College  at 
Jacksonville,  and  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Rock  Spring ;  2  in 
Indiana — at  Madison  and  Bloomington ;  6  in  Ohio — a  medical  col- 
lege and  Lane  Seminary  at  Cincinnati,  and  at  Oxford,  Athens, 
Hudson,  and  Gambier;  5  in  Pennsylvania,  beyond  the  mountains — 
Washington  College  at  Washington,  Jefferson  College  at  Cannons- 
burg,  Western  University  at  Pittsburg,  Alleghany  College  at 
Meadville,  and  the  Western  Theological  Seminary  near  Pittsburg ; 
I  in  Alabama — the  University  of  Alabama,  at  Tuscaloosa ;  i  in 
Mississippi — Jefferson  College,  at  Washington  ;  i  in  Louisiana — at 
Jackson.  In  1830  there  were  26  institutes  of  this  class  connected 
with  the  Protestant  churches  in  the  great  Mississippi  valley,  and  2 
Catholic  institutions — at  Bardstown,  Ky.,  and  at  New  Orleans.  Seven 
hundred  and  sixty-six  young  men  had  then  graduated  from  these 
institutes,  and  they  contained  1,430  under-graduates  and  had 
iZ,^^  volumes  in  their  libraries  ;  *  a  most  remarkable  beginning, 
when  all  the  circumstances  of  the  country  are  considered.  This 
work,  however,  had  been  greatly  aided  by  grants  of  public  lands  by 
Congress,  amounting  to  583,840  acres,  which,  at  the  minimum  price, 
were  worth  $1,064,000. 

*  These  facts  were  gathered  at  that  time  by  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  and  published  in  the  Amer- 
ican Quarterly  Register  lox  183031,  p.  131. 


398  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  NEW   LIFE   ORGANIZING. 


Sec.  I.  Evangelizing  Agencies.  I     Sec.  3.  Religious  Educational  Agencies. 

"      2.   Religious  Publication  Agencies.      | 

THE  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  one  of  the  most 
strongly  illuminated  points  of  all  Christian  history.  There 
were  numerous  indications  of  extraordinary  events.  Napoleon  was 
astonishing  the  world,  and  awakening  enlarged  conceptions  of  the 
possibilities  of  human  power,  and  commerce  was  stretching  out  her 
giant  arms  as  never  before,  encircling  far-off  lands  in  her  embrace. 
1  Every  department  of  human  activity  was  being  enlarged,  and  enter- 
prises vaster  and  sublimer  than  ever  before  dreamed  of  were  being 
inaugurated. 

Such  was  the  period  chosen  by  Him  who  is  the  "head  over  all 
things  unto  his  Church  "  for  the  ushering  in  of  a  better  day — an  era 
/  of  new  developments  of  Christian  character,  of  new  departments 
/  and  methods  of  religious  labor,  and  new  combinations  of  moral  in- 
!    fluence,  linking  in  bonds  of  fellowship  nations  and  tribes  as  well  as 
^  individual  hearts  all    over  the  earth,  and  assimilating  human  senti- 
ments and  laws  to  the  spirit  of  his  universal  kingdom.     These  new 
religious  agencies  maybe  classified  as  the  evangelizing,  the  religious 
publication,  the  educational,  in  all  of  which  the  vital  spirit  of  the 
Gospel  organized  itself  into  concentrated  forms  to  enlighten,  ameli- 
orate and  save  the  world.     These  numerous   benevolent  societies 
have  become  so  prominent  every-where  as  to  justly  claim  a  large 
share  of  our  attention. 

The  incipient  stages  of  the  great  benevolent  organizations  which 
have  characterized  the  age  afford  many  instructive  lessons  in  the 
great  volume  of  divine  providence.  The  early  actors  in  these  move- 
ments found  that  even  the  pathway  of  benevolence  is  beset  with 
trials  and  difficulties.  Incredulity,  covetousness,  and  lethargy  were 
every-where  encountered,  so  that  for  many  years  the  pecuniary  offer- 
ings of  the  American  churches  were  very  meager.  To  lay  the  foun- 
dations and  to  conduct  these  enterprises  in  their  infancy  required 


DOMESTIC  MISSIONS.  399 

great  wisdom,  an  invincible  energy  and  extraordinary  strength  of 
character,  developing  such  illustrious  examples  of  inflexible  purpose, 
directness  of  aim  and  faith  in  God  as  the  records  of  the  Christian 
Church  have  rarely  disclosed.  The  names  of  Messrs^Jerem iah  Evarts, 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  Revs,  (gjias  Cornelius^^^muel  Worcester,  D.D., 
Qustin  Edwards,  D.D.I^^athan  Bangs,  D.D.CElias  Boudinot^amuel 
Spring,  D.D.^^muel  Miller,  D.D.,  and  hosts  of  others,  the  foster- 
fathers  of  these  children  of  Providence,  engraved  in  the  structures 
of  these  great  institutions  of  Christ's  imperishable  Church,  can  never 
be  forgotten. 


Section  :?.— EYangelizing  Agencies. 
I.  Home  Missionary  Societies. 

The  American  population  from  the  beginning  was  migratory 
In  its  habits.  Settling  at  first  upon  the  easternmost  border  of  a 
vast  continent,  which  opened  numerous  new  and  inviting  fields 
extending  into  an  almost  limitless  interior,  but  few  of  the  sons 
of  the  early  colonists  allowed  themselves  to  live  and  die  upon 
the  spot  which  recorded  their  birth.  The  enterprising  spirit 
which  had  prompted  the  adventures  of  the  fathers  was  inherited 
by  the  sons,  and  thus  field  was  joined  to  field  and  State  to 
State.  To  this  were  added  constant  accessions  from  other  shores. 
Thus  it  was  early  seen  that  the  new  Republic  gave  promise  of  be- 
coming a  great  nation,  numbering  many  millions  in  its  population 
and  covering  millions  of  square  miles.  It  soon  became  evident  also 
that  such  a  rapid  diffusion  of  the  population  must  be  attended  with 
a  general  decline  in  the  power  of  Christianity,  unless  it  should  be 
followed  by  energetic  religious  influences.  Many  of  those  who 
emigrated  to  the  wilderness,  separated  from  the  Christian  restraints 
of  home  society  and  institutions,  and  subject  to  the  temptations  of 
worldly  enterprises  and  increasing  wealth,  soon  forgot  their  spiritual 
interests.  Others,  however,  retained  their  steadfastness,  and  showed 
their  abiding  interest  in  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  by  calling  often 
and  loudly  for  missionaries  and  for  aid  in  sustaining  them.  Liberal 
responses  were  made,  and  the  records  of  the  older  New  England 
churches  afford  interesting  evidences  of  their  efforts  in  behalf  of 
their  brethren  in  the  new  settlements.*     This  was  the  commence- 

*  In  the  earlier  period  of  Massachusetts,  when  there  were  but  four  or  five  churches  outside  of 
the  "  standing  order,"  frequent  applications  for  aid  came  before  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  In 
the  archives  of  the  State  are  to  be  found  fifty  applications  from  feeble  parishes,  presented  to  the 
Legislature  between  1695  and  171 1.  and  a  record  of  appropriations  amounting  to  ;^i,ooo  for 
their  relief  in  supporting  the  ministry. 


400  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ment  of  the  work  of  domestic  missions  among  the  older  de- 
nominations in  this  country.  It  had  its  beginning  in  the  action  of 
Legislatures  and  individual  churches  in  behalf  of  particular  neigh- 
borhoods whither  their  former  neighbors  had  migrated,  to  which 
they  were  accustomed  to  grant  aid  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel. 

As  the  new  settlements  multiplied,  and  their  wants  became 
greater  and  were  better  known,  it  was  apparent  that  the  separate 
efforts  which,  among  the  older  denominations,  had  been  hitherto  put 
forth  by  the  individual  churches  were  inadequate  to  the  demands. 
The  increasing  spiritual  and  moral  desolation  of  the  frontiers  was 
vividly  portrayed  and  became  the  subject  of  just  alarm.  Christians 
and  Christian  ministers  conferred  and  prayed  together.  The  grossest 
infidelity  ever  known  had  become  rampant,  and  it  was  felt  that 
vigorous  and  combined  efforts  must  be  put  forth  to  propagate  the 
institutions  of  religion,  or  both  the  civil  and  the  religious  privileges 
must  be  lost.  In  consequence  of  the  interest  thus  awakened  several 
home  missionary  societies  were  organized. 

For  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  only  heathen  for 
whom  any  of  the  colonists  attempted  missionary  efforts  were  the 
North  American  Indians.  The  policy  of  the  English  Government 
did  not  allow  the  incorporation  of  societies  in  America  for  the  work 
of  missions,  and  not  until  after  the  Revolution  did  the  first  asso- 
ciation of  this  kind  receive  a  charter.  The  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  organized  in  1701,  in  London, 
extended  its  operations  through  most  of  the  colonies  in  the  interest 
of  the  Established  Church  of  England. 

Connecticut  Home  Missions. — As  early  as  1724  the  General  Court 
of  Connecticut  allowed  a  brief  to  "  be  emitted  "  to  "  encourage  the 
building  and  finishing  of  a  meeting-house  in  Providence,"  R.  I.  In 
1774  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut  recommended  subscrip- 
tions among  the  people  for  supporting  missionaries  "  to  the  scattered 
back  settlements  in  the  wilderness  to  the  north-westward,"  in  what 
is  now  Vermont  and  the  northern  part  of  New  York,  the  settlements 
being  composed  chiefly  of  emigrants  from  Connecticut.  Rev.  Messrs. 
Williams,  of  Northford  ;  Goodrich,  of  Durham,  and  Trumbull,  of 
North  Haven,  were  a  committee  to  receive  funds  and  take  charge  of 
the  supplies.  The  Revolution  interrupted  the  work;  but  in  1788 
and  1791  the  subject  came  again,  before  the  Association.  In  1792 
Rev.  Joseph  Vaill  was  missionary  to  the  new  settlements,  and  an- 
nual contributions  in  aid  were  taken  in  the  churches.  Pastors  left 
their  flocks  temporarily  to  minister  to  the  destitute  in  the  wilder- 


MISSIONARY  PERIODICAL  LITERATURE.  401 

ness.  Seventeen  pastors  are  known  to  have  gone  on  these  mission- 
ary tours  before  1 800,  and  more  are  supposed  to  have  gone.  Some 
of  the  points  visited  *'  were  north  and  south  of  the  Mohawk  River, 
in  Otsego  and  Herkimer  counties,"  at  Manlius  and  Pompey,  N.  Y., 
and  Utica,  consisting  in  1794  of  "a  log  tavern  and  two  or  three 
other  buildings."  In  1798  a  constitution  for  the  ''  Missionary  Society 
of  Connecticut''  was  adopted,  the  object  of  which  was  declared  to  be 
*'  to  Christianize  the  heathen  in  North  America  and  to  support  and 
promote  Christian  knowledge  in  the  new  settlements  of  the  United 
States."  But  the  work  of  this  Society  formally  dates  back  to  1792. 
In  1800  Rev.  David  Bacon,  father  of  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.D.,  was 
sent  to  expIorenEhe^condition  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  settlements 
on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie. 

In  1787  the  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the 
Indians  and  others  in  North  America  "  was  organized  in  Massachu- 
setts. Gradually  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Unitarians.  A 
similar  society  was  formed  in  New  York  city  November  i,  1796, 
Rev.<3amuel  Miller,  D.D.,  participating  actively  in  it.  The  officers 
comprised  three  Presbyterian,  four  Reformed  Dutch,  one  Associate 
Reformed,  and  one  Baptist  minister.  On  the  day  of  its  organization 
Rev.  Alexander  McWhorter,  D.D.,  of  Newark,  preached  a  sermon 
on  the  "  Blessedness  of  the  Liberal."  The  field  of  its  labors  was  in 
the  frontier  settlements  and  the  Indian  tribes,  but  chiefly  the  latter; 
and  hence  its  missions  were  called  *'  foreign  missions."  The  Con- 
necticut Evangelical  Magazine  was  started  in  July,  1800,  and  four 
such  periodicals  are  said  to  have  been  in  existence  in  1805. 

The  Presbyterian  '^ Home  Missions''  began  in  1789,  when  the/ 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized,  and: 
from  that  time  until  1802  missionary  operations  were  managed  by  a 
committee  annually  appointed  by  that  body.  In  the  latter  year,  \ 
owing  to  a  great  enlargement  of  the  work,  a  standing  committee 
was  appointed  which  conducted  this  work  until  1816,  when  the 
powers  of  this  committee  were  extended  and  it  received  the  desig- 
nation of  "  Board  of  Missions."  In  1801  the  Sandusky  Mission  was 
established,  and  in  1805  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  reported  missions 
on  the  Alleghany,  and  on  the  Lake  Erie  shore  among  the  Wyandots 
and  Senecas.  In  1803  amission  was  established  among  the  Catawbas, 
and  in  1805  among  the  Cherokees.  In  the  year  1828,  loi  mission- 
aries were  employed  by  this  Board  in  21  States  and  Territories. 

The  New  York  Missionary  Society  was  formed  November  i,  1796. 
In  1798  the  Berkshire  and  Columbia  Missionary  Society  was  organ- 
26 


402  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ized  for  the  purpose  of  propagating  the  Gospel  in  the  new  settle- 
ments and  among  heathen  nations.  It  originated  in  Berkshire  County, 
Mass.,  and  Columbia  County,  N.  Y.,  receiving  about  an  equal  share 
of  patronage  from  each  State.  Subsequently  most  of  the  New  York 
members  became  connected  with  other  organizations  in  that  State, 
and  the  society  then  became  an  auxiliary  to  the  Massachusetts  Home 
Missionary  Society.  Up  to  that  time  it  had  supported  four  mission- 
aries annually,  besides  distributing  religious  books.  In  1802  the 
Western  Missionary  Society  at  Pittsburg  commenced  operations. 
Some  of  these  early  home  missionary  societies  were  characterized 
by  the  union  and  fraternal  co-operation  of  different  denominations. 
The  New  York  Society  sustained  a  Baptist  missionary  among  the 
Indians  of  central  New  York.  A  plan  for  social  prayer  was  adopted 
(January  18,  1798)  by  this  Society,  and  the  second  Wednesday 
evening  of  each  month  was  observed  by  a  concert  of  prayer  in  the 
Reformed  Dutch,  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  churches.  The  Congre- 
gationalists  and  Presbyterians  co-operated  very  extensively  in  New 
York  and  Ohio,  on  a  "  Plan  of  Union  "  which  was  entered  into. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1809,  young  men  of  different  denomina- 
tions in  the  city  of  New  York  formed  themselves  into  a  society  to 
raise  funds  to  aid  in  promoting  the  objects  of  the  New  York  Mis- 
sionary Society.  So  unexpected  was  its  success,  and  so  hopeful  the 
promise  of  this  institution,  that  on  the  14th  of  February,  18 16,  it 
resolved  on  the  future  management  of  its  own  funds  independently 
of  the  parent  society,  and  was  no  longer  the  Assistant  New  York 
Missionary  Society,  but  the  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  of 
New  York.  Subsequently  serious  differences  arose,  which  led  to  the 
organization  of  the  "  New  York  Evangelical  Missionary  Society  of 
Young  Men,"  numbering  four  hundred  persons.  Mr.  Samuel  H. 
Cox  was  employed  as  missionary,  and  the  city  and  State  of  New 
York  were  designated  as  the  field  of  labor. 

The  Massachusetts  Home  Missionary  Society  was  organized  May 
28,  1799,  Rev.  (Dr.  N.  Emmons,  president.  The  Massachusetts  Mis- 
sionary Magazine  started  in  1803.  The  field  of  this  Society  was 
Western  New  York,  Maine,  Vermont,  Pennsylvania,  and  among 
scattered  Indian  tribes.  In  1826  it  was  united  with  the  Massachu- 
setts Domestic  Missionary  Society,  which  had  been  formed  in  18 18, 
and  both  thus  united  became  auxiliary  to  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society.  Similar  societies  were  organized  in  New  Hamp- 
shire in  1801,  in  Rhode  Island  in  1803;  in  Vermont  in  1818;  in 
Maine  in   1807;  all  subsequently  becoming  auxiliaries  of  the  Amer- 


THE  CIRCUIT  SYSTEM.  403 

ican  Home  Missionary  Society.  In  process  of  time  intelligent  ob- 
servers were  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  a  stronger  impulse 
must  be  given  to  the  work  of  home  evangelization.  The  strong, 
steady,  onward  march  of  the  population  into  the  Territories  rapidly 
enlarged  the  field  of  spiritual  needs,  called  for  larger  plans,  the 
multiplication  of  resources  and  a  concentration  of  effort.  How  to 
accomplish  this  end  was  a  topic  of  frequent  and  extensive  consul- 
tation, and  guidance  was  sought  from  on  high.  The  organization 
o{ \}c^Q.  American  Home  Missionary  Society  m  1826  was  the  result, 
the  Presbyterians,  Congregationalists,  Dutch  Reformed  and  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  churches  participating,  in  a  convention  called  for 
consultation.  In  the  first  three  years  of  its  existence,  it  extended 
aid  to  more  than  six  hundred  congregations  in  twenty-two  States 
and  Territories.     (See  Period  III.) 

The  Methodist  Home  Missionary  Work  has  been  chiefly  performed 
in  connection  with  the  regular  operations  of  the  itinerant  circuit 
system,  by  which  one,  two  or  three  ministers,  aided  by  local 
preachers  and  exhorters,  extended  their  labors  over  a  territory 
sometimes  of  several  hundred  miles  around.  This  system  was  pre- 
eminently adapted  to  this  work.  Visiting  each  of  the  scattered 
hamlets  of  the  new  settlements  once  in  two  or  three  weeks,  zealously 
appealing  to  their  spiritual  convictions,  laboring  for  immediate 
results,  organizing  new  converts  in  classes  for  weekly  meetings 
under  leaders,  they  occupied  the  new  Territories  with  societies  in 
advance  of  the  older  denominations,  which,  according  to  their 
methods,  must  wait  for  communities  of  sufficient  population  to 
maintain  a  settled  pastor.  Every  Methodist  presiding  elder,  having 
the  oversight  of  several  of  these  large  circuits,  was  a  home  mission- 
ary manager  and  director,  under  whose  watchful  eye  aggressive 
evangelizing  operations  were  carried  forward  and  new  mission- 
,ary  circuits  were  planned.  Such  labors  developed  a  large  class 
I  of  ministers  of  heroic  endurance  and  sublime  courage,  such 
as  Finley,  Young,  Cartwright,  Akers,  Brunson,  and  a  host  of 
1  others,  whose  sufferings,  deeds  and  triumphs  have  awakened 
(universal  admiration.  In  consequence  of  this  essentially  mission- 
ary character  of  early  Methodist  labors,  whether  in  the  older  or  in 
the  newer  settlements,  no  distinct  organization  for  home  missionary 
purposes  was  formed  at  this  early  period.  In  prosecuting  its  work 
in  this  way  the  Methodist  Church  made  a  liberal  outlay  of  men 
and  money,  and  extended  its  influence  among  the  aborigines  and 
the  slaves  as  well  as  the  needy  white  population. 


404  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

I  It  1819  the  Methodist  Missionary  Society  was  organized  in 
New  York  city,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  more  distinct  form  and 
efficiency  to  this  work.  Until  1832  its  work  was  wholly  confined  to 
our  own  country,  in  frontier  circuits,  among  the  slaves,  the  free 
colored  people  and  the  Indian  tribes.  In  183 1,  in  Upper  Canada, 
it  had  twenty  mission  stations  and  2.000  Indians  under  instruction, 
most  of  whom  had  become  communicants  in  the  Church.  Among 
the  Cherokees  in  Georgia  it  employed  seventeen  missionary  laborers 
and  had  about  1,000  Indian  communicants.  Among  the  Choctaws 
there  were  about  4,000  communicants,  embracing  all  the  principal 
men  of  the  nation,  their  chiefs,  captains,  etc.  Mission  stations  were 
established  among  the  Indians  all  along  the  frontier.  Meanwhile 
throughout  the  domestic  work,  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  there  were  numerous  stations  yearly  passing  off  from  the 
missionary  list  to  the  catalogue  of  self-supporting  churches. 

Some  others  of  the  younger  denominations,  which  had  no  old- 
established  churches — the  Free-Will  Baptists,  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians,  etc. — were,  from  the  first  organization,  home  mission- 
ary bodies  in  almost  their  entire  work. 

/       The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was 

'organized  in    1820,  for   both    foreign   and    domestic  purposes,  and 

I  reorganized  in  1835.     The  meetings  of  the  Society  were  long  held 

in  connection  with  the  triennial  session  of  the  General  Convention. 

Bishop  Meade  has  given  the  following  account  of  its  origin : 

"  The  first  impulse  given  to  us  was  the  tender  of  some  pecu- 
niary help  from  the  Church  Missionary  Society  of  our  mother 
country,  if  we  would  enter  upon  the  work.  The  missionary  charac- 
ter of  the  Colonization  Society  did  much  to  excite  our  Church  to 
action.  Th^  plea  foT^frica  was  a  pathetic  one,  addressing  itself  to 
all  hearts.  But  it  was  not  heard  at  once  by  all.  Even  after  our 
first  efforts  in  behalf  of  that  unhappy  land  I  heard  an  old  and 
respectable  clergyman  of  our  Church,  preaching  at  one  of  our  Gen- 
eral Conventions,  designate  the  foreign  missionary  effort  as  a  wild 
crusade,  and  another  of  high  standing  express  the  opinion  that  the 
foreign  missionary  work  was  for  other  denominations  and  the 
domestic  for  Episcopalians.  In  three  years  after,  however,  I  heard 
the  latter  plead  zealously  for  the  foreign  missionary  cause.  An 
effort  for  preparing  colored  missionaries  for  Africa  was  made  at 
Ha^ord,  under  the  patronage  of  Bishop  Brownell  and  Dr.  Wain- 
right,  but  from  various  causes  it  proved  of  but  little  avail.  The 
efforts   of  our  Virginia  Seminary  commenced  with  preparing   Mr. 


THE  FOREIGN  EVANGELICAL  SOCIETY.  405 

and  Mrs.  Hill  for  the  Greek  mission,  and  have  ever  since  success- 
fully continued."  * 

The  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union\  was  organized  May 
lO,  1849,  by  merging  three  previously-existing  societies  into  one 
body.  The  first  of  these  formed  was  The  Foreign  Evangelical 
Society.  Very  soon  after  1830  "  a  number  of  persons  in  different 
parts  of  our  country— some  of  them  distinguished  for  their  high 
standing  and  great  influence  in  the  churches— began  to  think  that 
the  state  of  the  papal  world,  and  other  portions  of  Christendom  in 
which  a  corrupted  Christianity  exists,  was  such  as  to  demand  the 
attention  and  the  help  of  churches  so  highly  favored  as  are  those 
of  this  country,  which  God  has  so  remarkably  blessed  with  his 
Word  and  the  means  of  salvation."  With  this  view  they  organized 
"The  French  Association,"  in  1834,  and  sent  to  France  as  its  repre- 
sentative the  late  Rev^obert  Baird,  D.D.,  instructing  him  to  inform 
himself  upon  the  spot  with  reference  to  the  prospects  of  success  of 
evangelical  labor  in  that  country  and  elsewhere  upon  the  European 
Conttnent.  Up  to  this  time  the  interest  of  American  Protestants  in 
the  conversion  of  Roman  Catholics  had  lain  almost  entirely  dormant. 
The  result  of  Dr.  Baird's  inquiries  was  so  encouraging  that  the 
scope  of  the  "  French  Association  "  was  enlarged  to  embrace  mis- 
sionary work  in  all  parts  of  papal  Europe,  and  its  name  was  changed 
to  the  "  Foreign  Evangelical  Society,"  which,  during  the  ten  years 
of  its  existence,  not  only  continued  to  prosecute  its  labors  in  France, 
but  was  also  called  "to  extend  them  to  Belgium,  Italy,  Poland, 
Russia,  and  in  some  measure  to  Sweden  and  Germany,  in  the  Old 
World'  while  it  aided  the  work  of  evangelization  in  Canada  and 
commenced  missions  in  South  America,  Hayti,  and  among  the 
Mexicans  in  Texas  and  the  French  population  of  New  Orleans  and 

New  York." 

The  American  Protestant  Society,  the  second,  and  by  far  the 
most  important,  of  the  three  organizations  that  were  merged  in 
the  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  came  into  existence 
in  1843,  as  the  successor  of  the  "  Protestant  Reformation  Society," 
which  had  been  in  operation  for  a  number  of  years  previous,  under 
the  presidency  of  that  distinguished  and  uncompromising  champion 
for  the  truth,  the  Rev.(^illiam  C.  Brownlee,  D.D.,  LL.D.  The  aim 
of  the  American  Protestant  Society  during  its  prosperous  independ- 


*  Old  Families  and  Churches  of  Virginia. 

+  For  a  fuller  account  see  sketch  prepared  by  Rev.  Professor  Henry  .M.  Ba.rd,   ^.D..  in 
Christian  World,  March,  1873. 


406  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ent  existence  of  six  years  was  to  further  the  conversion  of  Roman 
Catholics  in  this  land,  and  to  forestall  those  perils  to  which  our 
country  was  exposed  from  the  great  emigration  setting  in  upon  us 
from  the  Old  World.  Among  the  most  interesting  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  last  two  years  of  its  separate  history  was  the  aid  it 
rendered  to  the  poor  Portuguese  exiles  from  Madeira. 

The  Christian  Alliance. — The  third  association — first  named  the 
Philo-Italian  Society  and  afterward  the  Christian  Alliance — was 
founded  in  1842,  with  special  reference  to  Italy,  but  subsequently 
enlarged  so  as  to  take  in  a  wider  field  of  usefulness.  It  had  shown 
promise  of  doing  so  much  good  that  it  had  been  specially  honored 
in  calling  forth  a  bull  of  condemnation  from  Pope  Gregory  XVI. 

The  Union  Consummated. — The  existence  of  three  distinct  organ- 
izations, all  having  kindred  and  often  identical  aims,  was  felt  to 
be  a  mistake,  and  great  pleasure  was  felt  at  their  consolidation, 
in  1849,  under  ^^^  most  auspicious  circumstances.  "  We  think," 
said  the  directors,  in  their  address  to  the  Christian  public,  "  that 
the  times  call  for  the  formation  of  such  a  society." 

The  Home  Field. — The  new  Society  from  the  very  first  adopted 
a  large  and  generous  policy.  At  home  it  sought  out  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  all  nationalities  in  every  part  of  our  wide  territory.  In  the 
second  year  of  its  existence  it  already  had  in  its  employ  in  the 
United  States  78  laborers,  belonging  to  j/>  different  religious  denom- 
inations and  using  not  less  t\\3in  seven  distinct  languages  in  the  course 
of  their  missionary  work.  The  next  year  this  number  had  increased 
to  85  laborers  in  15  States  of  the  Union,  and  in  i860  its  71  laborers 
were  to  be  found  in  not  less  than  23  States.  At  the  same  time 
there  were  under  its  care  in  Sabbath  and  day  schools  18,860  chil- 
dren, instructed  by  406  teachers — mostly  volunteers  whom  the 
Society's  agents  had  enlisted  in  this  glorious  work.  And  this  home- 
work— both  the  purely  evangelistic  and  that  prosecuted  by  means 
of  schools — was  crowned  with  the  evident  blessing  of  God. 

The  American  Missionary  Association  should  receive  more  than 
a  passing  notice.  Its  decided  devotion  to  the  cause  of  humanity, 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  work  which  it  has  accomplished  in  differ- 
ent and  most  important  departments  of  Christian  philanthropy, 
entitle  it  to  a  prominent  position  before  the  Christian  public.  It 
is  a  child  of  Providence,  and  was  brought  into  existence  in  a  time 
of  most  urgent  needs.  The  story  is  well  told  in  its  Quarter 
Century  Report :  * 

•1871.    Pp.  16,  17,  18,  19. 


THE  AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION.  407 

"  Twenty-five  years  ago  slavery  ruled  in  this  land  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  its  power.  Texas  had  just  been  annexed,  the  Mexican  war 
was  in  the  first  flush  of  an  unbroken  series  of  victories,  the  inso- 
lence of  the  slave-holder  was  at  its  height,  and  the  truckling  of  his 
minions  at  the  North  was  scarcely  less  abject  than  the  cowering  of 
his  slaves  under  the  lash  in  the  South.  .  ,  . 

"  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  a  handful  of  men 
gathered  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  September  3,  1846,  to  form  the  Ameri- 
can Missionary  Association.  The  number  present  did  not  greatly 
exceed  two  hundred.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  small  Baptist 
church  south  of  the  Capitol.  The  gathering  excited  no  local  or 
public  attention  either  of  opposition  or  approval.  The  discussions 
were  harmonious  and  spirited.  The  inducement  to  ignore  an 
evangelical  basis  was  kindly,  not  factitiously,  made,  and  the  young 
organization  gained  its  first  victory  in  the  hour  of  its  birth  by 
rejecting  the  proffer.  We  now  can  hardly  realize  the  relative 
numbers  and  wealth  which  it  thus  rejected,  nor  how  sorely  it  then 
needed  these  elements  of  strength ;  but  it  marked  out  its  future  life 
by  adopting  a  liberal  but  unequivocally  evangelical  creed.  It  was  true 
to  Christ  as  well  as  the  slave,  and  Christ  has  not  deserted  it. 

"  Thus  quietly  was  planted  this  grain  of  mustard  seed,  but  its 
germination  was  rapid  and  its  growth  vigorous.  The  celebrated 
Amistad  captives  and  the  missionaries  that  went  back  with  them 
to  Africa  were  fittingly  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  new  organ- 
ization. Congenial  fields  were  opened  in  the  West  Indies,  among 
the  newly-emancipated  slaves  ;  in  Canada,  among  the  refugees  from 
slavery;  in  our  western  wilds,  among  the  wronged  and  cheated 
Indians';  and  the  deep  interest  it  felt  for  the  slaves  in  the  South 
impelled  it  to  enter  that  dark  land  with  the  Gospel,  preached  alike 
to  bond  and  free.  Its  missionaries  there  had  a  stirring  experience 
—apostolic  in  the  two  elements  of  zeal  and  persecution.  After 
enduring  stripes,  imprisonment  and  threatened  death  they  were  at 
length  cast  out   by  the  tumultuous  heavings  which  preceded  the 

volcano  of  war. 

"The  home  missionary  department  of  this  Association  was  one 
of  its  marked  features,  giving  aid  at  one  time  to  about  one  hundred 
churches,  whose  sympathy  for  the  slave  threw  them  upon  the  Asso- 
ciation for  the  support  they  could  not  get  or  would  not  ask 
elsewhere." 

The  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  was  organized  in  1832,  and 
in  a  short  time  it  embraced   a  large  number  of  auxiliaries  in  all 


408  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

parts  of  the  Union.  In  1843  it  had  in  its  employ  93  agents  and 
missionaries,  besides  275  more,  through  its  auxiliaries — total,  368 
ministers  preaching  on  762  stations,  traveling  175,035  miles  annu- 
ally, reporting  4,920  conversions,  and  50  churches  organized. 

2. — City  Missionary  Societies, 

a  kind  of  organization  unknown  before,  also  sprang  up  in  this  period 
in  some  of  the  larger  cities.  After  1850  they  became  common  in 
every  part  of  the  country.  One  of  the  earliest  organizations  of  this 
class  was  the  Boston  City  Missioyiary  Society,  whose  early  history  is 
full  of  interest. 

"On  the  29th  day  of  September,  18 16,  a  few  gentlemen  met  at 
the  house  of  Rev./Joshua  Huntington,  pastor  of  the  Old  South 
Church,  to  consult  together  upon  the  expediency  of  attempting  to 
do  something  for  the  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  the  poor  of 
Boston.  Ten  days  later,  on  the  9th  of  October,  they  met  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Charles  Cleveland,  and  there  formed  a  new  benevolent 
organization,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  '  The  Boston  Society 
for  the  Moral  and  Religious  Instruction  of  the  Poor.'  On  the  8th 
of  October,  1817,  they  held  their  first  anniversary  and  presented 
their  First  Annual  Report. 

"  Nine  of  the  eleven  Congregational  churches  of  Boston  had  de- 
clined from  the  faith  of  the  fathers,  and  the  controlling  influence  in 
the  metropolis  of  the  State,  by  wealth,  by  social  position,  by  intel- 
lectual culture,  and  by  political  power,  was  unfriendly  to  vital  relig- 
ion. It  was  a  day  when  fervent  piety  was  ridiculed,  and  when  the 
animosity  manifested  toward  evangelical  truth  was  sometimes  bitter. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  Old  South  Church  stood 
fast,  'faithful  found  among  the  faithless.'  In  1809  Park  Street 
Church  arose,  coming  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  stood  up,  '  fair 
as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun.'  and  sometimes,  in  the  days  of  Dr. 
Griffin  and  '  Park  Street  Lectures,'  '  terrible  as  an  army  with  ban- 
ners.' In  1815  a  heavy  artillery  pamphlet-war  opened,  conducted 
by  Evarts,  Channing,  and  Worcester.  The  conflict  went  on  into 
1820,  and  the  Andover  professors  came  into  the  field.  .  .  . 

"  One  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  organization  of  this  Society  was 
the  establishment  of  Sunday-schools  in  Boston.  A  committee  ap- 
pointed at  the  preliminary  meeting,  held  September  29,  1816,  *to 
ascertain  facts  in  relation  to  the  poor  and  destitute,  and  form  a  plan 
for  their  instruction  and  relief,'  reported  ten  days  after  that  out  of 
540  families  visited  141  were  in  want  of  Bibles,  and  801  children 
and  37  adults  would  attend  Sunday-schools  should  they  be  opened. 


BOSTON  CITY  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 


409 


Two  such  schools  were  established  in  1817,  one  in  Mason  Street 
and  the  other  in  School  Street.  During  the  same  year  aid  was 
also  rendered  to  a  Sabbath-school  already  established  in  South  Bos- 
ton. These  schools  rapidly  multiplied,  and  in  1828  the  Society  had 
18  under  its  care,  containing  325  teachers  and  2,400  scholars.  The 
following  year  they  were  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  '  Boston 
Sabbath-school  Union,'  which  continued  in  existence  for  twelve 
years.  For  the  last  twenty-five  years  our  Sunday-schools  have  been 
conducted  and  sustained  by  the  churches  with  which  they  are  sev- 
erally associated.  Several  mission  schools  have  been  formed,  and  in 
this  wide  and  important  field  of  usefulness  our  missionaries  are  vig- 
orously engaged. 

"  In  the  year  18 18  a  meeting  for  seamen  was  established  on 
Central  Wharf.  Investigations  were  made  as  to  the  character  and 
condition  of  sailors,  the  treatment  they  received  at  their  boarding- 
houses  was  exposed,  and  efforts  were  made  for  their  improvement 
by  the  distribution  among  them  of  tracts  and  Bibles,  and  by  open- 
ing a  Bethel  boarding-house.  These  labors  were  efficientl}'  carried 
on  by  this  Society  for  ten  years,  when  the  Boston  Seaman's  Friend 
Society  was  formed,  to  whose  hands  the  care  of  this  work  was  com- 
mitted." 

Such  was  the  origin  of  this,  probably  the  oldest  city  mission 
society  in  the  United  States. 


Table*  Showing  the 

Work 

OF  THIS 

Soci 

ETY 

IN  Ten  Years. 

A 

•  in      1  .J, 

,   " 

IT -6 

.      -A 

^3   . 

•0 

■?  0 

rt 

a 
c 
.0 

d 

•0  rt 
a  c 
E.2 

'S.J 

u 
0 

S3 

si 
>  5 

3-5 

13 

C 

E 

V 

ersons  indue 
to  attend 
church, 
bildren  gath- 
ered into  Sa 
bath  schools 

m 

■M 

ersons  hope- 
fully convert 
ed. 

amilies  aflbr 
ed  pecuniary 
aid. 

-   «-3 
■  -          U 

«  ^   u 

> 

z 

> 

Q 

> 

H 

0) 

L^ 

i,           U 

u 

a; 

3.           <U. 

2 

a 

c 

184I 

■>, 

5,668 

1,366 

35" 

69,580 

124 

71 

174 

596 

104 

378 

49 

155 

465 

1  225 

%  3.463 

1842 

4 

7.041 

1,764 

478 

206,366 

172 

97 

493 

278 

63 

414 

119 

178 

534 

354 

3.596- 

1841 

4 

6,591 

1.578 

S18 

206,412 

169 

.S7 

240 

345 

51 

540 

'5 

200 

610 

422 

3.501 

1844 

4 

8,816 

1,827 

446 

232,656 

164 

87 

315 

435 

79 

396 

25 

300 

905 

43' 

3,013 

184s 

S 

8,715 

2,310 

4Sb 

240,771 

98 

50 

264 

330 

54 

363 

23 

421 

1,175 

586 

3,82s 

1846 

4 

6,820 

2,049 

527 

223,746 

90 

53 

209  i      239 

61 

3'7 

II        261 

702 

584 

3,79& 

1847 

4 

6.213 

1,527 

372 

267,529 

199 

too 

268   j     472 

121 

2^0 

15        304 

820 

612 

4,351 

1848 

S 

7,109 

1,485 

339 

261,591 

ibi 

9" 

42t   !      532 

109 

325 

3        259 

710 

343 

3,832 

l84i> 

1 

4.5'o 

868 

202 

221,000 

95 

24I     205 

171 

44 

129 

180 

522 

260 

2,795 

1850 

5 
41 

8,501 
70,014 

2,596 
17.370 

1,071 

191,600 

176 

I49j     306 

547 

404 

401 

14        555 

1,075 

850 

7.269 

4.792 

2,121,251 

1,448 

779  2,895 

3,945 

1.090 

3.493 

270     2.813 

7,518  $4,667 

$39,443 

Other  City  Missions. 
City  missionary  societies   began   to  be  more  numerous   during 
the  latter  part  of  this  period.     Nothing  like  a  complete  statement 
of  them  can,  however,  be  given.     A  few  statistical  items  in  regard 


♦See  Half  Century  Report,  1866. 


410  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  another  of  the  leading  societies  of  this  class  at  this  time  will 
be  of  some  value. 

AVa/  York  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society. — About  the  close  of  1825  the  New 
York  Young  Men's  Auxiliary  Tract  Society  was  formed.  On  the  19th  of  Febru- 
ary. 1827,  the  New  York  City  Tract  Society  was  formed,  chiefly  by  the  agency  of 
the  officers  of  the  Young  Men's  Society,  and  the  Young  Men's  Society  was 
merged  into  it.  In  1829  the  New  York  City  Female  Tract  Society,  which  had 
been  directly  auxiliary'  to  the  American  Tract  Society,  transferred  its  relation,  and 
became  a  branch  of  the  City  Society.  The  City  Society,  for  two  years  from  the 
time  of  its  formation,  devoted  its  efforts  to  supplying  with  tracts  the  shipping, 
markets,  humane  and  criminal  institutions,  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  etc.  On  the 
20th  of  October,  1828,  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  was  held  at  the  Tract-house  for 
raising  funds  with  a  special  view  to  extending  the  American  Tract  Society's  opera- 
tions in  the  West,  and  the  question  was  asked.  Why  not  supply  the  accessible 
population  on  this  side  of  the  mountains  and  immediately  around  us,  as  well  as 
the  West?  The  result  was  that  in  March,  1829,  a  city  committee  was  appointed 
by  the  New  York  City  Tract  Society,  consisting  of  one  member  for  each  of  the 
fourteen  wards  into  which  the  city  was  then  divided,  who,  in  connection  with  dis- 
tributers from  the  churches,  entered  upon  monthly  distribution,  each  member  of 
the  committee  being  the  agent  for  his  ward.  In  January,  1832.  was  introduced, 
especially  by  the  lamented  Harlan  Page,  the  subject  of  concentratmg  effort  and 
prayer  for  the  salvation  of  individuals,  which  gave  directness  and  efficiency  to 
the  Society  ;  and  in  March,  1833,  an  agent  (Mr.  S.  B.  Halliday;  was  employed  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Moses  Allen,  member  of  the  committee  for  the  Eighth  Ward, 
to  devote  himself  to  labors  in  that  ward  ;  and  previous  to  April,  1834,  an  agent 
{Mr.  D.  M.  Moore)  had  been  employed  for  a  short  time  in  the  Fifth  Ward,  in  con- 
nection with  Mr.  A.  R.  Wetmore.  In  November,  1834,  the  plan  of  employing 
missionaries  throughout  the  respective  wards  was  adopted,  and  in  March,  1835, 
■twelve  missionaries  were  employed,  whose  number  in  December  of  the  same  year 
had  been  increased  io  fourteen. 

Since  1850  this  society  has  greatly  enlarged  its  operations  and 
become  one  of  the  great  evangelizing  institutions  of  New  York  city. 

3.  Foreign  Missionary  Societies. 

The  missionary  idea  is  as  old  as  Christianity.  In  this  country 
long  before  Mills,  Hall,  Judson  and  Newell  had  offered  themselves 
for  the  work  of  Christian  missions,  from  1643  to  1808,  the  churches 
had  put  forth  earnest  and  successful  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the 
native  Indian  tribes;  and  the  Mayhews,  Eliot,  Sargent,  Brainerd 
and  Wheelock  had  toiled  in  these  self-sacrificing  labors.  But  soon 
after  the  opening  of  the  present  century  it  became  obvious  that  the 
missionary  spirit  was  rising  and  extending,  and  that  new  channels 
must  be  opened  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel ;  yet  no  leader  ap- 
peared. The  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society  had  been  organized 
in  1799.     In    1804  its  constitution  was  amended  so  as  to  allow  a 


FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES.  41  1 

wider  scope  of  effort  among  the  Indians  and  also  in  the  distant  parts 
of  the  earth.  In  the  annual  sermons,  preached  about  this  time, 
before  this  Society  and  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  there  was  a  very  general  outcropping  of  the  mission- 
ary spirit.  The  same  thing  appeared  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine,  established  in  i8cx);  in  the  Massachusetts  Missionary 
Magazine,  established  in  1803;  in  the  Massachusetts  Baptist  Mission- 
ary Magazine,  first  published  in  the  same  year ;  and  in  the  General 
Assembly  s  Missionary  Magazine,  or  Christian  Intelligencer,  which 
commenced  in  1805.  It  was  also  diffused  among  the  churches,  and 
from  1806  to  1 8 10  individual  donations,  amounting  to  $6,000  in 
some  years,  had  been  made  to  the  mission  at  Serampore.  Such 
were  the  indications. 

The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions.   "In 

1806  Samuel  J.  Mills  became  a  member  of  Williams  College.  While 
a  child  he  had  heard  his  mother  say,  '  I  have  consecrated  this  child 
to  the  service  of  God  as  a  misssonary,*  and  from  the  time  of  his  con- 
version, in  1802,  he  had  ardently  desired  to  engage  in  the  mission- 
ary work.  In  college,  while  laboring  faithfully  to  promote  true 
piety  among  the  students,  he  kept  this  work  constantly  in  mind.    In 

1807  he  invited  Gordon  Hall  and  James  Richards  to  a  walk,  and  led 
them  to  a  retired  spot  in  a  meadow,  where  they  spent  all  day  in 
fasting  and  prayer,  and  in  conversing  on  the  duty  of  missions  to  the 
heathen.  He  was  surprised  and  gratified  to  learn  that  the  subject 
was  not  new  to  these  brethren,  but  that  their  hearts  were  already 
set  upon  engaging  in  such  a  work.  September  7,  1808.  a  society  was 
privately  formed  at  Williams  College  by  these  and  a  few  other  pious 
students,  the  object  of  which,  the  constitution  says,  '  shall  be  to 
effect,  in  the  persons  of  its  members,  a  mission  or  missions  to  the 
heathen.'  The  5th  article  provided  that  '  no  person  shall  be  admit- 
ted  who  is  under  an  engagement  of  any  kind  which  shall  be  mcom- 
patible  with  going  on  a  mission  to  the  heathen  ;  '  and  the  6th 
article  was,  '  Each  member  shall  keep  absolutely  free  from  every 
en<^a-ement  which,  after  his  prayerful  attention,  and  after  consul- 
tation with  the  brethren,  shall  be  deemed  incompatible  with  the 
objects  of  this  Society,  and  shall  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  go  on 
a  mission  when  and  where  duty  may  call.' 

"In  the  autumn  of  1809  Richards  became  a  member  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  and  '  labored  with  diligence  and 
success  in  promoting  a  spirit  of  missions  among  the  students.  ^  Mills 
followed  him  to  Andover  in  the  spring  of  1810,  and  Hall  soon  joined 


412  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

them.  At  least  one  other  young  man  was  there  also,  whose 
thoughts  had  been  independently  directed  to  the  same  great  subject 
— Samuel  Nott,  Jr.  'There  seemed  now  to  be,'  says  one  who  was 
there,  'a  movement  of  the  Spirit,  turning  the  attention  and  the 
hearts  of  the  students  in  the  seminary  to  the  condition  of  the  perish- 
ing heathen.'  Several  had  already  come,  or  soon  came,  to  the  reso- 
lution of  spending  their  lives  in  pagan  lands,  among  whom  were 
Adoniram  Judson,  and  Samuel  Newell.  The  faculty  of  the  sem- 
inary were  consulted,  and  approved  the  design,  and  on  the  25th 
of  June,.  i8jo,  according  to  previous  arrangement.  Rev.  Dr.  Spring, 
of  Newburyport,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  of  Salem,  met  with 
the  professors  and  a  few  others  for  further  consultation.  It  was 
thought  that  the  time  for  action  had  come,  and  the  young  men  were 
advised  to  present  their  case  to  the  General  Association  of  Massa- 
chusetts, which  was  about  to  meet  at  Bradford.  The  next  day  Rev. 
Messrs.  Spring  and  Worcester  rode  together  in  a  chaise  to  Bradford,, 
and,  during  that  ride,  between  those  two  men  'the  first  idea  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  was  sug- 
gested; and  the  form,  the  number  of  members,  and  the  name  were 
proposed.'  On  Thursday,  June  28,  Messrs.  Judson,  Nott,  Newell, 
and  Hall,  came  before  the  Association  and  presented  a  written 
paper  in  which  they  stated  '  that  their  minds  had  been  long 
impressed  with  the  duty  and  importance  of  personally  attempting  a 
mission  to  the  heathen  ; '  and  they  solicited  the  opinion  and  advice 
of  the  Association  as  to  their  duty  and  as  to  the  source  to  which 
they  might  look  for  support  in  their  contemplated  work.  The 
subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  who  reported  the  next  day, 
recommending  '  that  there  be  instituted  by  this  Association  a  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  for  the  purpose  of  devising 
ways  and  means  and  adopting  and  prosecuting  measures  for  pro- 
moting the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  heathen  lands.'  The  report  was 
adopted,  and  the  following  persons  were  chosen  to  constitute,  in 
the  first  instance,  that  Board  :  His  excellency  John  Treadwell,  Esq.,. 
Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D., General  Jedediah  Huntington,  and  Rev. 
Calvin  Chapin,  of  Connecticut  ;  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.D.,  Rev. 
Samuel  Spring,  D.D.,  William  Bartlett,  Esq.,  Rev.  Samuel  Worces- 
ter, and  Deacon  Samuel  H.  Walley,  of  Massachusetts. 

"  The  commissioners  had  their  first  meeting  at  Farmington, 
Connecticut,  on  the  5th  of  the  following  September,  five  only  being 
present.  A  constitution  was  adopted  and  officers  were  chosen.  The 
Trudential  Committee  appointed  consisted  of  William  Bartlett,  Esq., 
and    Rev.    Messrs.    Spring    and    Worcester.     Mr.    Worcester  was 


"^THE  AMERICAN  BOARD.  -413 

chosen  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  an  address  to  the  Christian 
public  was  prepared,  accompanied  by  a  form  of  subscription."  * 

Mr.  Judson  was  sent   to  England  to  confer  with  the  London 
Missionary  Society   and   ascertain   whether  the  young  men  who 
desired  to  be  sent  abroad  could  be  supported,  for  a  time,  wholly  or 
in  part  by  that  Society.     They  declined  to  do  it,  and  expressed  a 
hope  that  the  American  churches  when  appealed  to  would  send  out 
not  four  but  forty  foreign  missionaries.     On  the  i8th  of  September, 
1811,  the  Board  at  its  meeting  in  Worcester  resolved  to  found  their 
first  mission  in  India,  and  on  the  19th  of  February,  1812,  Judson, 
Newell,  and  their  wives,  set  sail  from  Salem,  Massachusetts,  and  on 
the  following  day  Hall,  Nott  and   Rice,  from  Philadelphia.     Up  to 
this  time  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  had  received  $6,000.     Durmg 
the  following  summer  the  Board  was  duly  incorporated  by  an  act  of 
the  LecTislature  of  Massachusetts.      After  a   few  years  two   other 
denominations,  the  Presbyterian  and    Dutch  Reformed  churches, 
united    with    this    Board    in    its   foreign    missionary   work.       Ihe 
Old   School   Presbyterians  withdrew  in   1837,  and   the  Dutch   Re- 
formed Church  in  1857-     The  New  School  Presbyterians  continued 

until  1870.  .  ,1-^1, 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  first  foreign  missionary  board  in  the 
United  States,  whose  subsequent  history  has  been  a  record  of  most 
honorable  and  successful  enterprise  for  the  advancement  of  Christ  s 
kin-dom.  In  1829  the  American  Board  numbered  68  elected  meni- 
ber?  446  honorary  members,  and  the  receipts  were  $106,928  26. 
During  the  first  nine  years  (181 1-1819)  the  average  annual  income 
was  $18,103  29.  From  1819  to  1829  the  average  receipts  were  $64,- 
424  70,  and  the  total  receipts  from  181 1  to  1829,  inclusive,  were 
$826,17667. 

The  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  was  organized  May 
18  1814.  This  Society  entered  at  once  upon  the  work  of  propa- 
cra'ting  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen,  and  its  first  missionaries  were 
Revs  Adoniram  Judson  and  Luther  Rice.  Rev.  ^essjs^  J^^^^" 
and  Rice  were  two  of  the  first  missionaries  of  the  A.  B.  L.  I:'.  M., 
and  became  Baptists  on  their  way  to  India.  Mr.  Judson  was  sup- 
ported by  the  English  Baptist  Mission,  while  Mr.  Rice  returned 
to  America  to  attempt  the  organization  of  a  Board  of  Missions 
among  the  Baptists.  The  intelligence  of  the  change  of  opinions 
in  Judson  and  Rice  reached  this  country  in  February,  1813.  ihe 
effect  was  electrical,  and  a   missionary    society   was    organized    in 

»  Newcomb-s  Cyclopedia  0/  Missions,  1854-     PP-  ^°^-^■ 


414  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Boston  soon  after,  and  in  May,  1814,  the  General  Missionary  Con- 
vention of  the  Baptists  was  organized  in  Philadelphia.  At  first  it 
met  triennially,  and  its  Board  of  Managers  annually.  During  the  first 
year  of  its  existence  this  Society  received  $13,476  10,  and  up  to 
1830  its  total  receipts  were  $124,251  57. 

The  Missionary  Society  of  t lie  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  or- 
ganized in  iSiQ.but  its  work  was  exclusively  domestic  until  after  1832. 

The  Episcopal  Board  of  Missions  was  organized  in  1820.  It  was. 
partly  domestic  and  partly  foreign.  From  1820  to  1835  $50,683 
had  been  received  by  this  Society  for  foreign  missions. 

The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions  was  not  organized  until  1837. 
Previous  to  that  time  some  foreign  mission  work  had  been  done  by 
the  "  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,"'  formed  by  the  Synod  of 
Pittsburg,  and  also  in  connection  with  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  But  from 
18 17,  when  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  formed,  it 
had  carried  on  extensive  missions  among  the  Indians  of  our  country. 

The  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Lutheran  Church  was 
organized  in  1837,  and  the  Home  Missionary  Society  in  1845.  The 
7v'^^-JFi7/^«//z>/ Missionary  Society  was  organized  in  1833.  The 
Seventh-Day  Baptist  Missionary  Society  was  organized  in  1842. 
'Y\\.&  American  Indian  Missionary  Association  wdislormed  in  1842; 
the  Baptist  Free  Missionary  Society  in  1843,  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  1845,  arid  the  Do- 
mestic and  Indian  Mission  Board  in  1846.  The  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  constituted  in  1837.  The 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  was  organized  in  1844.  In  1832  the  Reformed  (late  Dutch) 
Church  organized  boards  of  domestic  and  foreign  missions.  In 
1845  the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South  was  organized. 

All  the  early  missionary  societies  devoted  considerable  attention 
to  the  Indian  tribes  within  our  borders.  In  1830  their  work  was 
distributed  as  follows : 

Societies.  Stations.  Missionaries. 

Moravians g  2o 

Episcopalians - 

Cumberland  Presbyterians j  j 

Baptist  Board 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church j2  jg 

A.  B.  C.  F.  Missions *  39  23 

'^°^=-^ ^6  ^ 

The  number  of  Indian  communicants  was  7,142. 


MISSIONS   THROUGHOUT   THE    WORLD  IN  1830.        413- 
MissiONS  Throughout  the  World  in  1830, 

Missions '^^ 

Principal  Mission  Stations 502 

Ordained  Missionaries "56 

Assistants  from  Europe  and  America 77o 

Communicants 70.289 

Scholars  in  Day  Schools 80,656 

Home  Missionaries  in  Christian  Lands 2,000 

4  —Societies  for  the  Benefit  of  Seamen. 

Soon  after  the  war  of  18 12  individuals  began  to  inquire  what 
could  be  done  for  the  evangelization  of  seamen.  In  iSi^-a  society 
was  organized  in  New  York  city  for  promoting  the  Gospel  among 
seafaring  men  who  vTsIted^'that  port,  and  in  1819  a  church  was  erected 
for  their  accommodation.  Other  cities  soon  followed  this  example. 
In  October,  181^,  in  Philadelphia,  Rev.  Joseph  Eastburn  com- 
menced to  holHreligiourmeSttngs  for  the  benefit  of  seamen  ;  a 
house  of  worship  was  built  in  1824,  and  a  church  was  organized  in 
1830.  In  1823  the  first  efforts  were  put  forth  in  Baltimore,  a  house 
was  erected  in  1825,  and  a  society  was  formed  the  same  year.  In 
18 19  Christian  men  in  Boston  began  to  bestow  labor  upon  seamen  ; 
the  Seamen's  Friend  Society  was  organized  in  January,  i_828,  and  a 
meeting-house  was  soon  after  erected.  In  i823_  similar  operations- 
were  commenced  in  Portland,  Me. 

The  American  Seamen's   Friend  Society  was  organized   in  New 
York  cit7ini^5;'BymeirwhoTiad  had  a  large  experience  in  labors 
in  behalf  of   sailors.     During  the  first  two  years  not  much  was 
accomplished.     In   1828   Rev.Cjoshua  Leavitt,  of  Stratford,  Conn.,, 
was  appointed  its  permanent  agent,  and  entered  upon  his  labors 
with  that  extraordinary  efficiency  for  which  he  was  ever  noted  in 
his  long  and  useful  life.     In  1828  he  started  the  Sailors    Magazine, 
a  monthly  periodical  of  thirty-two  pages.    This  Society  soon  became 
a  recipient  of  aid,  not  only  from  the  inhabitants  on  the  sea-coast, 
but   also  from  those  residing  in  the  interior.     It  provided  sailors 
with  religious  instruction  while  in  port,  and  also  established  board- 
ing-houses, where  they  might  be  kept  from  intoxicating  liquors  and 
from  squandering  their  money.     They  were  encouraged  to  deposit 
their  earnings  in  savings  banks  and  to  respect  themselves.     Chapels 
and  boarding-houses  were  opened  for  sailors  in  all  the  promment 
commercial  cities  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  also  in  Havre,  Canton, 
Honolulu,  and  Sidney.     Registration  offices  were  also  opened,  by 
•  means   of  which   worthy  seamen   might    avail  themselves   of  the 
advantages  of  a  good  character.     In  1829  there  were  ten  places  of 


416  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

worship  for  sailors  in  the  United  States,  and  missionaries  were  early 
sent  for  the  benefit  of  seamen  into  all  the  leading  seaports  of  the  world. 
For  more  than  forty  years  Rev.  (Edward  T.  Taylor,  a  man  of 
remarkable  genius  and  power,  ministered  to  the  seamen  in  the 
Mariners'  Bethel,  in  Boston.  He  was  characterized  by  Charles 
Dickens  as  a  "  cataract  of  eloquence,"  and  was  one  of  Boston's 
celebrities. 

5.— The  American  Jews*  Society. 

This  Society  was  formed  in  New  York  in  1820,  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  a  colony  or  an  asylum  in  this  country  to  which  Jews 
who  had  embraced  Christianity  might  resort,  and  thus  avoid  the 
persecution  and  oppression  to  which  they  were  subject  in  some 
parts  of  the  world.  A  farm  was  purchased  by  the  Society  at  New 
Paltz,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson  River,  comprising  five 
hundred  acres.  The  plan  did  not  prove  successful.  The  farm  was 
subsequently  sold  and  the  money  put  to  interest,  but  the  Society 
has  continued  until  this  time,  and  has  performed  a  good  work  in 
leading  many  Jews  to  accept  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Messiah 
and  Saviour  of  men. 


Section  ^.—Religions  Publication  Agencies. 
I.— The  Tract  Societies. 

One  of  the  new  features  of  the  great  onward  movement  in  the 
American  churches  was  the  seizing  of  the  power  of  the  press  and 
subsidizing  it  for  Christ.  It  had  its  origin  in  England,  springing  out 
of  the  great  Wesleyan  revival,  and  organizing  in  two  distinct  forms— 
Tract  and  Bible  Societies. 

In  tracing  these  new  measures  to  their  source  many  persons 
have  looked  no  further  than  to  the  Religious  Tract  Society,  organ- 
ized in  London,  in  1799,  and  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Socfety, 
in  1804.  In  a  general  sense  they  are  the  fruits  of  the  invention  of 
printing.  But  both  of  these  had  their  immediate  inception  from 
Rev.  John  Wesley's  efforts  to  elevate  the  masses,  whom  he  and  his 
efficient  co-laborers  were  leading  to  Christ,  into  a  higher  intellectual 
and  Christian  life.  As  eariy  as  1749  Mr.  Wesley  published  religious 
books  and  "  Tracts,"  and  all  of  his  preachers,  besides  many  other 
excellent  persons,  both  male  and  female,  became  "  colporteurs."  * 

*See  U/.  0/ Wesley.  By  Rev.  Richard  Watson.  Chap.  8.  History  of  Methodism.  By 
Rev.  Abel  Stevens.  LL.D.  Vol.  I.,  p.  326.  Some  of  his  early  "Tracts"  were  entitled.  "A 
\\  ord  to  a  Swearer, '  "  A  Word  to  a  Sabbath  Breaker,"  etc.,  etc. 


^i^^  TRACT  SOCIETIES.  417 

In  1782  Wesley  and  Coke  organized  a  "  Society  for  the  Distribution 
of  Religious  Tracts  among  the  Poor."  Its  "  plan  "  was  sent  out  in 
a  printed  sheet,  *  and  comprehended  the  essential  features  of  the 
tract  societies  since  organized.  In  1779,  a  quarter  of  a  century 
before  the  organization  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  a 
"  Naval  and  Military  Bible  Society"  was  organized  by  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists,  *'  which  afterward  obtained  high  patronage."  f  Rev. 
Dr.  Dobbin,  of  Dublin  University,  himself  a  Churchman,  alluding 
to  the  origin  of  these  early  societies,  has  said  : 

Never  was  there  such  a  scene  before  in  the  British  Islands ;  there  were  no 
Bible,  tract,  or  missionary  societies  to  employ  the  Church's  powers  and  indicate 
its  path  of  duty ;  but  Wesley  started  them  all ;  the  Church  and  the  world  were 
alike  asleep ;  he  sounded  the  trumpet  and  awoke  the  Church  to  work.  \ 

Religious  tracts  were  also  issued  in  1780,  in  London,  by  Dr.  John 
Stamford;  in  1781  by  Rev.  George  Burder,  and  in  1792  by  Hannah 
More.  The  Religious  Tract  and  Book  Society  was  formed  in  Scot- 
land in  1794. 

But  there  was  another  cause  which  indirectly  stimulated  to  these 
great  movements  in  Great  Britain — the  work  of  the  French  infidels. 
The  splendid  talents  of  Voltaire  were  devoted  to  writing  small  tracts 
against  Christianity,  and  a  society  was  organized  in  France  for  their 
dissemination.  Three  million  francs  were  raised  for  their  distri- 
bution. Whole  editions  of  these  publications  were  sent  to  America 
and  other  countries.  The  efforts  of  the  French  skeptics  had  an 
influence  in  awakening  the  zeal  of  the  British  Christians  "to  foil  the 
enemy  in  his  own  weapons."  But  the  immediate  impulse  to  this 
work  in  the  United  States  was  the  great  revival  movement  inau- 
gurated in  1800,  awakening  the  spirit  of  religious  activity  in  the 
churches  and  leading  to  a  union  of  the  power  of  the  press  with  the 
living  voice. 

The  first  efforts  in  the  United  States  were  of  an  individual  and 
local  character.  Rev.  Alexander  Proudfit,  D.D.,  of  Salem,  N.  Y. ; 
Re\^edediah  Morse,  D.D.,  of  Charlestown.  Mass.;  Rev.(D.  Tappan, 
DD.,  of  Harvard.  Mass.,  and  others,  led  in  this  movement,  issuing 
tracts  as  early  as  1802.  Dr.  Morse  published  not  less  than  thirty 
thousand,  which  were  chiefly  circulated  in  Maine,  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  In  1803  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge  was  formed  by  Rev.  Drs.  Morse,  Tappan,  and 

«  See  the  November  number  -f  the  Arminian  Magazine,  1784.  History  0/  Methodism.  By 
Rev.  Abel  Stevens,  LL.D,     Vol.  II,  pp.  492i  493- 

t  Ses  Jackson's  Centenary  0/  Methodism.     Chap.  6. 
;  See  Kitto's  Journal  oj  Sacred  Literature.     London,  1849. 
27 


418  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Holmes,  at  the  suggestion  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Phillips,  of  Massa- 
chusetts. This  was  the  first  tract  society  organized  in  America,  and 
within  twelve  years  it  printed  8,224  volumes  and  more  than  thirty 
thousand  tracts.  In  1807  the  "  Connecticut  Religious  Tract  Society" 
was  formed  at  New  Haven,  by  Rev.^mothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
■Jeremiah  Evarts,  and  others,  publishing  in  a  brief  time  a  series  of 
twenty- six  tracts,  of  which  one  hundred  thousand  copies  were  cir- 
culated. In  1808  the  "Vermont  Religious  Tract  Society"  was 
organized  at  Middlebury.  In  iSiothe  Protestant  Episcopal  Tract 
Society  was  established  in  New  York  city  through  the  agency  of 
Bishop  Hobart.  Then  followed  in  rapid  succession,  in  i8ii,the 
Evangelical  Tract  Society  in  Boston  and  the  Religious  Tract  Society 
at  Albany;  in  18 12  the  "New  York  Religious"  in  New  York  city; 
in  1815  the  "  Religious,"  at  Philadelphia,  subsequently  absorbed  into 
the  American  Sunday  School  Union;  in  1816,  the  "Religious,"  at 
Baltimore,  and  the  "  Hartford  Evangelical ;  "  in  1817  the  New  York 
Methodist,  the  "  Protestant  Episcopal  Female,"  at  Baltimore,"  and 
the  "Newark  Religious,"  of  New  Jersey;  in  1819  the  "Western 
Navigation  Bible  and  Tract  Society;  and  in  1824,  the  "Baptist 
General,"  at  Washington,  and  the  "  New  York  State,"  at  Albany. 

In  1814  the  "New  England  Religious  Tract  Society,"  afterward 
known  as  the  American  Tract  Society  (Boston),  was  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  combining  and  directing  the  tract  cause  in  New  En- 
gland. Revs.^Ebenezer  Porter,  D.D.,  andQustin  Edwards,  of  An- 
dover,  were  its  prime  movers.  It  became  incorporated  in  1816,  and 
assumed  the  name  of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  1823.  Andover, 
Mass.,  was  the  center  of  its  publishing  operations  in  its  earlier 
history. 

Toward  the  close  of  1824  the  Religious  Tract  Society  of  New 
York  and  the  American  Tract  Society  of  Boston  initiated  measures 
for  the  formation  of  a  National  Society,  in  which  the  local  societies 
of  the  country  should  be  united  as  anxiliaries.  Delegates  from  the 
principal  societies  were  invited,  and  a  convention  was  held  May  10, 
1825,  in  the  "Session  Room"  of  the  "Brick  Church,"  corner  of 
Ann  and  Nassau  Streets,  New  York  city.  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.D., 
Chairman,  and  Rev^oward  Malcom,  Secretary.  A  constitution 
was  adopted,  and  on  the  following  day  the  Society  was  organized, 
Hon.  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq  ,  President,  and  Rev.  Wm.  A.  Hallock, 
D.D.,  Secretary.  The  New  England  Society  became  a  branch  of 
the  new  Society,  taking  the  stereotyped  plates  and  publications  at 
cost.  This  union  continued  until  1859,  when  the  New  England 
Society  withdrew  on  account  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  New  York 


BIBLE  SOCIETIES. 


419 


Society  to  publish  productions    against  slavery,  and   the  Boston 
Society  resumed  an  independent  existence. 

In  1824  the  Baptist  General  Tract  Society'<^2.s>  organized  in  Phila- 
delphia, maintaining  an  independent  existence.  In  1829  it  had  136 
auxiliaries,  besides  three  branch  societies  at  Rochester  and  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  and  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  a  series  of  sixty-two  tracts  had 
been  published.  The  number  of  tracts  issued,  from  1824  to  1829, 
was  1,188,250,  amounting  to  13,263,000  pages. 


2. — Bible  Societies. 

The  scarcity  of  Bibles  during  the  Revolution  and  the  action  of 
Congress  in  providing  for  a  supply  have  been  referred  to,  and  also 
the  action  of  Robert  Aiken,  of  Philadelphia,  who  printed  the  first 
edition  of  Bibles  ever  published  in  this  country.  Thus  it  has  been 
well  said,  "  The  first  Congress  assumed  the  right  and  performed  the 
duty  of  a  Bible  society  long  before  such  an  institution  had  an  exist- 
ence in  the  world."  In  1804  one  of  the  most  glorious  achievements 
of  modern  Christianity  dates  its  occurrence — the  organization  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society — of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Gardner 
Spring  said,  "  England  has  no  brighter  jewel  in  her  crown."  The 
Jubilee  Volume  *  of  the  American  Bible  Society  says  : 

The  Bible-diffusion  spirit  was  developed  early  in  this  century  in  this  country, 
and  with  great  rnpidity  after  the  British  movement.  The  first  organization  was 
that  in  Philadelphia,  in  1808  ;  the  second,  that  of  the  Connecticut  State  Society  in 
May,  1809;  the  third,  that  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  in  July,  1809;  the  fourth, 
that  of  the  New  Jersey  Society  late  in  the  same  year;  and  the  fifth,  that  of  the 
New  York  (City)  Society  in  1810.  At  the  commencement  of  1^816  there  were  one 
hundred  and  thirty-two  societies  in  our  country,  each  independent  m  its  work  and 
entirely  local,  classified  thus  : 


In  New  Hampshire. .. .    2 

Massncliusetts    9 

Rhode   Isl;ind 2 

Connecticut 2 

Vermont    12 

New  York 35 

•  ^.New  Jersey 7 


In  Pennsylvania 15 

Delaware i 

Maryland 5 

Dist.  Columbia i 

Virginia 12 

North  Carolina i 

South  Carolina 2 


In  Georgia i 

Ohio 7 

Kentucky 3 

Tennessee I 

Louisiana I 

Mississippi I 

Indiana 12 


Besides  these  there  were  numerous  Bible  associations. 

The  sujiply  of  the  destitution  within  their  own  range  was  all  that  these  societies 
aimed  at.  and  this  was  very  imperfectly  met.  It  is  matter  of  history  that  the 
Christian  heart  of  our  own  country  was  first  effectively  moved  in  behalf  of  the  mul- 
titudes perishing  in  the  newly  and  sparsely  settled  West  and  South-west,  through 
the  agency  of  one  of  the  devoted  band  of  young  men  who,  in  the  shadow  of  the 

*  Issued  in  1867. 


420  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

haystack  in  the  meadow  near  Williams  College,  planned  the  foreign  missionary 
movement  (and  gave  themselves  to  it),  whose  results  have  been  most  blessed. 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  whom  we  refer  to,  having  completed  his  theological  studies  at  the 
Andover  Seminary  in  1812,  was  moved,  in  his  large  benevolence,  at  once  to  under- 
take a  tour  of  investigation  into  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  western  and  southern 
parts  of  the  land.  He  made  two  tours — the  first  in  1812  and  1813,  ia  company 
with  the  Rev.  John  F.  Schermerhorn,  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  ; 
the  second  in  i8l4and  1815.  in  company  with  Rev.  Daniel  Smith,  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church. 

Correspondence  and  addresses  in  large  cities  followed.  Appeals 
\Vere  made  to  the  public  in  the  Panoplist,  *  calling  for  the  co-oper- 
ation of  the  Christian  people  in  the  work  of  Bible  supply.  The 
practicability  of  such  a  union  was  illustrated  early  in  1816,  by  the 
organization  of  two  Sunday-school  unions  in  New  York  city.  In 
response  to  a  call  issued  by  Hon.  Elias  Boudinot,  at  the  advice  of 
leading  Christian  gentlemen,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1816,  an  assemblage 
of  sixty  clergymen  and  laymen  gathered  in  the  lecture-room  of  the 
Collegiate  Dutch  Church  in  Garden  Street,  New  York  city.  They 
represented  twenty-eight  Bible  societies,  and  the  Congregational, 
Presbyterian,  Protestant  Episcopal,  Methodist  Episcopal,  Baptist, 
and  Reformed  Dutch  churches  and  the  Society  of  Friends.  They 
were  men  of  highest  character  and  wide  influence.  The  occasion 
was  momentous,  the  scene  most  solemn,  the  interchange  was  free 
and  fraternal.     The  Jubilee  Volume  says  : 

Differences  there  were,  as  was  to  be  expected  in  so  novel  a  movement ;  but 
they  were  happily  adjusted,  and  the  result  was  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
prepared  by  their  own  commi(tee  by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  the  full  organization 
by  the  choice  of  a  Board  of  Managers,  and  subsequently  of  the  officers  according 
to  the  Constitution,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  placed  the  venerable  man  whose  call 
had  convened  them,  and  who  regarded  the  whole  action  as  the  most  blessed  event 
of  his  long  life.  ...  All  Bible-loving  hearts  throughout  the  country  were 
looking  anxiously  for  the  final  action,  and  when  it  came  there  ascended  the  sweet 
incense  of  praise  from  many  an  altar,  and  soon  there  followed  large  accessions  of 
auxiliaries  from  all  quarters  of  nur  land.  Thus  the  period  from  the  8th  to  the  nth 
of  May  inclusive,  1816,  has  become  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  and  of  the  world,  as  openin^'  an  era  for  good  whose  range  only  the  revela- 
tions of  the  last  day  can  fully  exhibit. 

In  1829  the  Society  undertook  to  supply  every  destitute  family 
in  the  United  States  with  a  copy  of  the  word  of  God.  In  1832  it 
was  announced  that  the  work  was  nearly  completed.  Several  times 
since  this  work  has  been  repeated. f 

The  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  %  was   formed   by  the 

*  A  religious  monthly  publishe  1  at  Andover.  mI^I  t  See  also  Period  III..  Chap.  VII,  Sec.  3. 

\  See  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register.  By  Robert  Baird,  D.D.  New  York.  M.  W. 
Dodd.     Pp.  240-2. 


.^^PUBUCATION  HOUSES.  421 

secession  of  members  of  the  Baptist  denomination  from  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society  in  1836,  because  the  Board  declined  to  render  aid 
in  printing  the  Bengalee  Scriptures  translated  on  the  principle 
adopted  by  the  American  Baptist  missionaries  in  Burmah,  involving 
the  Baptist  translation  of  the  word  baptize.  The  seceding  parties 
organized  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  May  12,  1836. 
Its  efforts  were  expended  chiefly  in  foreign  fields,  in  the  missions  of 
the  Baptist  denomination.  In  1850  its  receipts  amounted  to 
$41,625.  In  1849  ^  controversy  arose  in  this  Society,  occasioned 
by  its  refusal  to  publish  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  English 
language,  giving  renderings  in  accordance  with  Baptist  ideas  of 
immersion,  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  American  Bible 
Union,  June  10,  1850,  under  the  presidency  of  RevyDr,  Cone,  who 
had  been  president  of  the  older  Society. 

3. — Denominational  Publication  Houses. 

The  Methodist  Book  Concern  was  the  first  of  this  class.  From 
the  year  1773  different  individuals  had  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the 
publication  pf  Methodist  books  and  tracts.  Robert  Williams  has 
the  credit  of  being  the  leader  in  this  movement,  publishing  Rev. 
John  Wesley's  books  and  sermons,  many  of  them  in  small  pamphlets, 
which  were  widely  distributed.  After  the  full  organization  of  the 
Church,  in  1784,  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  this  work.  It  was 
enacted  that  the  publication  of  books  should  be  done  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Conference,  and  that  the  profits  of  the  sales 
should  be  devoted  "  to  the  college,  the  preachers'  fund,  the  deficien- 
cies of  preachers,  distant  missions,  and  debts  on  the  churches."  In 
1788  John  Dickins  was  appointed  to  Philadelphia,  and  was  officially 
designated  as  "  Book  Steward."  He  was  the  first  editor  and  pub- 
lisher, beginning  his  work  with  a  capital  of  $600,  which  he  loaned 
to  the  Church.  The  first  entry  in  the  books  of  the  institution  is  in 
his  handwriting,  dated  August  17,  1789.  This  may  be  regarded  as 
the  beginning  of  that  great  publishing  house,  the  Methodist  Book 
Concern.  The  first  book  that  was  issued  was  k  Kempis's  Imitation 
of  Christ.  Mr.  Dickins  died  in  1798,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Ezekiel  Cooper  in  1799,  under  whose  administration  during  six  years 
the  business  was  more  fully  organized  and  extended,  and  "  the  cap- 
ital stock  rose  from  almost  nothing  to  $45,000."*  In  1804  the 
"Concern"  was  moved  to  New  York  city.  Previous  to  1822  its 
publication  work  was  carried  on  by  contract,  but  during  that  year  it 

*  Stevens's  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  132. 


422  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

.  established  a  bindery,  and  in  1824  added  printing-presses  and 
also  secured  premises  of  its  own.  It  was  located  in  Crosby  Street 
until  1833,  when  it  removed  to  200  Mulberry  Street,  where,  in 
the  great  fire  of  1836,  it  was  burned.  It  was  immediately  rebuilt 
and  greatly  enlarged  its  work.  Soon  after  the  Western  Methodist 
Book  Concern  was  established  in    Cincinnati,  Ohio.  * 

TAe  Baptist  Publication  Society. — In  the  first  quarter  of  the 
present  century  most  of  the  older  Baptist  State  Missionary  conven- 
tions or  associations  were  organized.  The  first  local  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society  was  formed  in  New  England  in  181 1,  under  the 
name  of  the  Evangelical  Tract  Society.  It  was  "not,  however,  strongly 
denominational,  never  became  vigorous,  and  long  since  ceased  to 
exist  except  in  name.  The  necessity  of  some  means  for  the  pub- 
lication of  Baptist  tracts  was  very  generally  felt  in  different  sections 
of  the  country.  Mr.  John  S.  Meehan  and  the  students  for  the 
ministry  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Stoughton,  in  Philadelphia,  as  early 
as  1820  discussed  the  question  of  organizing  a  society  for  this  pur- 
pose. But  Mr.  Meehan's  sudden  removal  to  Washington,  D.  C,  pre- 
vented the  consummation  of  their  plan.  Rev.  Samuel  Cornelius,  of 
Virginia,  and  others  seriously  contemplated  a  movement  in  this 
direction.  But  it  was  reserved  in  the  providence  of  God  for  Rev. 
Noah  Davis,  a  young  minister  ordained  at  Salisbury,  Maryland, 
December  21,  1823,  to  take  the  first  effectual  steps  toward  the  organ- 
ization  of  a  tract  society.  Very  soon  after  his  ordination  he  wrote 
a  letter  on  the  subject  to  Mr.  J.  D.  Knowles,  his  former  class-mate, 
a  student  at  Columbian  College,  Washington,  D.  C,  and  the  editor 
of  the  Columbian  Star."  This  letter  was  the  occasion  of  much  con- 
versation, and  led  to  a  meeting  on  the  25th  of  P'ebruary,  1824,  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  George  Wood,  in  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of 
organization,  which  was  accomplished.  It  was  originated  "  as  a 
national  society,  a  center  around  which  the  Baptists  of  every  section 
of  the  country  might  rally,  a  foiintain  from  which  should  go  out 
streams  of  blessing  to  every  corner  of  the  land.  Its  support,  how- 
ever,  for  the  first  few  years  came  almost  exclusively  from  southern 
Baptists."  Of  the  $1,010  33  received  the  first  two  years,  all  but 
S133  73  came  from  the  Southern  States. 

'*  About  six  weeks  after  the  Society's  organization  a  few  tracts 
were  printed,  and  the  first  Depository  was  opened  April  2,  1824,  in 
the  office  of  the  Columbian  Star,  Washington,  D.  C.  At  first  it  was 
.under  the  care  of   Mr.  John    S.  Meehan,  afterward  in    charge    of 

»  See  also  Chap.  VII,  Sec  3,  the  last  pertud  in  this  volume. 


."^PUBLICATION  SOCIETIES.  423 

Mr.  Baron  Stow,  then  a  student  in  Columbian  College.  On  Novem- 
ber 14,  1826,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  in  Washing- 
ton city,  at  which  it  was  resolved  to  transfer  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Society  to  Philadelphia.  This  was  done  that  better  facilities  for 
shipping  to  southern  cities  and  elsewhere  might  be  secured.  A 
committee  of  brethren  residing  in  Philadelphia  was  appointed  to 
act  in  behalf  of  the  Board,  and  on  the  25th  of  December  of  the  same 
year  that  committee  convened  at  the  house  of  Dr.  J.  L.  Dagg.  The 
first  meeting  of  the  Society  in  that  city  was  held  January  3,  1827, 
Dr.  J.  L.  Dagg  acting  as  chairman  and  Dr.  Howard  Malcom  as 
secretary."  * 

The  Evangelical  Kiioivledge  Society  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  was  formed  in  1847.  Bishop  Meade.f  of  Virginia,  has  left  the 
following  record  of  its  origin  :  *'  When  tractarian  publications  began 
to  multiply  in  our  own  mother  Church  the  character  of  the  issue  of 
this  Society  became  more  and  more  tinctured  with  the  false  doctrines 
of  that  school.  Complaints  became  so  numerous  and  heavy  that  in 
the  summer  of  1846,  when  a  number  of  bishops  were  in  New  York 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  General  Missionary  Society,  the  Exec- 
utive Committee  of  the  Union  was  convened  and  the  complaints 
stated.     An  order  was  then  passed  that  a  set  of  all  the  books  of  the 

Society  should  be  sent  to  each  bishop  for  examination 

Seeing  that  there  was  no  promise  or  hope  of  amendment,  a  number 
of  those  who  believed  that  better  books  and  tracts  might  be  pro- 
cured determined  to  form  another  voluntary  society,  in  which  those 
who  agreed  in  sentiment  might  with  more  harmony  and  efficiency 
benefit  the  Church  by  the  press,  and  resist  that  torrent  of  evil  which 
was  pouring  itself  over  our  own  and  mother  Church.  Wherefore,  a 
number  of  bishops,  clergy  and  laity,  who  met  together  at  the  Con- 
vention of  1847  in  New  York,  united  in  forming  what  is  called  the 
Evangelical  Knowledge  Society." 

The  Congregational  Publishing  Society  came  into  existence 
through  a  tortuous  course.  The  Congregationalists,  the  Baptists, 
the  Episcopalians,  and  the  Methodists  co-operated  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Massachusetts  Sabbath-School  Union,  May  24,  1825, 
auxiliary  to  the  American  Sunday-School  Union,  organized  in  Phil- 
adelphia the  previous  year.  The  Episcopalians  and  the  Methodists 
soon  withdrew  from  the  Massachusetts  Society,  but  the  Baptists  and 


*  For  a  fuller  sketch  of  the  earlyhistory  of  this  Society  see  the  Fiftieth  Annual  Report 
(1874),  pp.  7-12,  from  which  the  above  account  has  been  abbreviated.  For  later  information  see 
secti-'n  on  Publication  Houses  in  the  last  period  in  this  volunne. 

t  Old  Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia. 


424  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  Congregationalists  continued  to  work  together  until  1 832.  On  the 
30th  of  May  of  that  year  they  made  an  amicable  separation,  and  the 
Society  was  dissolved.  The  next  day  the  Congregationalists  formed 
the  Massachusetts  Sabbath-School  Society,  which,  for  a  time  at  least, 
co-operated  with  the  American  Sunday-School  Union.  The  Amer- 
ican Doctrinal  Tract  Society  was  oiganized  in  1829.  Its  name  was 
changed  in  1850  to  The  Doctrinal  Tract  and  Book  Society,  and 
further  changed  in  1854  to  The  Congregational  Board  of  Publication. 
This  Society  united  with  the  Massachusetts  Sabbath-School  Society 
in  1868,  under  the  name  of  the  Congregational  Sabbath-School  and 
Publishing  Society,  and  the  present  name,  The  Congregational 
Publishing  Society,  was  assumed  in  1870.* 

The  Old  School  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  was  organized  in 
1840,  although  considerable  had  been  done  in  the  publication  of 
books  and  tracts  during  the  eight  years  previous,  under  the 
direction  of  a  committee  annually  appointed  by  the  General  As- 
sembly. The  New  School  Board  of  Publication  was  organized  about 
1840. 

The  Southern  Methodist  Book  Concern  at  Nashville  had  its  oriein 
soon  after  the  great  division  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
1844- 1 

4.— Religious  Periodicals 

in  the  United  States  were  first  published  during  this  period.  The 
earliest  were  monthly  journals— the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Maga- 
zine, a  valuable  religious  periodical,  commenced  in  1800,  at  Hartford, 
and  continued  ten  years ;  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Magazine, 
in  Boston,  in  1803  ;  the  Panoplist,  in  Boston,  in  1805,  was  joined  with 
the  former  in  1808,  and  the  name  changed  to  the  Missionary  Herald 
in  1822,  under  which  title  it  has  continued  to  the  present  timeTThe 
Christian  Disciple,  a  Unitarian  monthly,  originated  in  Boston,  in 
1813,  changed  to  the  Christian  Examiner  (a  quarterly)  in  1825,  and 
continued  about  forty-five  years ;  the  Chrjitian  Spectator,  first  pub- 
lished in  1 8 19,  and  after  twenty  years  merged^mto  "the  American 
Biblical  Repository,  at  New  York  ;  and  the  Metjiodisl  MagazineT^X 
New~York  city,  in  1818,  subsequently  changed  to  the  Methodisl 
Quarterly.  These  were  some  of  the  valuable  periodicafs  which 
came  into  existence  during  this  fruitful  period,  and  shared  in  the 
great  work  of  molding  the  public  mind.     It  is  believed  that  the 

•  Congregational  Quarterly,  October,  1876.     Pp.  546. 

+  All  the  aforementioned  societies  are  further  presented  in  Period  III,  Chap.  VII. 


...RELIGIOUS  PERIODICALS.  428 

whole  number  of  this  class  of  religious  publications  in  the  United 
States  in  1830  was  not  far  from  fifty. 

For  a  list  of  the  religious  magazines  published  in  the  United 
States  in  1828,  see  American  Quarterly  Register,  1828,  p.  132. 

Religious  newspapers  soon  followed  the  first  religious  magazines. 
As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained  there  were  in  the  United  States  in 
1 800  about  200  newspapers.  In  1810  they  had  increased  to  359,  and  in 
1830  to  1,000.  But  no  religious  newspaper  was  publishedin  Amer- 
ica, and  probably  in  the  world,  until  January  3,  18 16,  when  the 
Boston  Recorder,  a  Congregational  (orthodox)  paper,  was  first  issued, 
superintended  and  published  by  Nathaniel  Willis,  Mr.  Sidney  E. 
Morse  edited  the  paper  for  one  or  two  years  and,  in  1849,  claimed 
to  be  the  originator  of  this  class  of  publications.  In  1849  't  vvas 
joined  with  the  New  England  Puritan,  a  paper  commenced  in  Lynn, 
in  1840,  under  the  editorial  care  of  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke,  D.D.,  and 
was  thenceforth  called  the  Puritan  Recorder.  It  should  be  men- 
tioned that  the  Religious  Remembrancer.,  commenced  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1 8 10,  and  several  others  elsewhere  were  published  weekly  and 
devoted  to  religious  intelligence,  but  in  form  *  and  matter  they 
were  more  like  monthly  periodicals  of  a  later  day. 

The  following  religious  newspapers  come  next  in  order:  The 
Religious  hitelligencer,  at  New  Haven,  in  18 16;  The  Watchman  {Bdip- 
tist),  at  Boston,  in  1819;  the  Christian  Mirror,  at  Portland,  Me.,  in 
1822;  Zion's  Herald  (Methodist),  at  Boston,  January  9.  1823;  the 
New  York  Observer,  May  17,  1823;  the  Tract  Magazine,  Boston, 
1824;  the  Wesleyan  Journal,  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  September  30, 
1825  ;  the  Christian  Advocate,  New  York  city,  September  9,  1826; 
the  Morning  Star  (Free-Will  Baptist),  Dover,  N.  H.,  1826:  The 
Reformed  Church  Messenger,  Philadelphia,  1827:  the  Youth's 
Companion,  Boston,  1827;  the  Presbyterian,  Philadelphia,  1827;  the 
Christian  Intelligencer  (Dutch  Reformed),  New  York,  1829,  and  the 
NewYork  Evangelist,  in  1829. 

These  are  some  of  the  leading  religious  newspapers  started 
between  1800  and  1830.  This  class  of  publications  soon  became 
very  popular,  and  in  1830  nearly  every  denomination  had  one  or 
more  of  these  papers  devoted  to  its  interests.  In  1832  there  were 
said  to  be  eighteen  of  these  religious  papers  west  of  the  Allegha- 
nies,  and  probably  there  were  not  less  than  fifty  in  the  whole  country, 
besides  the  fifty  magazines  published  monthly  or  quarterly  in  the 
quarto  or  octavo  form.  Thus  did  the  Christian  churches  contribute 
to  the  advancing  intelligence  of  that  rapidly-expanding  period. 

*  They  were  in  octavo  and  quarto  form. 


426  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  3.— Religions  Edaicational  Agencies. 
I.— Sunday-schools  and  Sunday-school  Societies. 

Prior  to  the  existence  of  the  modern  Sunday-school  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young  in  religious  knowledge  had  been  by  no  means 
overlooked,  and  in  the  minds  of  some  eminent  Christians  and 
divines  it  had  assumed  considerable  prominence.  As  early  as  1680 
the  children  of  the  Plymouth  Church  had  received  religious  instruc- 
tion on  Sundays,  during  the  intermission,  from  the  pastor  and 
deacons.  The  same  custom  prevailed  for  a  time  in  Rev.  Dr. 
Belamy's  society,  in  Connecticut,  as  early  as  1740,  and  also  at 
Ephratah,  Pa.,  between  1750  and  1760.  In  these  examples  the 
germinal  idea  of  the  modern  Sunday-school  must  be  recognized. 

After  Mr.  Raikes  had  founded  his  Sunday-schools  for  gratuitous 
secular  instruction  with  paid  teachers,  Rev.  John  Wesley  conceived 
the  idea  of  Sunday-schools  for  gratuitous  religious  instruction  by 
unpaid  teachers,  and  introduced  them  into  his  societies.  Acting 
upon  this  suggestion,  Rev.  Francis  Asbury,  the  first  Bishop  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  organized  the  first  Sunday- 
school  in  the  United  States,  in  the  year  1786,  in  the  house  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Crenshaw,  in  Hanover  County,  Va.  "In  1787  George 
Daughaday,  a  Methodist  preacher  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  was  drenched 
with  water  pumped  from  a  public  cistern  'for  the  crime  of  conduct- 
ing a  Sunday-school  for  the  benefit  of  the  African  children  in  that 
vicinity.'  "  *  In  the  year  1790  the  Methodist  Conference  passed  an 
ordinance  establishing  the  institution  of  Sunday-schools.  "  Let 
us,"  say  the  Minutes  of  that  year,  "  labor  as  the  heart  and  soul  of 
one  man  to  establish  Sunday-schools  in  or  near  the  place  of  wor- 
ship." "  The  Council  shall  compile  a  proper  school-book  to  teach 
them  learning  and  piety."  f  This  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first 
official  recognition  of  Sunday-schools  by  an  American  church. 

In  1790  Bishop  White  is  said  to  have  established  a  Sunday-school 
in  Philadelphia,  and  in  December,  1790.  the  "First  Day"  or  Sun- 
day-school Society  was  organized  in  that  city,  among  whose  found- 
ers were  Bishop  White,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  Robert  Ralston,  Paul 
Beck,  Jr.,  William  Rawle,  Thomas  B.  Cope,  Matthew  Carey,  etc. 
It  was  composed  of  persons  of  different  denominations  and  derived 
its  support  from  voluntary  contributions.    Other  similar  institutions 


•Dr.  John  McClintock  in  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  1857,  pp.  516,  etc. 

\S^  Early  History  0/ the  Methodists.  By  Rev.  Jesse  Lee.  Baltimore.  1810.  Pp.  162-3.  Also 
History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  By  Rev.  Abel  Stevens,  D.D..  LL.D.  Vol.  II,  pp. 
503-4- 


..SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNIONS.  427 

rapidly  followed.  In  1797  Mr.  Samuel  Slater  established  a  Sunday- 
school  for  his  operatives  in  Pawtucket,  R.  I.  It  is  also  said  that  a 
poor  colored  woman  in  New  York  city  established  the  first  Sunday- 
school  in  that  locality  in  1793,  which  was  held  in  her  own  humble 
dwelling.  In  the  years  1801  and  1804  three  Sunday-schools  were 
formed  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  Mrs.  Isabella  Graham.  In  1806 
Rev.  S.  Wilmer  commenced  a  Sunday-school  in  Kent,  Md.,  and  in 
1808  the  same  person  opened  a  similar  school  in  Swcdesbomugh, 
N.  J.  In  1809  a  Sunday-school  society  was  organized  in  Pittsburg, 
Pa.,  by  which  a  school  was  opened  in  September  of  that  year,  con- 
taining two  hundred  and  forty  scholars.  In  181 1  Rev.  Robert  May, 
a  missionary  from  London,  was  active  in  organizing  Sunday-schools 
in  Philadelphia.  In  18 13  a  Sunday-school  was  established  in 
Albany,  N.  Y. ;  and  in  1814  in  Wilmington,  Del.  From  this  time 
they  rapidly  multiplied  in  every  direction. 

Sunday-school  societies  next  began  to  be  organized.  The  New 
York  Sunday-school  Union  was  formed  February  26,  1816.  In  1818 
the  "  Philadelphia  Sunday  and  Adult  School  Union  "  was  founded, 
and  continued  in  operation  seven  years.  About  the  same  time 
similar  unions  for  Sunday-school  work  were  organized  in  Boston. 
Baltimore,  Albany,  and  elsewhere,  and  Sunday-schools  soon  e.xisted 
in  all  the  larger  towns  and  the  cities.  At  first  they  continued  only 
through  the  warm  season  of  the  year,  and  comprised  learning  to 
read  and  spell  in  their  list  of  studies. 

^/^  The  American  Sunday-School  Union  was  formed  in  May,  1824. 
/absorbing  the  Philadelphia  and  other  societies  as  auxiliaries,  in 
'  compliance  with  a  widely  expressed  wish  of  the  friends  of  Sunday- 
schools  in  many  States.  This  organization  extended  its  work 
throughout  the  country,  making  charitable  donations  of  books  and 
other  Sunday-school  requisites,  and  collecting  valuable  information 
in  regard  to  the  religious  situation  in  the  land.  In  1824  the  Amer- 
ican Sunday-School  Union  commenced  the  publication  of  the 
Sunday-School  Magazine,  a  monthly  periodical.  In  1828  it  began  its 
labors  in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  did  much  to 
awaken  an  interest  in  the  religious  education  of  the  young  in  the 
new  settlements. 

The  Massachusetts  Sunday-School  Union  was  organized  in  1825. 
embracing  chiefly  the  Congregational  and  Baptist  denominations, 
and  was  an  auxiliary  of  the  American  Sunday-School  Union.  In 
1828  it  employed  a  secretary  and  a  general  agent  and  became  a 
publishing  society.     This  union  was  amicably  dissolved  in  1832,  and 


428  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

two  denominational  societies  were  organized  in  its  stead — the  Mas- 
sachusetts and  the  New  England  Sunday-school  societies — the  first 
a  Congregational  and  the  other  a  Baptist  society. 

The  Sunday-School  Union  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
says  Bishop  Meade,  was  established  in  the  General  Convention  of 
1826,  though  the  printed  journal  contains  no  record  of  it.  He  fur- 
ther says : 

The  Episcopal  Sunday-School  Union  was,  therefore,  as  has  been  since  formally 
and  publicly  admitted  by  itself,  a  voluntary  institution.  Several  attempts  were 
made  at  different  general  conventions  to  have  it  enrolled  and  recognized  among 
the  general  institutions  of  the  Church ;  but  they  failed,  the  Convention  being 
reminded  that  it  was  only  a  voluntary  society.  .  .  .  There  was,  however,  from  the 
time  of  its  formation,  a  general  disposition  to  encourage  the  Episcopal  Sunday- 
School  Union  as  a  voluntary  society. 

The  American  Sunday-School  Union  and  the  American  Tract  Society  were 
noble  institutions,  and  furnished  many  excellent  and  suitable  works  for  individuals, 
families,  and  Sunday-schools;  but  they  could  not  supply  certain  books  setting  forth 
the  peculiarities  of  the  different  denominations  connected  with  the  Gospel.  It 
was  therefore  desirable  that  Episcopalians,  as  well  as  others,  should  have  some 
organization  for  supplying  such.  It  was  distinctly  understood,  at  the  establishment 
of  ours,  in  1826,  that  it  should  assume  no  party  character,  but  be  conducted  on 
liberal,  comprehensive  principles,  setting  forth  only  those  common  truths  about 
which  Episcopalians  are  agreed — which  platform  has  been  repeatedly  declared 
since  then. 

The  Sunday-School  Union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — • 
For  many  years  this  denomination  made  no  provision  for  the  gen- 
eral organization  or  affiliation  of  its  Sunday-schools.  The  Book 
Concern,  however,  issued  some  volumes  suitable  for  their  libraries, 
under  the  direction  at  first  of  Rev.  John  P.  Durbin,  D.D.,  who  pre- 
pared its  first  library-book  and  its  first  Question  Book.  Thus  things 
went  on  until  the  2d  day  of  April,  1827,  when  the  Methodist  Sun- 
day-School Union  was  formed  in  New  York  city.  This  organization 
was  hailed  with  delight,  at  once  received  the  indorsement  of  the 
Annual  Conference,  and  of  the  General  Conference  also  the  follow- 
ing year.  At  the  first  annual  meeting,  in  1828,  it  reported  251 
auxiliaries,  1,025  schools,  2,048  superintendents,  10,290  teachers, 
and  63,240  scholars.  In  1844  Rev.  D.  P.  Kidder  was  appointed  the 
first  corresponding  secretary,  and  editor  of  Sunday-school  publica- 
tions, holding  the  office  until  May,  1856,  when  he  was  followed  by 
Rev.  Daniel  Wise,  D.D.  The  Sunday -School  Messenger,  originally  a 
magazine,  started  in  Boston,  in  1837,  by  Rev.  D.  S.  King,  was  the 
first  Sunday-school  paper  published  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.     'Wit.  Sunday-School  Advocate  was  started  in  1841. 


EDUCATIONAL  AID  SOCIETIES. 


429 


Summary  of  Sunday-Schools,  1830. 
In  the  United  States. 


Connected  w/th 
The  American  Sunday-School  Union. 

Methodist  Sunday-School  Union , 

All  others  (estimated) 


Schools. 

Teachers. 

Scholar. 

5.901 

52,663 

349,202 

2,000 

34,000 

130,000 

1,500 

15,000 

90,000 

Total. 


9,401       101,663         569,202 


In  Other  Parts  of  the  World. 

Schools. 

In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 9.423 

Continent  of  Europe .... 

"         "   Asia 

"  "    Africa 

New  South  Wales,  Van   Dieman's  Land  and  ) 

Isles  of  the  Pacific   \         

Islands  of  Mauritius  and  Madagascar 

Canada 

Nova  Scotia 

Newfoundland 

West  Indies 

Buenos  Ayres 


Teachers. 
92,866 


Scholars. 
922,282 

4,500 
15,000 

3,600 

28,000 

2.100 
1,200 
3.678 
1,500 
8,000 
100 


Total. 989.960 

Total  Sunday-school  scholars  in  the  whole  world  in  1828-9,*  Ii559.i62. 

2.— Educational  Aid  Societies. 

Another  secondary  effect  of  the  great  revival  of  1800  was  the 
development  of  educational  societies  for  the  aid  of  indigent  young 
men  in  preparing  for  the  Christian  ministry.  First,  we  have  noticed 
the  impulse  to  Christian  activity  leading  to  efforts  to  occupy  new 
and  distant  fields,  and  the  formation  of  home  and  foreign  missionary 
-societies  and  numerous  local  church  enterprises.  With  these  came 
a  great  demand  for  ministers.  Simultaneously,  under  the  impulse 
of  the  new  life  in  the  churches,  numerous  young  men  were  moved 
to  preach  the  Gospel.  Out  of  these  twofold  demands  grew  up 
another  great  Christian  organization  whose  special  function  was  to 
furnish  pecuniary  aid  to  candidates  for  the  ministry  while  pursuing 
their  preliminary  studies. 

In  the  first  forty  years  after  the  first  settlement  of  Massachusetts 

there  was  one   liberally-educated  clergyman  in  every  600  souls,  f 

i  But  in  1816,  when  the  American  Education  Society  commenced  its 

*  The  data  embraced  in  the  above  summary  has  been  collected  partly  from  official  sources 
and  in  part  from  the  American  Quarterly  Register.  1829-30,  for  which  they  were  prepared, 
under  the  careful  hand  of  Rev.  B.  B.  Edwards,  D.D. 

+  American  Quarterly  Register,  1831,  1833,  p.  337- 


430  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

,  I  work,  it  was  authoritatively  declared*  that  in  nine  of  the  south- 
western States  and  Territories,  containing  a  population  of  1,078,815, 
there  were  but   116  liberally-educated  ministers.      In  four  of  the 
Southern  States,  with  a  population  of  2,197,670,  there  were  but  126 
educated  ministers,   or  one  in    17,400  inhabitants.     Even  in  New 
'  England  there  were  then  only  803  educated  ministers  for  a  popu- 
'ilation  of  1,471,92780015,  or  one  to  a  little  less  than  2,000  inhab- 
jiitants.      By  a  liberal   estimate    there   were    not   more   than   2,000 
>i educated   ministers   in    the   whole   United   States  and    Territories. 
i'Such  was  the  condition  of  the  field    in  which  were  to  be  widely 
j.laid  the  foundations  of  Christ's  kingdom.     The  safeguards  of  the 
I  Rei»ublic — virtue  and  intelligence — demanded  the  higher  education 
j|of  those  who  were  to  act  so  prominent  a  part  as  the  instructors 
;'of  the  nation. 

The  country  was  rapidly  filling  with  people,  a  very  large  part  of 
whom  were  without  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  Institutions  of 
learning  must  be  established  and  manned,  and  the  churches  must 
largely  do  this  work.  They  must  have  well-qualified  ministers,  that 
they  might  identify  themselves  with  the  advancing  intelligence  of 
the  age,  and  lead  and  mold  the  best  thought.  The  fathers  of  this 
period,  as  wise  master  builders  forecasting  these  things,  acted  from 
intelligent  convictions  of  the  necessities  both  of  the  present  and 
the  future,  and  laid  broad  and  deep  foundations  for  God's  kingdom 
in  true  knowledge  and  vital  piety. 

The  custom  of  aiding  pious  young  men  of  meager  pecuniary 
means  while  pursuing  their  studies  for  the  ministry  was  not  a  new 
one.  It  had  been  done  in  the  older  colleges.  It  became  much 
more  common  after  the  founding  of  the  theological  seminaries. 
At  the  Theological  Seminary  in  Andover,  Mass.,  valuable  pecuniary 
assistance  had  been  furnished  by  its  patrons  and  founders  from  the 
date  of  its  establishment  in  1807.  The  same  was  true  at  Princeton, 
N.  J.,  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  etc.  But  the  first  society  formed  for  this 
specific  purpose  in  the  United  States  was  organized  in  Dorset,  Vt., 
in  1807.  In  1813  another,  called  the  "Benevolent  Education 
Society,"  was  formed  in  the  three  counties  of  Plymouth,  Bristol, 
and  Barnstable,  Mass.  It  aided  young  men  by  loaning  them  money 
without  interest.  Others  were  formed  on  a  similar  basis.  The 
Baptists  organized  education  societies  in  Massachusetts  in  1814,  in 
New  York  in  18 17,  in  Connecticut  in  1820.  In  1819  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  formed  a  board  of  education, 
which  .yon  became  the  official  organ  of  that  body.     The  Western 

f  Discourse  before  the  Society  by  Rev.  Dr.  Pearson.     See  Report,  1866,  p.  9, 


THE  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  SOCIETY.  481 

Education  Society  was  also  a  very  efficient  body  at  this  early 
period,  and  in  common  with  many  others  was  subsequently  merged 
into  the  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  Society. 

The  organization  of  the  latter  Society  was  effected  in  1815.  It 
soon  became,  for  many  years,  the  leading  body  of  its  kind,  combining 
in  its  organization  and  work  a  large  number  of  prominent  gentlemen, 
among  whom  were  Revs.  Eliphalet  Pearson,  LL.D.,  Jedediah  Morse, 
D.D.,  Samuel  Worcester,  D.D.,  etc.  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  was  an 
early  secretary,  and  Rev.  B.  B.  Edwards  his  assistant.  In  July, 
1827,  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  this  Society  was  started;  it  was 
subsequently  changed  to  the  American  Quarterly  Register — a  most 
valuable  periodical,  to  which  frequent  reference  is  made  in  these 
pages.  In  the  first  eleven  years  of  its  existence  this  Society  received 
589  different  young  men  as  beneficiaries.  It  received  numerous 
auxiliary  bodies  in  1827,  which  greatly  augmented  its  scope.  In 
1830  its  receipts  amounted  to  $204,01 1,  and  it  aided  872  beneficiaries. 
Rev.  I.  N.  Tarbox,  D.D.,  was  for  many  years  its  secretary. 

The  first  Education  Society  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
had  its  origin  under  circumstances  very  similar  to  those  which  had 
given  rise  to  the  other  societies  elsewhere. 

"  In  the  year  18 18  a  number  of  clergymen,  with  several  lay- 
gentlemen  of  character  and  influence,  had  assembled  at  George- 
town, in  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  witness  the  services  connected 
with  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  an  Episcopal  Church  then 
about  to  be  erected.  y\mong  the  gentlemen  of  the  laity  then 
present  there  was  one  who  had  taken  under  his  protection  an 
indigent  youth  of  piety,  with  the  view  of  educating  him  for  the 
Christian  ministry,  which  he  earnestly  desired  to  enter.  The  topic 
of  preparatory  and  theological  education  was  familiar  to  the  minds 
of  all  the  churchmen  of  Virginia,  and,  the  case  of  this  young  man 
having  led  to  an  interchange  of  opinion,  they  found  that  all  were 
ready  for  action.  Accordingly  those  present  agreed  to  support  the 
youth  whose  case  was  before  them  by  their  voluntary  contributions, 
and  scarcely  was  this  determined  on  before  their  minds  were  led  to 
the  reflection  that  there  were  probably  many  other  young  men 
whose  situation  was  similar  to  that  of  their  newly-adopted  bene- 
ficiary. This  thought  gave  rise  to  a  suggestion  that  a  society  might 
be  advantageously  formed  for  the  purpose  of  educating  any  number 
of  pious  young  men  desirous  of  entering  the  ministry  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  The  suggestion  was  so  favorably 
received    that   the  individuals    present  resolved   to   meet   shortly 


432  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

thereafter  in  the  city  of  Washington  and  form  a  society.  They  did 
meet,  and  the  Society  was  duly  organized.  As  soon  as  the  existence 
of  the  Society  was  known  young  men  from  various  parts  of  the 
Union  sought  and  received  its  bounty.  The  plan  adopted  in  the 
commencement  of  its  operations  was  one  suited  to  what  it  was 
supposed  would  be  the  Society's  limited  sphere  of  action.  If  an 
applicant  required  preparatory  education  he  was  placed  in  some 
college  most  convenient  to  himself,  and  if  ready  to  pursue  his 
theological  studies  he  was  commonly  put  under  the  supervision  of 
the  clergyman  to  whose  congregation  he  belonged.  The  expenses 
in  either  case  were  defrayed  by  the  Society.  .  .  .  These  considera- 
tions led  to  measures  which  contributed  in  part  to  a  result  not 
dreamed  of  in  the  fondest  expectation  of  the  Society — this  was  the 
establishment  of  the  theological  school  at  Alexandria." 

This  Society  steadily  pursued  its  course  of  usefulness  and  com- 
mended itself  to  the  affectionate  interest  and  cordial  support  of  its 
friends,  both  in  Virginia  and  elsewhere.  In  1835  nearly  one  tenth 
of  the  clergy  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  had  in  whole  or  in  part  been  aided  by  this  Society.  One 
sixth  of  the  clergy  of  Ohio,  one  eighth  of  those  of  Pennsylvania, 
one  fifth  of  those  of  Maryland,  and  a  large  portion  of  those  of 
Virginia  derived  aid  from  its  funds.* 

In  1 83 1  the  principal  education  societies  in  operation  were  the 
Baptist  Education  Society  of  New  York,  the 'Northern  Baptist 
Education  Society,  the  Education  Society  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  the  Connecticut  Church  Scholarship  Society,  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  Presbyterian 
Education  Society  and  the  American  Education  Society.  The 
Baptist  Education  Society  of  New  York,  besides  the  appropriate 
duties  of  an  education  society,  supplied  the  place  of  a  board  of 
trustees  of  Hamilton  Theological  Institution.  It  was  formed  in 
1817.  In  1820  it  started  the  institution  at  Hamilton.  Up  to  1832 
it  had  aided  251  students.  The  Northern  Baptist  Education  Society 
embraced  the  New  England  States,  except  Connecticut,  in  the  sphere 
of  its  operations.  Rev.  Ebenezer  Thresher  was  its  secretary  for 
many  years.  Educational  boards  were  organized  by  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  in  1832,  by  the  Lutherans  in  1835,  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Baptists  in  1839. 

Another  form   of  educational  aid  were   societies  for  furnishing 

*  History  0/  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia.     By  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  D.D. 
.New  York.     Harper  &  Brothers.     1836.     Pp.  260,  26i. 


MISS  BEECHER'S  PLANS.  433 

the    West    with    accomplished    and    well-qualified    common-school 

teachers."* 

About  1836  Mis^atherine  E.  Beecher  established  a  Female  Sem- 
inary in  Cincinnati,  the  chief  object  of  which  was  to  educate  teachers 
for  the  West.     She  entertained  the  idea  that  much  good  might  be 
done  by  locating  in  western  towns  and  cities  well-educated  teachers. 
She    employed    herself    in  collecting  facts  and   making   inquiries 
respecting  what  could  be  done,  and,   in    1845,  published  a  small 
volume,   entitled  The  Duty  of  American  Women  to  Their  Country, 
which    was    distributed    gratuitously.      This   volume    contained   a 
graphic  description  of  the  low  state  of  education  at  the  West,  and 
in  it»she  expressed  her  belief  that  there  were  at  the  East  a  thousand 
females  qualified  and  willing  to  go  West  and  teach,  provided  their 
traveling  expenses  could  be  borne  and  a  school  gathered  ready  for 
them  on  their  arrival.     This  volume  announced  that  a  committee 
was  selected,  to  whom  application  might  be  made  by  persons  at  the 
West  in  want  of  good  teachers,  and  called  upon  ladies  in  eastern 
cities  to  appoint  committees  to  select  and   send  out  teacheis   to 
supply  the  wants  of  those  who  should  make  application.     At  the 
same 'time  she  offered  the  profits   arising  from   the  sale  of  two 
volumes  she  had  published  toward  defraying  the  traveling  expenses 
of  teachers,  and  called  upon  females  to  purchase  the  volumes   and 
to  extend  the  sale  of  them.     In  the  beginning  of  1846  the  ladies  in 
Boston  organized  a  society  for  promoting  education  at  the  West. 
This  Society  was  independent  of  Miss  Beecher,  though  it  was  called 
into  existence  in  consequence  of  her  appeal.    It  received  applications 
from  western  towns,  selected  teachers,  and  bore  their  expenses  to 
their  fields  of  labor.     The  Board  of  National  Popular  Education 
was  organized    at  Cleveland.  Ohio,  in  April,   1847.  ^vhich  was    an 
enlargement    of   the  committee   announced    by   Miss    Beecher  at 
Cincinnati  in  1845.     The  first  annual  meeting  was  held  in  January, 
1848.      Ex-Governor  Slade  was  the  general  agent  of  the  Society. 
This  Society  collected  a  class  at  Hartford.  Conn.,  in  the  spring,  and 
another  in  the  autumn,  and  sent  out  about  fifty  annually. 

The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Collegiate  and  Theological  Edu- 
cation in  the  West  has  performed  a  great  work  during  the  forty  years 
of  its  existence.   The  circumstances  leading  to  its  organization  were 

as  follows :  t  ^  ^.    .       . 

In  the  month  of  June.  1842.  a  convention  was  held  in  the  cit>'  of  Cmcmnau. 

composed  of  about  one  hundred  delegates    from  the  States  of  Oh.o.  Kentucky. 

«  See  the  Half  Century  Tribute.     By  Rev.  Emerson  Davis,  D.D      Pp.  128.  129. 

t  Report  o7  life  Quarter  Century  Anniversary  of  the  Society  m  x868.  pp.  39.  40. 
28 


434  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Iowa.  Ever  since  the  disruption  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  1837,  matters  had  been  very  much  afloat  at  the  West,  and  the  object  of  the 
Convention  was  to  compare  notes  and  decide  upon  the  best  methods,  under  the 
altered  circumstances  of  the  churches,  to  promote  the  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom 
in  the  "Great  Valley."  It  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  J.  H. 
Linsley,  D.D.,  of  Marietta  College,  President,  and  Rev.  Thornton  A.  Mills,  rhen 
pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  Cincinnati,  as  Secretary.  The  first  four 
of  the  nine  special  topics  proposed  for  consideration  by  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments were  the  following,  namely :  Education  for  the  Ministry,  Home  Missions, 
a  Religious  Newspaper  as  an  Organ  of  the  Western  Churches,  and  Colleges.  The 
reports  on  the  state  of  religion,  which  occupied  one  whole  afternoon,  furnished 
manifold  evidence  of  the  wide-spread  destitution  of  the  West,  and  almost  every 
speaker  called  energetically  for  more  laborers.  The  condition  of  western  colleges 
^^s  also  fully  considered. 

Nothing,  however,  was  done  at  this  first  meeting  beyond  the 
passing  of  preliminary  resolutions.  Soon  after  this  meeting  Rev. 
Theron  Baldwin  visited  the  East,  and  held  interviews  with  the  late 
Hon.  William  W.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut,  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon, 
D.D.,  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  D.D.,  Rev.  Edward  Beecher,  D.D.,  and 
others.  He  also  conferred  with  prominent  educators  in  the  West 
on  the  subject  of  organizing  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
out  the  educational  ideas  of  the  Convention  at  Cincinnati.  The 
result  was  that  the  second  Convention  was  called  to  meet  in  Cin- 
cinnati. The  Convention  assembled  at  the  house  of  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  on  the  27th  of  March,  1843 — present,  Rev.  Drs.  Beecher 
anHlStowe,  and  Professor  Allen,  of  Lane  Seminary  ;  Professor  Henry 
Smith  and  Colonel  John  Mills,  delegates  from  Marietta  College; 
Rev.  J.  H.  Johnston,  a  delegate  from  Wabash  College,  and  Pro- 
fessor Sturtevant,  of  Illinois  College.  The  following  exhibit  of  the 
institutions  in  the  West  was  reported  to  the  Convention : 

Resources.  Debts. 

Marietta  College $59,000  $18,000 

Wabash  College 30,000  15,1000 

Illinois  College 1 12.000  25,000 

Lane  Seminary 100,000  11,000 

Western  Reserve  College 107,000  32,000 

A  large  part  of  the  above  property  had  but  little  value  except 
for  educational  purposes. 

A  plan  of  association  was  agreed  upon,  and  arrangements  were 
made  for  the  organization  of  a  society  at  New  York,  in  connection 
with  the  May  anniversaries.  The  Society  was  finally  organized  on 
the  29th  of  June,  1843,  if^  the  lecture-room  of  Rev.  Dr.  Skinner's 
church,  in  New  York  city.    The  receipts  for  1849  ^"<^  ^^5^  amounted 


COLLEGES  AND    THE  CHURCHES.  433 

to  $44,623  31,  which  was  divided  among  six  institutions.  At'ter  a 
varying  history  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  this  Society  was,  in  1874, 
united  with  the  American  Education  Society,  under  the  name  of 
the  American  College  and  Education  Society. 

3.  The  Colleges  and  the  Churches. 

True  Christianity  has  ever  been  associated  with  intellectual 
progress  and  culture.*  It  has  been  the  active  factor  and  promoter 
of  the  best  enlightenment,  a  powerful  quickener  of  thought,  a 
leader  and  inspirer  of  all  true  inquiry.  It  is  its  function  to  lift  up 
the»masses  into  a  higher  intelligence  and  to  share  a  primary  part 
in  the  advancement  of  society.  From  the  beginning  of  its  career 
it  has  manifested  an  original  instinct  for  education.  In  the  earlier 
period  the  fathers,  Clement,  Origen,  etc.,  diffused  the  elements 
of  sound  learning  in  church  schools.  The  great  Reformation 
allied  itself  with  the  universities.  Wycliffe,  Tyndale,  Luther, 
Melanchthon,  Farel  and  Calvin  turned  their  lecture-rooms  into 
preaching-places,  and  VVittemburg,  Heidelburg.  the  great  Sor- 
bonne,  Oxford,  Cambridge  and  Edinburgh,  with  their  thou- 
sands of  students,  made  those  countries  Protestant.  We  have 
noticed  that  within  ten  years  after  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  on 
Plymouth  Rock  they  made  an  appropriation  out  of  their  scanty 
funds  for  the  establishment  of  a  college.  "  Christo  et  Ecclcsia: " 
was  their  motto,  and  at  every  period  of  its  progress  down  to  our 
times  Christianity  has  planted  and  fostered  colleges  as  her  allies. 
They  have  been  the  fastnesses  of  true  religion— centers  of  its  influ- 
ence and  power.  It  will  be  impossible  within  our  limits  to  sketch 
a  history  of  these  educational  institutions.  We  can  give  only  a  few 
tabular  exhibits. 

At  the  present  time,  in  the  investigation  of  many  questions  of 
progress,  it  is  desirable  to  find  definite  and  reliable  bases  of  com- 
parison with  former  periods.  The  educational  progress  of  the 
country  as  a  whole,  and  the  part  the  churches  are  performing  in 
the  good  work,  are  topics  which  start  many  important  inquiries  and 
call  for  information  not  easily  accessible  to  many.  The  author  has 
therefore  availed  himself  of  the  data  furnished  in  the  following 
tables,  taken  from  the  American  Quarterly  Register,^  and  prepared 
with  great  care  and  faithfulness  by  Revs.  Elias  Cornelius,  D.D.,  and 
Bela  Bates  Edwards,  D.D.,  Secretary  and  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
American  Education  Society: 


*  See  pp.  229-252.  t  May,  1830.     Pp.  238,  239- 


436 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Colleges  in  the  United  States  in  1830. 

["  Our  information  is  derived  the  present  year,  1830." — Ed.  of  Register.^ 


Namb. 


Waterville 

Bowdoin 

Dartmouth    

■University  of  Vt.. : . 

Middlebury 

Williams 

Amherst 

Harvard  University. 
Brown  University.. 

Yale 

Union 

Geneva  

Rutgers 


Location. 


College  of  N.  J 

University  of  Penn. 

Jefferson 

West  Univ.  of  Pa. . . 

Madison 

Alleghany 

Wm.  and  Mary's 

University  of  S.  C. . 

Charleston 

University  of  Ga.. . . 

Greenville 

Univ.  of  Nashville. . 

Center 

Cumberland 

Augusta 

Transylvania  Univ. 

West.  Reserve 

Miami   University.. 


Waterville,  Me i8ao 

Brunswick,  Me 1794 

Hanover,  N.  H 1770 

Burlington,  Vt 1791 

Middlebury,  Vt 1800 

VVilliamstown.Mass.  1793 
Amher>t,  Mass..  182 ij 
Cambridge,  Mass\.v6;8| 
Providence,  R.  I-w  J1764' 
New  Haven,  ConnTj  ri70o[ 
Schenectady,  N.  ¥..11795] 

Geneva,  N.  V (1823 

770 

,.  ,  12^ 
lphia,T'a...'.,i755 
Canonsburg,  Pa....  [1802 
City  of  Filtsburg. . .:  1820 
Union  Town,  Pa.. .'1829 
Mead.Township.Pa '1815J 
Williamsburg,  V^\.t^T,\ 

Columbia,  S.  C ,1801 

Charleston,  S.  C. . . .  J1785 

Athens,  Ga j'/^S 

Green  Co.,  Tenn...  1794 
Nashville,  Tenn ....  i8o6| 

Danville.  Ky |i822 

Princeton,  Ky I1825 


President  or  Provost. 


oeneva,  IN.   » [102; 

N.  Brunswick,  N.  J. j  177c 

PniTadelphia|Ta. .  .'. ,  175; 


Augusta,  Kv 
Lexington,  Ky. 
Hudson,  Ohio. . 
Oxford^^Ohio... 


Rev.  Jeremiah  Chaplin,  D.D 

Rev.  William  Allen,  D.D 

Rev.  Nathan  Lord,  D.D 

Rev.  James  Marsh,  D.D 

Rev.  Joshua  Bates,  D.D 

Rev.  Edward  D.  Griffin,  D.D 

Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  D.D 

Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  LL.D 

Rev.  Francis  Way  land,  D.D 

Re V.  J.  Day,-  D.D.  LL.  D 

Rev.  E.  Nott.  D.D.  LL.D , 

Rev.  R.  S.  Mason , 

Rev.  Philip  Milledoller,  D.D 

Rev.  James  Carnahan,  D.D 

Rev.  W.  H.  De  Lancey,  D.D.... 

Rev.  M.  Brown,  D.D 

Rev.  R.  Bruce,  Principal 

Rev.  Henry  B.   Bascom 

Rev.  Timothy  Alden 

Rev.  Adam  Empie 

l'hom.-»s  Cooper,  M.D , 

Rev.  Jasper  Adams,  D.D , 

Rev.  Alonzo  Church 

Henry  Hoss,  Esq 

Rev.  Philip  LinHsley.  D.D  

Rev.  Gideon  Blackburn,  D.D 

Rev.  F.  R.  Cossitt , 

Rev.  Martin  Ruter,  D  D 

Rev.  Alva  Woods,  D.D , 


1823 
1798 
:826 
i824lRev.  Robert  H.  Bishop,  D.D 12 


E  u 
3-a 


0.2 


54 

373 
i,6og 
178 
495 
695 
177 


11 

3  B 


17 

35 
397 


193 
196 
36 


5.538  1,377 
1,768 

1,257 

248 

6 


4.355 
,202 


470 

19 

231 


403 
■^36 


u  S 

•^  QO 

B  - 

3 


3» 

113 

n? 

39 

86 

90 

207 

247 
105 
359 
227 
29 
60 

73 
97 
120 

50 

70 

6 

100 

97 
69! 
"7 
30 
71 
66 

I20 

102 

81 

17 

56 


3 
24 
35 
18 

40 

39 
102 

'26 

91 
48 


Additional. 


Name. 


Washington 

Columbia. 

Hamilton 

Dickinson 

Wa.shington 

St.  Mary's 

Columbia 

University  of  Va. . . 

Ham.  Sidney 

Washinj^ton 

University  of  N.  C. . 

East  Tennessee 

University  of  Ohio. 

hloomington 

Kenyon 


Location. 


Hartford,  Conn 

New  York  city 

Clinton,  N.  Y 

Carlisle,  Pa 

Washington,  Pa.... 

Baltimore,   Md 

Washington,  D.  C 
Charlotteville,  Va.. 
Prince  Ed.  Co.,  Va. 

Lexington,  Va 

Chapel  Hill,  N.C.. 

Knoxville 

Athens,  Ohio 

Bloomington,  la..., 
Kenyon,  Ohio 


1826 
"754 
1812 
1783 
1806 
1805 
1821 
1814 

1812 
i79« 


1802 
1828 
18281 


1828-9 
1827-8 
1826-7 
1828-9 
1827-8 
1827-8 
1828-9 
1828-9 
1827-8 
1828-9 
1828-9 
1828-9 
1828-9 


President. 


Rt.  Rev.  T.  C.  Brownell,  D.D. 
Hon.  William  A.  Duer,  LL.D.. 

Rev.  H.  Davis,  D.D 

Rev.  Samuel  B.  Howe 


Rev.  E.  Damphoux.  D.D 

Rev.  Stephen  Chapin,  D.D... 

Hon.  James  Madison 

J'ames  Cushing  Esq 

Rev.  G.  A.  Baxter,  D.D 

Rev.  J.  Caldwell,  D.D 

Rev.  Charles  Coffin,  D.D.  .♦. . . 

Rev.  R.  G.  Wilson,  D.D 

Rev.  A.  Wylie,  D.D 

Rt.  Rev.  P.  Chase.  D.D 


"5.3 
■5  n 


lE^SiS-.S 


i6l^-r|2 


69. 


By  an  examination  of  the  preceding  tables  it  will  be  s?en  that  we  have  returns 
from  thirty-one  colleges  for  the  present  ye.ir  (1829-30).  .ind  that  for  fifteen  col- 
leges we  were  obliged  to  use  the  returns  of  1828-9,  1827-8  and  1826-7.  In  making 
out  a  general  estimate,  therefore,  we  shall  make  a  small  addition  to  most  of  the 


STATISTICS  OF  COLLEGES.  437 

sums  total  in  the  returns  made  previously  to  this  year.     In  so  doing  we  shall  come 
very  near  the  truth ;  certainly  we  shall  not  go  beyond  it. 

Colleges  in  the  United  States 46* 

Instructors  at  thirty-nine  colleges 290 

Whole  number  of  alumni  at  thirty  colleges 21,693 

Alumni  living  at  twenty-six  colleges 12,784 

Alumni  ministers  at  twenty-three  Colleges 4.671 

Total  under-graduates  at  forty  colleges 3, 582 

Professors  of  religion  at  twenty-seven  colleges 683 

Volumes  in  twenty-seven  college  libraries 149,704 

in  social  libraries  in  thirty  colleges 69.281 

— Ed.  American  Quarterly  Register. 

Of  the  foregoing  forty-nine  colleges  only  nine  were  State  insti- 
tutions, all  the  others  having  been  founded  and  sustained  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  the  Annerican  churches;  namely,  eight 
Congregational,  nine  Presbyterian,  five  Episcopal,  four  Baptist, 
two  t  Methodist,  two  German  and  Dutch  Reformed,  four  Roman 
Catholic,  one  Unitarian,  and  seven  are  supposed  to  have  been  non- 
denominational,  though  five  of  them  were  under  the  presidency 
of  Christian  ministers.  These  facts  show  that  the  American 
churches  were  the  leaders  in  the  cause  of  higher  education.  Twen- 
ty-eight of  these  institutions  were  established  between  1800  and 
1830  and  the  remainder  prior  to  1800. 

4.  Theological  Schools. 

We  have  noticed  that  it  was  formerly  customary  for  young  men 
in  America,  qualifying  themselves  for  either  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions, to  spend  some  time  with  an  individual  distinguished  for  his 
professional  knowledge,  who  directed  their  reading  and  by  conver- 
sation furnished  them  with  such  information  as  his  time  and  circum- 
stances would  permit,  % 

But  the  rapidly-increasing  demands  for  ministers  in  our  large 
territory,  and  fast  expanding  population,  and  the  inadequacy  of  the 
libraries  and  lectures  of  these  single  private  teachers  to  furnish 
their  pupils  with  a  full  and  systematic  view  of  all  the  topics  on 
which  it  was  desirable  that  students  for  the  Christian  ministry 
should  have  ej^tended  and  thorough  information,  suggested  the 
importance  of  systematizing  the  work  of  ministerial  education,  by 
organizing  institutionsfbr  this  purpose  with  several  instructors  and 

*  There  should  be  three  other  Roman  Catholic  colleges,  though  at  that  time  in  their  incipiency. 
+  Neither  of  which  became  permanent  institutions.     The  Wesleyan  Un.versUy  at  M.ddletown, 
Conn.,  founded  in  1831,  was  the  first  permanent  Methodist  College. 
X  See  pp.  250-252. 


438  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  regular  course  of  study.  The  transition,  however,  from  the  single 
divine  to  the  full  theological  seminary,  as  now  existing  among  us, 
was  not  at  once  realized.  There  seem  to  have  been  a  few  instances 
where  an  intervening  link  for  a  time  existed — a  theological  depart- 
ment with  a  single  professor  in  collegiate  institutions. 

The  first  movement  toward  the  establishment  of  a  theological 
department  in  a  collegiate  institution  was  in  Harvard  College, 
where  a  professorship  of  theology  was  established,  in  1722,  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Hollis,  a  wealthy  London  merchant.  A  professorship  of 
divinity  was  continued  until  1 8 16,  when  definite  measures  were 
adopted  for  a  more  general  and  systematic  instruction  in  theology, 
and  in  1826  a  building  was  finished  at  a  cost  of  $25,000,  which  was 
called  Divinity  Hall.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  took  the  next 
step  in  this  direction.  As  early  as  1773  it  proposed  to  establish  a 
professorship  of  theology  in  connection  with  its  college  at  New 
Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Livingston  was  appointed  professor 
by  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  The  movement,  however,  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  Revolutionary  War  immediately  following.  In  1784 
the  appointment  of  Dr.  Livingston  was  confirmed  by  the  Conven- 
tion of  the  Dutch  Church,  and  he  began  his  lectures  in  the  city  of 
New  York  to  young  men  preparing  for  the  ministry.  Rev.  Drs. 
Dirck  Romeyn  and  Solomon  Froeligh  were  afterward  associated 
with  him.  In  1807  the  college  at  New  Brunswick,  which  had  been 
in  a  languishing  condition,  was  revived,  a  professorship  of  theology 
was  soon  after  established,  and  Dr.  Livingston  was  appointed  both 
professor  and  president.  In  18 10  the  theological  class  at  New  York 
was  removed  to  New  Brunswick,  and  the  theological  depart- 
ment in  that  institution  was  more  formally  established.  It  1793 
Rev.  John  Anderson,  D.D.,  of  Beaver  County,  Pa.,  a  minister  of  the 
Associate  Presbyterian  Church,  began  to  devote  special  attention 
to  the  instruction  of  students  in  theology.  He  was  the  sole  instruc- 
tor, and  the  movement  was  a  private  affair,  in  eight  years  introducing 
only  six  men  into  the  ministry.  He  continued  in  this  way  until  1818, 
when  the  theological  seminary  at  Canonsburg  was  opened.  From 
1804,  through  a  period  of  about  fifteen  years,  Rev.  John  M.  Mason, 
D.D.,  a  distinguished  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  minister  in 
New  York  city,  gave  theological  instruction  and  became  the  first  pro- 
fessor in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary.  But  all  of  these  begin- 
nings prior  to  1807  were  only  single  professorships,  and  can  hardly 
be  designated  as  theological  seminaries  until  some  time  afterward. 

The   Andover  Theological   Seminary   was  established    by    the 
"Orthodox"   Congregationalists,   in    1807,    immediately  after  the 


THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARIES.  439 

election  of  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  a  Unitarian,  to  the  professorship  of 
theology  in  Harvard  College.  It  was  endowed  by  the  donations  of 
Mr.  John  Norris  and  his  widow,  of  Salem,  Mass. ;  of  Widow  Phebe 
Phillips,  John  Phillips,  and  Samuel  Abbott,  of  Andover ;  Moses 
Brum  and  William  Bartlett,  of  Newburyport. 

Theological  Seminaries  in  the  United  States  in  1830.* 


Namb. 


,  Banzor  Theological  Seminary. .. 
Academy  and  Theological  Inst.. 

Theological  Seminary 

Theological  School 

Theological  Institute 

Theol.  Dep.  in  Yale  College 

Gen.  Theol.   Sem.   Prot.  I 

Epis.  Ch.  U.  S  [ 

Theological  Seminary  of  Auburn. 
Hamilton  Lit.  and  TheoL  In.st... 

Hartwick  Seminary 

Theol.  Scm.  Dutch  Ref.  Ch  . . . . 
Theol.  Sem.  Pres.  Ch.  in  U.  S... 
Sem.  Gen.  Synod  Evan.  I 

Luth.  Ch.  U.  S  f 

German  Reformed 

Western  Theological  Seminary.. 
Epis.  Theol.  School  of  Virginia. . 
Union  Theological  Seminary  ,  .. 
Southern  Theological  Seminary. 
Southern  and  West.  Theo.  Sem.. 

Lane  Seminary 

Rock  Spring 

Hanover 


Location. 


Bangor,   Me 

New  Hampton,  N.  H 

Andover,  Mass 

Cambridge,  Mass 

Newton,  Mass 

New  Haven,  Conn 


New  York  city 

Auburn,  N.  Y 

Hamilton,  N.  Y 

Hartwick, N.Y 

|New  Brunswick,  N.  J... 
[Princeton,  N.  J 

Gettysburg,  Pa 

Ivork,  Pa 

Alleehenytown,  Pa 

'Fairfax  County,  Va 

Prince  Edward  Co.,  Va. 

Columbia,  S.  C 

Maryville,  E.  Tenn 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 

Rock  Spring,  III 

Near  Madison,  la 


Dbnomination. 


,_ 

0 

•0 

c 

% 

F  "! 

a 

■* 

•a 

c 

V 

CZ 

(/) 

F  0. 

E 

0 

•0 

n  0 

3 

3 

u 

2 

(/) 

Congregational 

F.-W.  Baptist 

Congregational 

Unitarian 

Baptist 

Congregational 

Protestant  Episcopal 

Presbyterian 

Baptist 

Lutheran 

Dutch  Reformed 

Presbyterian 

Evangelical  Lutheran . . . 

German  Ref.  Church.... 

Presbyterian 

Episcopal 

Presbyterian 

Presbyterian 

Presbyterian 

Presbyterian 

Baptist 

Presbyterian 


1816 
iSlq 
1808 
1824 
182s 
1832 

1S19 

1821 
1820 
i8t6 


I8l2 

1826 

1825 
1828 


1824 
1829 
183 1 
1829 
1827 
l8.-q 


14,  1,200 

61  100 

138  6.000 

42  1,400 


8,oco 

3,650 

3.550 

1.300 

90. 


6,000 
6,000 
3.5CO 


S.500 
1,300 


Total. — Theological  seminaries,  21  ;  number  educated  in  thirteen  reminaries,  1,558:  number  of 
graduates  in  1829  at  thirteen  seminaries,  180;  total  at  thirteen  seminaries,  639  ;  volumes  m  fourteen  semi- 
nary lioraries,  45,300. 

The  Theological  Seminaries  founded  from  1830  to  1850  were  the 
following:  By  the  Congregationalists,  Gilmanton,  N.  H.,  in  1835, 
at  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  1833,  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  1834;  by  the 
Presbyterians,  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  in  1832,  in  Nt^w  York  city,  in 
1836,  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1832;  by  the  Baptists,  at  Thoraaston, 
Me.,  in  1837,  at  Richmond,  Va.,  in  1832,  at  Eaton,  Ga.,  in  1834, 
at  Granville,  Ohio,  in  1832,  at  Marion,  Ala,  unknown,  at  Cov- 
ington, Ky.,  in  1840,  at  Rochester,  in  1850;  by  the  Lutherans, 
at  Lexington,  S.  C,  in  1835,  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  1830;  by  the 
Associate  Reforxned  Church,  in  New  York  city  in  1836;  and  by  the 
Methodists,  at  Concord,  N.  H.,  in  1847— total,  seventeen.  The 
evangelical  churches  had  37  theological  seminaries  in  1850  with 
1,150  students;  and  the  Unitarians  one. 

*  See  American  Quarterly  Register,  May,  1830.     P.  247- 


440  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  NEW  LIFE-REFORMATORY. 


Sec.  I.  The  Temperance  Reform.  I  Sec.  3.  The  Sabbath  Reform. 
"     2.  The  Antislavery  Reform.     I 


Section  J.— Tlie    Temperance   Reform    and    tlie 

ClitLrclies. 

WHEN  this  century  opened  the  evil  of  intemperance  was  near 
its  culmination — the  darkest  time  in  respect  to  the  use  of 
alcoholic  intoxicants  in  American  history,  and  probably  in  all  his- 
tory. In  such  a  period  the  temperance  reformation  had  its  inception 
(1785-1825).  Had  it  been  undertaken  six  centuries  earlier,  when  the 
only  alcoholic  liquors  used  were  beer,  cider,  ale,  wine  and  metheglin, 
the  task  would  have  been  easier.  Prior  to  that  time  there  were  no 
distilled  liquors,  except  the  little  employed  by  Mohammedan  alche- 
mists in  search  of  a  universal  solvent.  About  the  year  1260  Ray- 
mond Lully,  an  eminent  physician  of  southern  Europe,  conceived 
the  idea  that  a  spirit  distilled  from  wine  possessed  life-giving  prop- 
erties, and  under  the  name  aqua  vitoe  introduced  it  as  a  medicine. 
For  about  three  hundred  years  brandy  was  thus  used.  In  the  mean- 
time whisky,  and  gin  also,  to  some  extent,  had  been  introduced  into 
materia  medica.  In  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  these 
spirits-passed  into  common  use  as  beverages.  West  India  rum  came 
into  being  with  the  development  of  sugar-cane  and  molasses,  about 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  about  the  year  1700  New 
England  rum  was  first  manufactured. 

Thus  within  the  short  period  of  about  three  centuries  those  most 
fiery,  potent,  and  vitiating  of  all  beverages,  whisky,  brandy,  gin  and 
rum,  became  thoroughly  domesticated  in  all  ranks  of  society.  How 
much  easier  to  have  emancipated  humanity  from  bondage  to  intem- 
perance before  distilled  spirits  were  added  to  the  milder  intoxicantsi 
In  those  centuries,  too,  the  reform  impulses  were  wanting,  or  were 
expended  in  other  directions,  and  humanity  was  left  to  suffer  on 


REFORMATORY  MOVEMENTS.  441 

until,  by  its  very  sufferings,  it  was  goaded  to  resistance  against  the 
deadly  inflictions.  Midway  in  the  period  in  which  this  giant  evil 
was  culminating  (1750-1825)*  the  struggle  for  deliverance  from  its 
merciless  grasp  commenced. 

The  Nineteenth  Century 

is  conspicuous  as  the  first  of  all  the  long  Christian  centuries  to  wit- 
ness any  perceptible  amelioration  of  the  giant  evil  of  intemperance. 
The  great  temperance  reformation  as  we  now  witness  it,  filling  so 
large  a  place  among  the  best  endeavors  of  the  age,  organized  in  a 
great  variety  of  forms,  combining  in  its  swelling  ranks  multitudes 
of  earnest,  intelligent  men,  women,  and  children  among  all  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples,  was  in  the  feeble  stages  of  its  incipiency  when  this 
century  opened.  In  the  previous  period  we  traced  the  first  links,  in 
the  connected  chain  of  this  reform,  back  to  the  publication  of  Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush's  celebrated  essay  on  The  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits 
Upon  the  Human  Mind  and  Body,  in  the  year  1785.  Soon  after  its 
issue  as  a  tract  it  appeared  in  several  newspapers,  and  subsequently 
in  tract  editions  in  1794,  1804,  181 1,  etc.,  etc.  Later  the  American 
Tract  Society  sent  out  repeated  editions,  aggregating,  down  to  1850, 
172,000  copies. 

After  the  opening  of  this  century  there  appeared  sporadic  move- 
ments looking  toward  a  reform.  Almost  simultaneously,  and 
widely  separated,  clergymen,  physicians  and  civilians,  impressed  by 
the  reading  of  Dr.  Rush's  essay,  and  by  the  painful  facts  of  their  own 
observation,  spoke  out  against  intemperance,  and  began  to  confer 
together  in  reference  to  some  kind  of  organization  for  reform. 

This  reform  has  not  been,  either  in  its  inception  or  in  its  later 
stages,  a  merely  humanitarian  movement,  springing  up  and  moving 
on  independently  of  Christianity  and  the  churches.  In  the  begin- 
ning it  grew  out  of  the  religious  life  of  the  churches.  Dr.  Rush  was 
a  devout,  practical  Christian  gentleman.  The  first  most  conspicuous 
efforts  were  put  forth  by  clergymen  ;  clergymen  were  leading  advo- 
cates and  actors  in  the  first  organizations ;  the  first  and  most  com- 
plete organizations  were  effected  pursuant  to  formal  action  by  ec- 
clesiastical bodies  and  through  committees  appointed  by  them  ;  and, 
moreover,  through  all  the  struggles  in  the  first  half  of  this  century, 
as  well  as  in  more  recent  years,  the  reform  received  its  best  impulse. 


*  For  a  fuller  account  of  the  inception  of  the  temperance  reformation  see  Liquor  Problem  in 
all  Ages.  By  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  D.D.  Phillips  &  Hunt.  New  York  city.  1884.  Pp. 
159-216. 


442  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

its  surest  support  and  its  chief  pecuniary  supplies  from  the  Chris- 
tian churches.  ^ 

In  1805  Rev.  ^E^nezer  Porter,  of  Washington,  Connecticut, 
preached  a  temperanop  sermon,  the  earhest  now  extant  in  a  printed 
form.  In  1808  Rev.^l^man  Beecher,  then  in  his  first  parish  at  East 
Hampton,  Long  Island,  similarly  moved,  preached  his  first  temper- 
ance sermon  and  "  blocked  out  "  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  subject, 
which  he  subsequently  expanded  and  delivered  in  a  series  of  six  ser- 
mons at  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  These  sermons  were  published  in 
1826,  and  republished  in  large  editions  and  in  half  a  score  of  lan- 
guages. In  1808  the  first  temperance  society  was  organized  in  a 
village  on  the  borders  of  the  towns  of  Moreau  and  Northumberland, 
Saratoga  County,  New  York,  by  a  clergyman,  a  physician,  and  a 
lawyer,  and  the  following  year  another  society,  which  became  per- 
manent, reaching  even  to  the  present  c^y,  in  the  town  of  Greenfield, 
in  the  same  county.  In  18 10  Rev.(^eman  Humphrey,  then  of 
Fairfield,  Connecticut,  subsequently  for  twenty-two  years  president 
of  Amherst  College,  preached  a  series  of  very  able  sermons  on  intem- 
perance. The  same  year  Meremiah  Evarts,*  Esq.,  a  devoted 
Christian  layman  in  Boston,  in  the  Panoplist,  began  to  direct  public 
attention  to  the  great  evil  of  intemperance.  The  following  year 
Rev.  Nathaniel  S.  Prime,  father  of  Dr.  Prime,  of  the  New  York 
Observer,  preached  a  pungent  sermon  against  intemperance  before 
the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island.  All  these  efforts  were  inspired  by 
reading  Dr.  Rush's  essay,  as  could  be  definitely  proved. 

At  the  session  of  the 

General  Assembly   of  the  Presbyterian  Church 

in  Philadelphia,  May  16,  181 1,  the  report  on  the  state  of  religion 
deplored  the  alarming  prevalence  of  intemperance  in  the  following 
words : 

We  are  ashamed  but  constrained  to  say  that  we  have  heard  of  the  sin  of 
drunkenness  prevailing^prevailing  toa  great  degree— prevailing  even  among  some 
of  the  visible  members  of  the  household  of  faith.  What  a  reflection  on  the  Chris- 
tian character  is  this,  that  they  who  profess  to  be  bought  with  a  price,  and  thus 
redeemed  from  iniquity,  should  debase  themselves,  by  the  gratification  of  appetite, 
to  a  level  with  the  beasts  that  perish  ! 

At  the  same  session,  two  years  before  his  death.  Dr.  Rush  pre- 
sented to  the  General  Assembly  one  thousand  copies  of  his  essay  on 
the  Effects  of  Ardent  Spirits,  for  general  distribution,  accompanying 

*  Father  of  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts,  of  New  York. 


TEMPERANCE  SOCIETIES.  443 

the  donation  with  a  letter  urging  them,  as  he  had  repeatedly  done 
before,  to  take  some  decisive  action  on  this  question.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  who  favorably  considered  the  subject  and  reported 
the  following  resolution  ; 

Resolved.  That  Rev.  Drs.  Miller.  Milledoller,  Romeyn,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  James 
Richards,  M'Neice,  E.  S.  ElyTCardner  Spring.  Dr~]ohn,  R.  B.  Rogers,  Colonel 
Henry  Rutgers,  and  Mr.  Davie  Bethune.  Ge"a  committee  to  endeavor  to  devise 
measures  which,  when  sanctioned  by  the  General  Assembly,  may  have  an  influence 
in  preventing  some  of  the  numerous  and  threatening  mischiefs  which  are  expe- 
rienced throughout  our  country  by  the  excessive  and  intemperate  use  of  spirituous 
liquors ;  and  that  this  committee  be  authorized  to  correspond  and  act  in  concert 
with  any  persons  who  may  be  appointed  or  associated  for  a  similar  purpose,  and 
report  to  the  next  Assembly. 

This  action  of  so  influential  a  body  of  ministers  awakened  con- 
siderable attention.  The  General  Assembly  set  in  motion  a  ball 
whose  onward  progress  was  destined  never  to  cease.  The  nail  was 
at  last  "  driven  in  a  sure  place."  The  result  of  this  action  can  be 
traced,  through  certain  and  definite  links,  to  the  present  time. 
There  now  exists  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  an  incorporated 
temperance  society,  organized  as  one  of  the*direct  results  of  this 
movement  in  the  leading  religious  body  of  the  land  ;  namely,  the 
"  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Intemperance 
All  other  later  temperance  movements  may  be  clearly  traced,  Imk 
by  link,  to  the  movement  of  Dr.  Rush. 

This  Massachusetts  Society 

was  organized  by  a  committee,  Rev<;;Samuel  Worcester  D.D  of 
Salem,  chairman,  appointed  by  the  General  Association  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches  of  Massachusetts  at  their  annual  session  in 
June,  i8ii,  and  in  response  to  an  appeal  by  the  committee  of  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  just  referred  to,  who  personally 
appeared  before  the  Massachusetts  body.  So.T.e  other  societies 
grew  out  of  this  action  in  Connecticut  and  elsewhere  but  he  Mas- 
sachusetts Society  alone  became  permanent.  Hon.  Samuel  Dexter. 
LL  D  o  merly  Secretary  of  War  and  also  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States  was  elected  the  f^rst  president.  Numerous  auxiliaries 
.veTe  formed  in  Massachusetts  and  in  Maine,  and  the  annual  meetings 
Tere  occasions  of  great  interest.  Mr.  Dexter  was  foUowed  m  the 
presidency  of  the  Society  by  Hon.  Nathan  Dane,  i8'6-i82i  Hon. 
Lac    Parker,    1821-1827:  John  Collin^WaiTen^_^^^ 

Secretary  of  this  old  Society. 


444  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Annual  addresses  of  extraordinary   ability    were  delivered  by  the 
most  eminent  clergymen  and  citizens  : 

1821,*  Rev.lSrm.  Jenks,  D.D. 
1822,    Hon.  Edward  Everett. 


1814,    Rev.  J.  T.  Kirkland,  D.D. 
r/Abie 


181 5,*  Rev/Abiel  Abbott,  D.D. 
1816,*  Revyfesse  Appleton,  D.D. 
1817,*  Rey^amuel  Worcester,  D.D. 

1818,  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Channing,  D.D. 

1819,  Hon.  Samuel  Haven. 

1820,  Rev.  Eliphalet  Porter,  D.D. 


1823,  Rev.  Henr)'  Ware,  Jr.,  D.D. 

1824,  No  address. 
1825.*  John  Ware,  M.D. 
1826.*  Gamaliel  Bradford,  M.D. 


Under  such  eminent  leadership  the  movement,  inaugurated  in 
1811-13,  did  not  lack  social  prestige.  It  had  the  benefit  of  the  per- 
sonal attention  and  counsel  of  the  most  prominent  divines  and 
statesmen,  and  the  churches  of  the  largest  influence  were  fully 
committed  to  it.  The  best  physicians  also  lent  their  aid,  and 
money  was  not  wanting. 

The  moral  basis  of  this  Society,  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  present, 
seems  very  low.  It  only  aimed  to  restrict  "  the  too  free  use  of 
ardent  spirits,"  as  distilled  liquors  were  then  called,  and  put  no  re- 
straints upon  the  us^  of  wine,  beer,  or  cider.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher, 
referring  to  these  beginnings,  said,  "  We  began  as  well  as  we  knew." 
But,  as  might  be  expected,  little  improvement  in  respect  to  in- 
temperance was  realized. 

In  the  year  1825  the  necessity  of  organizing  a  temperance 
society  with  more  radical  principles,  on  a  broad  national  basis,  was 
widely  felt.  This  feeling  found  a  clear  expression  in  an  able  prize 
essay  by  Rev.  Cyrus  Yale,  of  New  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  also 
prompted  the  personal  efforts  of  Rev.  (jjjstin  Edwards,  D.D.,  then 
pastor  in  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  Rev^eonard  Woods.  D.D., 
of  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  THey  personally  visited 
Boston,  and  held  consultations  with  prominent  Christian  gentlemen 
preparatory  to  the  organization  of 

"  The  American  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Temperance," 

which  was  effected  on  the  13th  of  February,  1826.  Drs.^^wards 
and  (Woods,  JeremiaK^yarts,  Esq.,  and  others  who  participated  in 
the  formation  of  this  Society  had  been  among  the  most  active 
members  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  formed  in  18 13,  and  Mr. 
Evarts  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  with  Dr.  Worcester  by 
the  General  Association  of  the  Congregational  churches  in  181 1,  so 
intimate  was  the  connection  of  the  two  Societies. 

♦  These  addresses  were  published. 


TEMPERANCE  LEADERS.  **8 

No  pledge  was  at  this  time  adopted,  nor  were  the  movers  of  this 
advance,  though  fully  intent  upon  a  more  radical  reform,  prepared 
to  formally  insist  upon  entire  abstinence,  even  from  distilled  spirits 
by  any  direct  obligation  or  vow.  They  were  personally  total 
abstainers  ;  and  in  all  their  public  addresses  they  unequivocally 
advocated  this  course.  But  considerations  of  prudence  held  them 
back  from  pledging  the  people.  Writing  to  Rev.  William  A.  Hal- 
lock,  of  New  York  city,  March  3.  Dr.  Edwards  said  :  "  A  society  is 
formed  not  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance,  but  for  the  promo- 
tion of  temperance We  want  for  members  holy  men  vvho  do 

not  use  intoxicating  liquors  unless  prescribed  by  a  physician  as  a 

medicine."  ^  -     ..■        ^c  ♦.Uo 

In   the  years  immediately  following  the    organization   of  the 
Society  the    active   laborers,   either   in   counsel    or    in    the   held 
wer    Revs.  Justi,<Edwards.  D.D.,  LeonardCVVoods,  D-D;.  Nathaniel 
,fievvett,   Lyman ^eecher,   D.D.,  Timothy  Merritt     Wilbur (fisk. 
'SD-Fhineas  CrWdall,    Heman  Humphrey.  D.D    Jeremiah  (bay, 
D  D.  LL.D.,  Thomas  C.(Srownell^,  D.D.,  LL.D    Wilham  Co  he, 
Calvi,<£hapin,  D.D„  William  Goodell,  William  A.  Halleck^Wilham 
'Jenks^.D  ,  Joshua  Leavitt,  D.D.,  William  A.  Drew,  John  Pierpon^ 
!nd  among  the  laity,   Hons.   Marcus  Morton^  Samuel   Hubbard 
George  Sullivan,  John  Cotton  Smith,  LL.D.,  Thomas  S.  \\  lU.ams^ 
LL  D    Reuben  H.  Walworth,  LL.D.,  William  Ropes,  Esq^,  John 
Tappan.  Esq .  James   Harper,  Esq.,  Edward  C.  Delevai.    Reuben 
D    Muz.ey    M  D.,  Amos  Twitchell,  M.D.,  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  etc., 
fnd  a  long'list  of  ^ther  names  scarcely  inferior  or  less  effective  in 

'"t^'iixo  eleven  State  societies,  with  numerous  county  and  local 
auKmarf/s   had  been  formed.    Then«forth  for  twenty  ^ears 
movement   was  very  prominent  and  powerful,     foon   after    .830 

the  immorality  of  the  liquor  '^^^l^'^  :^^  1    luX      pro- 
rate and  sharp   discussion,   and    the   business  was  sternly  rep 

bated.    Then  followed  a  strong 

Revulsion  Against  the  License  System, 
as  immoral  in  prmcip.e  and    n  ^^Pe— -^  -  ^^^ 

Trdt™KreSr;r0^ritt  Smit.^^^^^^^^^^ 

John  Cotton  Smith,  Mark  DooLttle,  George^ bull        ,^^^^_ 

Heman   Humphrey,  Justin  Edvvards  John  P.    Pon^^^ 

erman,  W.  E.  Channing,  etc.,  against  the  license  syst 


446  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

clearest  and  most  incisive  character.  *  Gradually,  from  1833  to  1845, 
by  local  option  methods,  those  old  offensive  laws  were  thrown  off  in 
many  localities.  In  the  meantime  great  advances  were  also  made  in 
respect  to  the  principle  of  total  abstinence  ;  and,  from  1826  to  1836, 
many  individuals  and  some  local  societies  adopted  the  rule  of  total 
abstinence  from  all  alcoholic  beverages.  In  1836,  total  abstinence, 
as  the  only  practicable  and  reliable  measure  of  reform,  was  formally 
adopted  by  a  large  national  convention  of  citizens  of  the  first  rank, 
held  at  Saratoga  Springs. 

At  this  time  the  cause  was  advancing  with  great  rapidity,  rally- 
ing to  its  support  many  of  the  first  citizens,  statesmen  and  divines. 
Public  meetings,  with  large  audiences,  were  held  in  all  localities,  in 
churches,  halls  and  neighborhood    school-houses.     From    1838  to 
1  1840  a  slight  diminution  of  interest  was  perceptible,  but 

The  Washingtonianf  Movement, 

beginning  in  1840,  swept  over  the  land  like  a  tidal-wave,  carry- 
ing the  reform  to  a  greater  height  than  ever  before,  and  reaching 
'  large  masses  not  hitherto  touched.  The  effects,  however,  were 
largely  transient.  The  return  of  450,000  of  the  6oo,O0O  professedly 
reformed  drunkards  to  their  cups,  as  was  estimated  by  Mr.  John  B. 
Gough,  after  the  Washingtonian  wave  had  passed,  awakened  a  new 
interest  in  the  question  of  legislation  for  the  suppression  of  the  liquor 
traffic.  With  liquor  saloons  tempting  the  reformed  men  at  every 
turn,  they  easily  lapsed  into  inebriety  and  were  swept  away  in  the 
maelstrom  of  drink.  It  came,  therefore,  to  be  a  general  conviction 
that  more  stringent  laws  must  be  enacted  to  protect  society  against 
the  temptations  and  inflictions  of  the  liquor  traffic.  Out  of  such 
convictions  the  advanced  movements  for  the  prohibition  of  the  traf- 
fic in  alcoholic  beverages  by  legal  enactments  had  their  origin, 
culminating  in  the  adoption  of  the  Maine  Laws  in  more  than  a 
dozen  States,  between  1850  and  1856. 

In  this  rapid  sketch  many  very  important  matters  in  the  history  of 
this  reform  have  been  reluctantly  but  necessarily  omitted.  The  action 

*  These  utterances  covered  two  points  :  that  the  licensing;  of  the  traffic  in  alcoholic  beverages  is 
wrong  in  principle,  and  that  it  promotes  the  evil  of  intemperance.  These  men  had  never  lived 
under  any  other  system  than  the  license  system,  and  uttered  their  mature  convictions. 

t  Mr.  Hawkins,  one  of  the  prominent  leaders  in  the  Washingtonian  movement,  often  gratefully 
acknowleged  the  indebtedness  of  the  movement  to  religious  influences.  Mr.  Hawkins  and  his 
comrades  had  been  in  attendance  upon  the  revival  meetings  then  being  conducted  in  the  city 
by  the  famous  evangelist,  Elder  Jacob  Knapp,  and  greatly  impressed  by  them.  It  was  on  coming 
together  late  in  the  evening,  after  one  of  the  meetings  in  which  the  terrible  evil  of  intemperance 
was  a  prominent  topic,  that  the  first  step  was  taken.  The  author  of  this  volume  often  heard  Mr. 
Hawkins's  story  of  his  reform  in  public  and  by  the  fireside.     See  also  Life  of  Hawkins. 


THE    WASHINGTON/AN  MOVEMENT.  447 

of  the  medical  societies  in  opposition  to  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages; 
the  resolutions  of  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  ;  the  valuable  facts  in  the 
annual  reports  of  the  National  Temperance  Society  and  of  the  State 
Societies  ;  the  reform  literature  published  in  large  quantities  ;  the 
critical  examination  of  the  Bible  view  of  wines ;  the  elaborate  dis- 
cussions upon  total  abstinence,  license  and  prohibition;  the  testi- 
monies of  eminent  civilians  and  divines  against  the  license  system; 
the  Congressional  Temperance  Society  and  its  valuable  reports;  the 
action  of  the  Navy  and  War  departments  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment in  regard  to  spirit  rations,  etc.;  the  simultaneous  temperance 
meetings  in  1833  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States;  the  Na- 
tional Temperance  Conventions ;  Rev.  Dr.(^ird's  efforts  for  tem- 
perance in  Europe  1  Rev.  John  Pierpont's  trials  with  the  liquor 
dealers  of  his  congregation  ;  Rev.  Thomas  P(fHunt's  exposure  of  the 
adulterations  of  liquors ;  Rev.  Dr.  George  B.CQheever's  contests 
over  Deacon  Giles's  distillery;  Lucius  M.  Sargent's  effective  pen  por- 
trayals; Hon.  Edward  C.  Delevan's  exposure  of  the  Albany  brewers, 
and  his  legal  defense  ;  the  liberal  pecuniary  offerings  for  the  cause  ; 
the  details  of  the  Washingtonian  and  the  Father  Mathew  move- 
ments ;  the  rise  of  the  secret  temperance  brotherhoods  ;  Dr.  Thomas 
Sewall's  physiological  discoveries  and  stomach  plates;  the  World's 
Temperance  Convention  in  London  ;  the  rise  of  inebriate  asylums; 
the  judicial  vindication  of  the  principle  of  prohibition  by  the  highest 
court  of  the  United  States  ;  the  commencement  of  John  B.  Cough's 
wonderful  career;  the  Cold  Water  armies,  etc.,  etc,  can  only  be 
briefly  mentioned  in  these  crowded  pages.* 

During  the  forty  years  from  18 10  to  1850  there  was  a  very 
great  reduction  in  the  average  quantity  of  intoxicating  liquors  con- 
sumed in  the  country.  The  consumption  of  distilled  spirits,  includ- 
ing those  imported  and  those  manufactured  in  the  United  States, 
and  also  foreign  wines  (the  exports  of  each  kind  being  deducted), 
was  as  follows  : 

Ybar.  Gallons  Consumed.  Average  per  each  Inhabitant. 

1810 33.278,505  4.6ogallons. 

1823 75.000,000  7-50       " 

1830 77,196.120  6.00       " 

1850 51.833.473  2.23       *• 

The  above  figures  have  been  carefully  computed  from  data 
selected  from  official  sources,  except  those  for  1823,  which  are  given 

•  For  fuller  information  upon  these  points  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Liquor  Problem  in  All 
Ages.  By  Rev.  D.  Dorchester.  D.D.  PhiUips  &  Hunt,  805  Broadway,  New  York  city.  Pp. 
656.     8vo.  • 


4  48  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

on  the  authority  of  the  Boston  Recorder,  and  for  1830,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Old  American  Cyclopedia.  They  show  a  decrease 
of  nearly  one  half,  on  the  average,  in  the  consumption  of  alcoholic 
liquors  from  18 10  to  1850,  and  one  third  as  much  drank  in  1850  as 
in  1823.  Cider  is  not  included,  but  was  probably  reduced  one  half. 
The  average  consumption  of  other  liquors  in  1850  was,  wine,  0.27 
gallons  per  capita;  malt  liquors,  1.58  gallons  per  capita. 

Such  a  decrease  of  the  average  consumption  of  all  kinds  of  in- 
toxicants in  the  country  was  a  great  gain.  Governor  Briggs  is 
reported  to  have  said  before  he  died  that  the  temperance  reforma- 
tion had  been  worth  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to  Massachu- 
setts alone. 


Section  ;^.— AntislaYery  and  the  Chtirclies.  * 

In  the  first  part  of  this  century  the  invention  and  general  intro- 
duction of  the  cotton-gin  into  the  South,  the  rapid  increase  of 
cotton  manufacturing,  and  the  growing  mercantile  and  commercial 
interests  connected  with  southern  products,  all  combined  to  make 
slave  labor  more  profitable  than  formerly,  and  to  deteriorate  the 
moral  sentiment  in  regard  to  the  institution.  Under  such  circum- 
stances a  determined  purpose  was  formed  to  retain  slavery  where  it 
already  existed  and  to  extend  its  domain  in  the  Territories.  Hence 
laws  prohibiting  emancipation,  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the 
intense  excitement  attending  its  adoption.  After  this  the  fires  of 
agitation  declined;  a  general  condition  of  stupor  followed;  the 
public  conscience  was  clouded,  and  southern  legislatures  repealed 
the  more  humane  provisions  of  the  slave  codes.  Large  numbers  of 
all  classes  bowed  in  subserviency  to  the  slave  power,  and  treated 
the  discussion  of  slavery  as  dangerous  to  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Union.  '  During  this  period  the  radical  pro-slavery  theories,  for  the 
advocacy  of  which  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun  was  noted,  were  echoed 
by  many  divines  and  statesmen,  and  became  a  common  sentiment 
in  the  South,  and  even  with  some  at  the  North.  It  was  contended 
that  slavery  was  a  divine  institution,  defensible  from  the  Bible,  and 
*'  the  corner-stone  of  all  enduring  political  institutions."  From  about 
1805  to  1830  the  general  tendency  of  sentiment  in  regard  to  slavery 
deteriorated.  The  disciplinary  regulations  of  the  churches  against 
slavery  became  more  or  less  a  dead  letter,  seldom  enforced,  and 

*  So  much  adverse  critic'sm  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  attitude  of  the  churches  in  regard  to 
slavery  tliat  a  larger  space  has  been  given  to  this  topic.  See  also  p.  360,  from  which  this  sketch 
is  continued.  . 


'ANTISLA  VER  Y  nvORKERS.  449 

perhaps  never,  in  large  sections,  313^  the  advocacy  of  antislavery 
principles  was  often  severely  denounced.  In  the  North  many  sym- 
pathized with  the  South,  and  co-operated  with  them  in  every 
possible  way,  in  the  legislative  councils  of  the  States  and  of  the 
churches. 

But  even  in  this  period  of  decadence  strong  antislavery  senti- 
ments burned  in  many  Christian  hearts.  Among  the  Quakers,  in 
1814,  Elias  Hicks  published  a  volume  on  slavery,  containing  the 
most  radical  principles  of  abolition.  About  1820,  in  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  some  ministers  proclaimed  with  great  clearness  and  force 
the  distinctive  doctrines  of  abolition.  Dwellingr  in  the  midst  of 
pro-slavery  communities,  increasingly  intolerant  toward  emancipa- 
tion, the  residence  of  these  ministers  became  uncomfortable  and 
unsafe.  Accordingly  such  men  as  Rev.  John  Rankin,  a  Pres- 
byterian minister,  and  others,  removed  with  their  flocks  to  Ohio. 
The  Methodist  itinerants  sometimes  spoke  freely  in  public  against 
slavery.  Rev.  Jacob  Gruber,  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  was 
especially  outspoken,  and  while  presiding  elder,  in  1818,  at  a  camp- 
meeting  preached  plainly  against  the  slave  system,  for  which  he 
was  arrested  and  tried  for  felony.  He  was  defended  b\-  Roger  B. 
Taney,  Esq.,  subsequently  Chief-Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  and  acquitted.  In  his  eloquent  plea  Mr.  Taney 
affirmed  that  "  the  Methodist  Church  had  steadily  in  view  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery,"  that  "  no  slave-holder  was  allowed  to  be  a  minister 
in  it,"  and  that  "  its  preachers  were  accustomed  to  speak  of  the 
injustice  and  oppression  of  slavery." 

Several  Other  Active  Antislavery  Workers 

appeared  between  181 5  and  1832.  Near  Wheeling,  Va.,  resided  a 
man  of  stanch  New  Jersey  Quaker  stock,  who  had  deep  convictions 
of  the  wrongs  of  slavery  and  clear  views  of  duty  in  regard  to  the 
great  evil.  Benjamin  Lundy  seized  the  trailing  banner  of  anti- 
slavery,  and,  for  about  a  score  of  years,  was  a  conspicuous  standard- 
bearer.  From  1 81 5  to  1830  his  labors  were  immense,  involving 
great  personal  hardship  and  sacrifice,  placing  him  in  advance  of  all 
contemporaneous  abolitionists.  From  him  Mr.  Garrison  derived 
his  first  positive  antislavery  convictions. 

Residing  in   Wheeling,  a  great   thoroughfare  of  the   interstate 

slave-trade,  Mr.  Lundy  was  powerfully  stirred  by  the  atrocities  of 

the  slave  system,   and  could  obtain   no   peace  of   mind   until   he 

espoused  the  cause  of  the  oppressed.    In  his  own  house,  in  18 15,  he 

29 


480  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

organized  the  "  Union  Humane  Society,"  which  soon  numbered 
five  hundred  members  in  that  region.  Auxiliaries  were  formed  in 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  etc.,  and  appeals  were  widely  scattered. 
Charles  Osborne,  Esq.,  soon  became  his  fellow-laborer,  the  two  pub- 
lishing The  Philanthropist,  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Ohio,  in  182 1.  Visiting 
Illinois  and  Missouri,  Mr.  Lundy  portrayed  the  evils  of  the  slave 
system.  Returning,  he  started  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipa- 
tion, at  Steubenville,  Ohio — destined  to  a  marked  and  stormy 
career — for  about  ten  years  the  only  distinctive  antislavery  journal 
in  the  country.  In  1822  he  boldly  removed  his  paper  to  Greenville, 
Tenn.  In  midwinter,  early  in  1824,  he  traveled  on  horseback  to 
Philadelphia  to  attend  the  National  Abolition  Convention.  Return- 
ing, he  removed  his  paper  to  Baltimore.  Traveling  on  foot  in  the 
summer,  and  carrying  his  own  knapsack,  he  lectured  on  slavery 
through  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  and  organized  antislavery 
societies,  which,  in  the  course  of  three  years,  comprised  three  thou- 
sand members.  He  was  received  in  Baltimore  "civilly,  but  coolly," 
even  by  antislavery  men,  with  only  words  of  discouragement  for 
his  paper.  In  1825  a  series  of  articles  on  the  domestic  slave-trade 
enraged  the  slave-dealers,  who  assaulted  him  in  the  streets  and  com- 
pelled the  removal  of  his  paper  to  Washington.  He  visited  Hayti 
and  Texas  in  the  interest  of  the  slaves.  In  1826  a  National  Aboli- 
tion Convention  was  held  in  Baltimore,  attended  by  delegates  from 
eighty  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty  abolition  societies  in  the 
country,  nearly  all  of  which  traced  their  origin  to  Mr.  Lundy's  efforts. 
In  the  meantime  antislavery  sentiment  was  developing  in  minds 
destined  to  become 

Standard-Bearers 

in  the  great  reform.  In  18 16  Alvan  Stewart,  subsequently  an  able 
lawyer  and  orator  in  New  York,  and  one  of  the  leaders  in  the 
antislavery  agitation  from  1830  to  1850,  visited  the  South,  witnessed 
the  abomination  of  slavery,  and  became  an  ardent  abolitionist. 
From  that  time  he  was  accustomed  to  portray  the  horrors  of  slavery 
in  fervid  language,  and  rendered  effective  service  to  the  cause  of 
antislavery  in  the  days  of  its  weakness.  In  1822  to  1824  Mr.  Theo- 
dore D.  Weld,  a  candidate  for  the  Congregational  ministry,  visited 
the  SoutHTtraveling  extensively,  and  witnessing  the  terrible  aspects 
of  slavery.  Some  years  later  he  said,  "On  this  tour  I  saw  slavery 
at  home,  and  became  a  radical  abolitionist."  Before  Mr.  Garrison 
published  the  Liberator,  we  find  him  exerting  his  influence  positively 
against   slavery,     and   in    183 1,  in   Huntsville,  Ala.,  discussing  the 


CHAMPIONS  OF  ABOLITION.  4S  1 


subject  of  slavery  with  Rev.  Dr.  Allen,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  who, 
unable  to  answer  his  cogent  arguments,  appealed  to  Mr.  James 
G.  Birney,  an  elder  in  his  church.  Several  interviews  followed,  in 
which 'Mr.  Birney  was  convinced  of  the  wrong  of  slavery,  and  en- 
tered upon  the  work,  first  of  colonization,  and  afterward  of  abolition. 
Rev.  James  Dickey,  of  Kentucky,  in  1824  became  deeply 
impressed  with  the^rong  of  slavery  and  published  his  views  in  an 
able  volume;  and  in  the  same  year  Rev.  John  Rankin,  to  whom 
reference  has  been  made,  published  a  series  of  letters,  addressed  to 
a  Virginia  slave-holder,  denouncing  slavery  as  "a  never-failing 
fountain  of  grossest  immoralities,  and  one  of  the  deepest  sources 
of  human  misery."  From  this  volume  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  in 
1824,  received  his  first  antislavery  impressions.  It  took"~strong 
ground  in  favor  of  "  immediate  emancipation."  *  Mr.  Rankin  was 
untiring  in  his  antislavery  efforts,  organizing  societies  in  Kentucky 
and  in  the  vicinity  of  Ripley,  O.,  developing  around  him  a  strong 
antislavery  sentiment.  He  was  among  the  first  movers  of  the  anti- 
slavery  societies  formed  under  Mr.  Garrison's  leadership,  always 
declaring,  says  Mr.  Wilson,  that  "  he  himself,  and  the  antislavery 
societies  he  had  organized,  believed  and  avowed  the  doctrine  of 
immediate  emancipation."  f 

In  the  spring  of  1828  Mr.  Lundy  visted  New  York  city  and  the 
New  England  States,  enlisting  new  laborers  in  the  field.  The  Tap- 
pans,  in  New  York  city,  were  interested.  Then  we  find  him  visiting 
Rev.'  Samuel  J.  May,  at  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  and  deeply  impressing 
his  already  awakened  mind.  Thence  he  went  to  Providence  and 
found  William  Goodell,  of  whom  he  said,  "  I  endeavored  to  arouse 
him,  but  he  was  slow  of  speech  on  the  subject."  His  labors,  how- 
ever, were  not  in  vain.  Mr.  Goodell's  mind  moved  surely  and 
strongly,  and  his  paper.  The  Weekly  Investigator,  started  the  pre- 
vious year,  devoted  to  moral  and  political  discussion,  thenceforth 
gave  increasing  prominence  to  temperance  and  slavery.  We  find 
Mr.  Goodell,  hand  in  hand  with  Mr.  Garrison:}:  in  1829,  calling  upon 
prominent  Boston  ministers  to  secure  their  co-operation  in  the 
cause  of  antislavery,  and.  for  more  than  thirty  years,  a  sturdy 
champion  of  abolition. 

Mr.  Lundy  moved  on  to  Boston,§  where  he  could  find  no  aboli- 

*  See  Slavery  and  Antislavery,  by  William  Goodell.  p.  490- 

+  Rise  and  Fall  0/  the  Slave  Power.    Vol.  I,  p.  178. 

tSlaverv  and  Antislavery,  by  William  Goodell.  p.  401,  note. 
The  Jlowin^  is  an  extract  from  Lundy's  private  journal,  and  just.fies  the  above  statement: 
..  At  Boston  I  could  hear  of  no  abolitionist  resident  of  the  place.     At  the  ^ouse  where  I  stayed  1 
became  acquainted  with  William  L.  Garrison,  who  was  a  boarder  there.     He  had  not  U.ea 


432  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tionists,  but,  "  in  the  same  house  where  he  boarded,"  he  met  Mr. 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  then  editing  The  Philanthropist,  a  temper- 
ance paper,  not  having  particularly  turned  his  attention  to  the 
subject  of  slavery.  Mr.  Lundy's  conversations  awakened  Mr.  Gar- 
rison's mind,*  and  became  the  connecting  link  between  the  earlier 
and  later  antislavery  movements.  After  visiting  Maine,  New 
Hampshire,  Connecticut,  and  New  York,  Mr.  Lundy  returned  to 
Washington,  where  the  last  of  the  abolition  conventions,  origi- 
nated in  1794,  was  held  in  1829. 

The  English  antislavery  movement,  directed  first  against  the 
slave-trade,  then  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  slaves, 
and,  later  still,  for  gradual  emancipation,  rapidly  assumed  a  more 
radical  type,  and  the  reform  literature  abounded  in  appeals  for 

Immediate  Emancipation. 

In  1825  Miss  Elizabeth  Herrick,  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  published  in  England  a  pamphlet  entitled,  Imtnediate,  not 
Gradual,  Emancipation,  which  soon  became  the  watch-word  of  the 
reform. 

This  doctrine  had  been  urged  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins  and  the 
younger  Edwards  in  the  last  century.  The  latter,  irT  1791,  pro- 
claimed that  "  every  man  who  cannot  show  that  his  negro  hath,  by 
his  voluntary  conduct,  forfeited  his  liberty,  is  obligated  iminediately 
to  manumit  him."  We  have  noticed  Rev.  John  Rankin  advocating 
this  doctrine  in  1824,  and  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  imbibing  it  from  Mr. 
Rankin's  book.  When  Mr.  May  heard  Mr.  Garrison's  lecture,  in 
Boston,  October,  1830,  advocating  immediate  emancipation,  he  was 
fully  with  him  in  his  views,  for  he  declared  that  Mr.  Garrison's  ideas 
"satisfied  his  mind  and  heart."     Mr.  William  Goodell,t  also,  is  sup- 

turned  his  attention  particularly  to  the  slavery  question,  I  visited  the  Bpston  clergy,  and  finally 
got  together  eight  of  them,  belonging  to  various  sects.  Such  an  occurrence,  it  was  said,  was 
seldom,  if  ever,  before  known  in  that  town.  The  eight  clerg>-men  all  cordially  approved  of  my 
object,  and  each  of  them  cheerfully  subscribed  to  my  paper,  in  order  to  encourage  by  their  exam- 
ple members  of  their  several  congregations  to  take  it.  William  L.  Garrison,  who  sat  in  the 
room  and  witnessed  our  proceedings,  also  expressed  his  approbation  of  my  doctrines.  A  few 
days  afterward  we  had  a  large  meeting.  After  I  had  finished  my  lecture  several  clergymen 
spoke.  William  L  Garrison  shortly  afterward  wrote  an  article  on  the  subject  for  one  of  the  daily 
papers." 

*  At  the  Anniversary  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  in  New  York  city,  in  1863,  Mr. 
Garrison  said:  "  Had  it  not  been  for  him  I  know  not  where  I  should  have  been  at  the  present 
time.  My  eyes  might  have  been  sealed  for  my  whole  life,  and  possibly,  though  I  trust  in  God  I 
should  not  have  been,  I  might  have  been  led  in  some  direction  or  other  so  far  as  even  to  care 
nothing  for  slavery  in  my  country." 

t  Mr.  Goodell  commenced,  in  1827,  the  editing  and  publication  of  the  Weekly  Investigator, 
in  Providence,  R.  I.,  "devoted  to  moral  and  political  discussion   and  reformation  in  general, 


WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON.  483 

posed  to  have  antedated  Mr.  Garrison  in  adopting  this  radical  prin- 
ciple, and  in  early  conversations  to  have  led  him  to  adopt  it. 

Another  name  deserves  honorable  mention  as  a  pioneer  in  anti- 
slavery  movements.  Rev.  George  Bourne,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  was  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  antislavery  men  of  this 
period,  and  one  of  the  most  radical  and  uncompromising  in  his 
utterances,  far  in  advance  of  his  times.  While  editing  a  paper  in 
Baltimore  (1805-1809)  he  wrote  freely  against  the  slave-trade  and 
the  slave  system.  As  pastor  of  churches  in  Virginia  (1809-1816) 
he  delivered  powerful  antislavery  utterances,  and  published  (Harri- 
sonburg, Va.,  1812,  subsequently  republished  in  Philadelphia,  1816,) 
a  volume,  The  Book  and  Slavery  Irreconcilable,  containing  the  doc- 
trine of  immediate  emancipation.  Driven  from  Virginia  by  the 
slave-holders,  in  1816,  he  maintained  the  same  testimony,  as  pastor, 
at  Germantown,  Pa.  In  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  1818,  he  took  a  decided  part  in  the  great  debate  on 
slavery.  In  1830  he  edited  The  Protestant,  (New  York  city;)  in 
1834  the  Protestant  Vindicator,  and,  later,  the  Christian  Intelli- 
gencer. His  name  appears  as  an  active  participator  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  first  antislavery  societies  (1833,  1834)  in  New  York  city 
and  Philadelphia.  In  1833  he  published  (Middletown,  Conn.), 
Pictures  of  Slavery  in  the  United  States,  from  his  personal  observa- 
tions in  Virginia,  the  volume  also  containing  the  former  book 
enlarged.  In  1837  this  was  republished  (Isaac  Knapp,  Boston)  with 
an  addition — Slavery  Illustrated  in  Its  Effects  Upon  IVoman — con- 
stituting one  of  the  strong  antislavery  documents  of  those  times, 
(1833-1840).  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Bourne's  son,  in  1858,  Mr.  Garrison 
said :  '*  I  confess  my  early  and  large  indebtedness  to  him  for  ena- 
bling me  to  apprehend  with  irresistible  clearness  the  inherent 
sinfulness  of  slavery  under  all  circumstances,  and  its  utter  incom- 
patibility with  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  Christianity." 

William   Lloyd  Garrison. 

It  appears  that  Mr.  Garrison  is  not  entitled  to  the  credit  of  orig- 
inality— as  some  have  claimed — for  his  peculiar  views,  but  was 
preceded  by  others,  and  even  guided  by  them. 

including  temperance  and  antislaver>-."  Some  time  in  1827  or  1828  Mr.  Garrison  came  to  Boston 
to  assist  Rev.  William  Collier  (Baptist)  in  editinfj  and  printing  T/te  National  Philanthropist, 
devoted  wholly  to  temperance.  Late  in  1828  Mr.  Garrison  went  to  Bennington,  Vt.,  to  edit  The 
Journal  0/ the  Times;  and  in  January.  1829,  Mr.  Goodell's  paper  was  merged  into  the 
National  Philanthropist,  in  Boston,  Mr.  Collier  retiring.  In  July,  1830.  it  was  removed  to  New 
York,  and  published  by  W.  Goor'ell  and  P.  Crandall  as  The  Genius  0/  Temperance,  and  sub- 
sequently discontinued,  Mr.  Goodell  then  taking  charge  of  the  Em.incipator. 


4S4  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1828  Mr.  Garrison  went  to  Bennington,  Vt., 
where  he  edited  The  Journal  of  the  Times,  and  soon  achieved  the 
reputation  of  a  fanatic.  In  his  mind,  sharper  and  intenser  than  Mr. 
Lundy's,  antislavery  assumed  a  sterner  type  than  the  sturdy  Quaker 
ever  dreamed  of,  and,  in  the  midst  of  the  prevailing  stupor,  he  rang 
out  the  astounding  notes  of  immediate  emancipation.  Here  he 
was  again  visited  by  Mr.  Lundy,  whose  invitation  to  aid  him  in 
editing  his  paper  in  Baltimore  he  accepted,  in  which  service  he 
became  a  victim  of  slave-holding  vengeance,  fully  determining  his 
life  career.  The  story  of  his  severe  attacks  upon  the  slave  system, 
his  arrest,  trial,  and  incarceration,  and  release  through  the  gener- 
osity of  Arthur  Tappan,  is  familiar  to  all.  He  returned  to  Boston, 
and  on  the  ist  of  January,  1831,  commenced  the  publication  of 
The  Liberator,  a  redoubtable  knight-errant,  helmeted,  greaved,  and 
mounted  upon  a  fiery  charger,  the  hero  of  many  a  desperate  tour- 
nament, of  many  a  bloody  fray,  of  many  a  fierce  encounter. 

Thus  far  the  leading  champions  of  antislavery  have  been  chiefly 
representatives  of  the  churches,  and  the  churches  have  uttered 
emphatic  testimony  and  enacted  stringent  disciplinary  regulations 
against  slavery,  though  sometimes  hesitating  and  hindered  because 
of  the  complex  political  environment  of  the  institution.  The  field, 
therefore,  was  not  an  uncultivated  one,  nor  destitute  of  resolute, 
experienced  workers,  when  Mr.  Garrison  arose.  One  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  years  of  antislavery  seed-sowing  by  religious  men,  fifty- 
eight  years  of  organized  movements  by  societies  and  conventions, 
composed  chiefly  of  members  of  the  churches,  and  more  than 
sixty  years  of  legislation  against  slavery  by  ecclesiastical  bodies, 
preceded  the  advent  of  Mr,  Garrison  in  the  field,  who,  a  child  of  the 
Church,  and  originally  inspired  by  her  ministrations,  came  forth  as 
one  of  the  long  succession  of  apostles  of  antislavery. 

More  than  this :  At  the  time  when  Mr.  Garrison  came  before  the 
public  this  cause  was  gaining  prestige  from  the  culmination  and 
assured  speedy  triumph  of  British  emancipation,  incepted,  cham- 
pioned, and  sustained,  from  first  to  last,  by  the  best  representatives 
of  British  Christianity  in  and  out  of  Parliament.  The  1st  of 
August,  1834,  witnessed  the  consummation,  and  the  example  of 
that  sublime  achievement  stirred  the  world  with  powerful  pulsations 
of  universal  liberty.  Mr.  Garrison's  advent  into  public  life  was  at 
an  opportune  moment.  While  many  friends  of  the  slave  were 
waiting  and  praying  for  some  providential  way  to  be  opened  for  the 
liberation  of  the  oppressed  multitudes,  Mr.  Garrison  reached  man- 
hood   and  caught    inspiration   from   the  examples  of  the  English 


ORTHODOX  ABOLITIONISTS.  433 

antislavery  reformers,  brilliant  with  omens  of  approaching  success. 
On  January  l,  1831,  he  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Liberator, 
and  three  years  and  a  half  later,  emancipation  was  an  accomplished 
fact  in  the  British  West  Indies.  Under  the  influence  of  such 
inspiring  events  Mr.  Garrison  boldly  proclaimed  his  distinctive 
thesis  of  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation. 

Following  in  the  wake  of  British  antislavery  reformers,  and 
ignoring  the  radical  difference  in  the  constitutional  possibilities  of 
the  two  governments,  he  uncompromisingly,  severely,  and  bitterly 
maintained  a  line  of  antislavery  action  which  necessarily  separated 
many  good,  discreet  men  from  affiliation  with  him.  It  was  impos- 
sible for  them  to  see  any  way  in  which  immediate  and  unconditional 
emancipation  could  be  effected.  They  deemed  his  policy  unwise 
and  impracticable,  hurtful,  and  perilous  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  slave.  But,  with  him,  to  be  non-Garrisonian  was  to  be  pro- 
slavery,  deserving  of  implacable  denunciation.  We  shall  see  him 
ofttimes  practically  working  against  the  cause  he  sought  to  promote. 

The   Garrisonian  Antislavery   Societies 

grew  out  of  the  religious  sentiment  and  the  churches.  Nearly  all 
of  the  twelve  persons  who  organized  the  New  England  Antislavery 
Society  in  Boston,  January,  1832,  were  members  of  the  evangel- 
ical churches.  From  the  pen  of  Mr.  Oliver  Johnson,*  the  youngest 
of  them  all,  then  an  editor  of  a  religious  paper,  a  member  of  Dr. 
Beecher's  church,  and  a  candidate  for  the  ministr)^  we  learn  the 
religious  relations  of  each.  Robert  B.  Hall  was  a  theological  stu- 
dent, and  a  member  of  the  Essex  Street  Congregational  church. 
Arnold  Buffom,  the  first  president  of  the  Society,  was  a  Rhode 
Island  Quaker,  who  had  traveled  in  England  and  was  acquainted 
with  Clarkson  and  Wilberforce.  William  J.  Snelling  was  a  journal- 
ist. John  E.  Fuller  was  a  business  man  and  a  member  of  Dr. 
Beecher's  church.  Moses  Thatcher  was  the  editor  of  the  Boston 
Telegraph  and  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  at  North  Wren- 
tham.  Joshua  Coffin  was  the  gentleman  honored  in  Whittier's 
lines,  "To  my  old  School-master."  Stillman  J.  Newcomb  was  an 
earnest  religious  man.  Benjamin  C.  Bacon  was  a  religious  young 
man,  an  employ^  in  the  office  of  the  American  Education  Society. 
Isaac  Knapp  was  Mr.  Garrison's  partner  in  publishing  the  Liberator. 
Henry  K.  Stockton  was  a  printer  by  trade,  connected  with  the  Bos- 
ton Telegraph.  Nearly  all  were  religious  men,  connected  with 
evangelical  churches. 

I     *  Christian  Union,  August  12,  1874. 


436  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES, 

Mr.  Garrison's  Religious  Position 

at  that  time  deserves  fuller  notice.  His  later  religious  views  hav- 
ing undergone  a  considerable  change,  and  excited  diverse  inquiries 
and  comments,  it  is  a  matter  of  considerable  interest  to  state  in 
detail  his  earlier  religious  convictions,  under  the  influence  of  which 
he  entered  upon  this  great  movement.  Those  who  knew  him  well, 
in  his  earlier  years,  have  said  that  he  possessed  a  nature  deeply 
religious,  "a  positive  genius  for  ethics,"  unusual  keenness  of  moral 
perception,  an  invincible  moral  courage,  and  "  sympathy  for  the 
unfortunate  that  scorned  the  limitations  of  race,  color,  or  clime." 
On  coming  to  Boston,  in  1826,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  he 
was  recognized  as  soundly  orthodox,  and  was  a  devout  worshiper 
in  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's  church.  He  was  not  a  communicant,  but 
had  great  reverence  for  God,  for  Christ,  and  the  institutions  of 
Christianity.  "  His  views,"  says  Oliver  Johnson,  "  were  neither 
Rationalistic  nor  Liberal,  but  soundly  orthodox.  The  Bible  was 
his  constant  companion,  the  armory  from  which  he  drew  the  weap- 
ons of  his  warfare.  No  clergyman  or  theological  professor  was 
more  familiar  with  the  Old  Testament  or  the  New  than  he  was. 
The  Hebrew  prophets,  Christ,  and  his  Apostles  were  his  model 
reformers,  and  his  faith  in  God  and  the  moral  law  was  scarcely  infe- 
rior to  theirs." 

His  interpretation  of  Christianity  was  eminently  orthodox,  and 
he  relied  upon  revivals  of  religion  as  the  hopeful  instrumentalities 
for  the  liberation  of  the  slaves.  In  183 1  he  declared,  in  the  Liber- 
ator, that  "  nothing  but  extensive  revivals  of  pure  religion  could 
save  the  country  from  great  plagues  and  sudden  destruction ; "  that 
religious  conversions  are  scriptural  occurrences;  that  "the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  can  never  become  'the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Christ'  independently  of  great  revivals;"  that  "if  the  present  revivals 
be  (as  we  trust  they  are)  the  fruit  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  pray  that 
they  may  embrace  the  nation,"  etc.  Mr.  Garrison  was  also  at  this 
time  a  strict  observer  of  the  Sabbath,  and  "  would  no  sooner  have 
gone  to  the  post-office  for  his  letters  and  papers,  or  taken  a  walk  for 
recreation  on  that  day,  than  he  would  have  committed  a  theft." 
His  antislavery  career  was  the  legitimate  outcome  of  a  heart  pro- 
foundly stirred  with  deep  religious  convictions,  and  all  his  early 
compeers  derived  their  impulse  from  the  same  source.  New  labor- 
ers, inspired  by  the  same  feelings,  came  forth  through  the  successive 
years  of  this  great  agitation,  representing  the 


ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETIES.  4S7 

Piety  and  the  Philanthropy  of  Pure  Christianity. 

Under  the  leadership  of  prominent  representatives  of  the 
churches  other  antislavery  societies  and  several  antislavery  papers 
were  soon  started.  The  Emancipator  was  established  in  New  York 
city  in  March,  1833,  by  Hon.  Arthur  Tappan,  under  the  editorial 
supervision  of  Rev.  Charles  W.  Dennison.  In  October  following, 
in  response  to  a  call  issued  by  Rev.  Joshua  Leavitt,  the  New  York 
City  Antislavery  Society  was  organized,  and  on  December  4  the 
American  Antislavery  Society,  in  Philadelphia,  the  latter  holding 
its  first  anniversary  meeting  May  6,  1834,  in  the  Chatham  Street 
Chapel,  New  York.  In  June,  1835,  the  New  England  Wesleyan 
Antislavery  Society  was  organized  in  Lynn,  Mass.,  by  about  seventy 
ministers  of  the  New  England  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  The  following  month  the  New  Hampshire  Confer- 
ence of  the  same  Church  organized  a  similar  society.  These  are  a 
few  of  the  leading  societies  constituted  at  this  early  period,  and 
which  in  the  course  of  eight  years  numbered  more  than  two  thou- 
sand, with  two  hundred  thousand  members.  Of  the  persons 
participating  in  the  organization  of  the  American  Antislavery  Soci- 
ety, and  in  its  first  anniversary,  more  than  one  third  were  ministers 
of  the  Gospel,  and  two  thirds  of  the  remainder  were  either  lay  offi- 
cials or  private  members  of  the  churches.  As  early  as  1832  Rev. 
Beriah  Green,  Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  in  Western  Reserve 
College,  Ohio,  published  four  stirring  antislavery  sermons,  and  in 
1833  Rev.  Elizur  Wright,  another  professor  in  that  institution, 
published  a  powerful  essay  against  slavery. 

Mobs. 

The  first  antislavery  meetings  encountered  violent  opposition. 
Hissing,  mobs,  peltings,  personal  abuse  and  social  ostracism  followed 
the  reformers.  The  New  York  City  Antislavery  Society  was  driven 
from  its  place  of  meeting,  and  the  celebration  by  the  American 
Antislavery  Society  on  July  4,  1834,  was  broken  up.  The  house  of 
Lewis  Tappan  was  sacked,  and  the  churches  and  homes  of  colored 
people  were  assaulted  and  damaged.  In  August,  1834,  a  fearful 
riot  raged  three  nights  in  Philadelphia,  and  similar  outrages  were 
perpetrated  elsewhere.  Cruel  and  dastardly  assaults  were  made 
upon  abolitionists,  countenanced  and  often  excited  by  men  of  posi- 
tion and  wealth,  and  sometimes  by  members  of  churches.  The 
public  journals  were  vehicles  of  scandalous  accusations  against  the 
reformers,     misrepresenting    their    purposes,     motives,    and    acts. 


488  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Churches  and  public  halls  alike  were  often  closed  against  them,  and 
they  were  made  to  feel  that  they  held  property  and  liberty,  if  not 
life  itself,  at  the  mercy  of  excited,  lawless  men.  It  was  indeed  a 
reign  of  terror.  Rev.  Orange  Scott,  a  presiding  elder  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  while  delivering  an  antislavery  address  in 
Worcester,  Mass.,  August  lo,  1835,  was  assaulted,  and  his  notes 
seized  and  torn  to  pieces,  by  a  mob  led  by  a  son  of  an  ex-governor 
of  the  Commonwealth.  In  the  same  year  Rev.  George  Storrs, 
another  Methodist  minister,  while  lecturing  in  New  Hampshire,  was 
arrested  by  a  deputy  sheriff  on  the  charge  of  being  "  a  common 
rioter  and  brawler."  Soon  after,  at  another  antislavery  meeting,  he 
was  again  arrested  and  dragged  from  his  knees  while  Rev.  Mr. 
Curtis  was  in  prayer.  A  meeting  of  an  antislavery  society  com- 
posed of  some  of  the  most  cultured  ladies  in  Boston  was  broken 
up  in  October,  1835,  by  a  mob  composed  of  "  gentlemen  of  property 
and  standing,"  the  mayor  and  marshal  declining  to  protect  them. 
On  the  same  day  Mr.  Garrison  was  seized,  led  with  a  rope  around 
his  neck,  and  his  clothes  were  torn  from  his  body.  The  mayor* 
finally  interposed,  rescued  him,  and  lodged  him  in  jail  to  save  him 
from  fury.  These  are  a  few  of  a  long  series  of  outrages,  in  which 
the  mobbing  of  Hon.  George  Thompson,  the  eminent  English 
philanthropist,  the  assassination  of  Lovejoy  and  Bewley,  and  the 
martyrdom  of  Torrey  and  John  Brown  were  conspicuous. 

The  Churches  Censured. 

The  action  of  the  churches  and  the  ministry  during  this  period 
has  been  severely  censured.  The  clergy  were  accused  of  backward- 
ness and  even  of  positive  opposition.  It  was  said  that  some  had  to  be 
dragged  into  the  service  if  they  rendered  any  aid.  In  the  autumn 
of  1830  Mr.  Garrison  made  several  efforts  to  obtain  a  church  f  or  a 
hall  in  Boston  in  which  to  deliver  three  free  antislavery  addresses. 
After  many  unsuccessful  personal  applications  he  advertised  in  the 
Courier ;  but  no  church  in  Boston  responded  to  his  appeal.  This 
was  before  the  publication  of  the  Liberator,  and  fifteen  months 
before  the  New  England  Antislavery  Society  was  organized.  Mr. 
Garrison's   religious  views   were    not  then   distrusted,  for    he    was 

*  In  1837  Massachusetts'  most  classic  orator  and  governor  warned  the  abolitionists  that  the 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question  would  be  regarded  as  "an  offense  against  the  peace  of  the 
Commonwealth,  which  might  be  prosecuted  as  a  misdemeanor  at  common  law." 

t  Per  contra,  it  may  be  said  that  Jesse  Lee  and  other  early  Methodist  preachers  could  not 
obtain  the  use  of  churches  for  religious  services.  For  several  successive  weeks  he  sought  in  vain 
in  Boston  to  get  a  church  to  preach  in. 


INDIFFERENCE  OF   THE  CHURCHES.  489 

known  to  be  "  soundly  orthodox  "  and  a  regular  worshiper  at  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher's  Church.  Failing  to  obtain  a  church,  a  society  of 
avowed  infidels,  organized  in  Boston  by  Abner  Kneeland,  having 
control  of  Julien  Hall,  in  Milk  Street,  offered  it  gratuitously  to  Mr. 
Garrison,  and  it  was  thankfully  accepted. 

But  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  a  long  series  of  adverse 
movements  by  religious  bodies  against  this  reform.  Many  Chris- 
tian men  of  positive  antislavery  principles  turned  their  backs  upon 
the  Garrison  societies,  while  some  filled  their  mouths  with  apol- 
ogies for  slave-holding,  and  others  stoutly  and  learnedly  defended 
the  institution  from  the  Bible.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of 
a  New  England  diocese  belonged  to  the  latter  class.  Another,  the 
president  of  a  New  England  college,  declared  that  slavery  was  not 
only  a  positive  institution  of  revealed  religion,  but  also  compatible 
with  the  law  of  love.  A  Boston  minister,  visiting  the  South  for  his 
health,  pictured  slavery  in  a  rose-colored  hue,  and  a  learned  the- 
ological professor  in  a  treatise  called  the  higher-law  doctrine  a 
heresy,  and  advocated  the  duty  of  returning  slaves  to  bondage. 
The  moral  jargon  increased,  and  the  opposition  grew  fiercer,  hotter, 
and  more  implacable. 

The  American  Churches 

became  deeply  stirred,  and  appropriate  action  was  taken  in  many 
conferences  and  associations,  while  in  others  the  action  was  some- 
times reprehensible. 

The  Friends,  who  inherited  and  cherished  their  earlier  anti- 
slavery  testimony  as  a  precious  legacy  from  their  fathers,  after  the 
Missouri  Compromise  contest,  in  common  with  other  churches,  felt 
the  general  stupor,  and  were  disinclined  to  attack  slavery.  This 
spirit  manifested  itself  particularly  among  wealthy  Friends  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  or  sale  of  cotton,  and  in  other  commercial  pursuits. 
"The  Quakers  in  New  England,"  said  Oliver  Johnson,  '|as  a  body, 
instead  of  welcoming  the  antislavery  movement  and  giving  it  en- 
couragement, set  themselves  firmly  but  insidiously  against  it,  gen- 
erally refusing  to  open  their  meeting-houses  for  antislavery  lectures, 
preventing  their  members,  as  far  as  possible,  from  uniting  with  the 
Antislavery  Society,  and  sometimes  dismissing  those  who  were  inde- 
pendent enough  to  co-operate  with  the  Abolitionists."  There  were 
honorable  individual  exceptions.  But  many  of  those  included  in 
Mr.  Johnson's  censure  were  persons  whose  only  fault  was  that  they 
did  not  pronounce  the  Garrisonian  shibboleth. 

The  Congregational  Churches,  wholly  a  Northern  body,  and  con- 


460  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

sequently  without  ecclesiastical  entanglements  with  the  South  in 
any  organic  form,  were  embarrassed,  and  often  seriously  compro- 
mised, by  the  influence  of  prominent  members  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  cotton,  or  connected  with  slavery  in  commercial,  social, 
or  political  relations.  Nevertheless,  they  were  well  represented  in  the 
struggle.  Revs.  Amos  A.  Phelps,  of  Boston  ;  William  Goodell  and 
Joshua  Leavitt,  of  New  York  city;  S.  S.  Jccelyn,  of  New  Haven, 
and  David  Thurston,  of  Maine,  were  in  the  antislavery  field  as  early 
as  1833,  attending  and  actively  participating  in  the  organization  of 
the  American  Antislavery  Society  in  Philadelphia,  in  December  of 
that  year.  Rev.  Mr.  Thurston  was  for  many  years  one  of  its  agents, 
and  Rev.  Messrs.  Phelps,  Leavitt  and  Goodell  were  editors  and 
agents  for  many  years  in  the  service  of  antislavery  societies.  As 
early  as  1837  fully  one  third  of  the  Congregational  ministers  in 
Massachusetts  were  enrolled  members  of  antislavery  societies. 

The  Antislavery  Society  in  Amherst  College,  in  1834,  had  76 
members,  of  whom  70  were  professors  of  religion  ;  30  of  them  had 
consecrated  themselves  to  the  foreign  missionary  work,  and  20  to 
home  missionary  service  in  the  West.  In  1834  the  trustees  of  Lane 
Seminary  (Cincinnati)  prohibited  the  open  discussion  of  slavery  by 
the  students,  and  four  fifths  of  the  students  withdrew  from  the 
institution.  A  number  of  them,  including  Theodore  D.  Weld,* 
Henry  B.  Stanton  and  Ichabod  Codding,  became  at  once  anti- 
slavery  lecturers,  and  went  from  State  to  State  defending  the  rights 
of  the  slave.  The  breaking  up  of  the  classes  in  Lane  Seminary  led 
to  the  organization  of  the  theological  department  at  Oberlin,  and 
in  this  great  reform  Oberlin  took  an  early  and  prominent  part. 
Mr.  Finney  refused  to  become  president  of  a  college  unless  colored 
students  were  allowed  to  enjoy  its  privileges.  The  Hon.  Salmon 
P.  Chase  was  wont  to  ascribe  his  elevation  to  the  United  States 
Senate  to  the  influence  of  Oberlin.  f 

"  So  far  as  Congregationalism  is  concerned,"  says  the  editor  of 
the  Congregational  Quarterly,  "  it  should  be  remembered  that  the 
leading  Garrisonians,  Henry  C.  Wright,  Parker  Pillsbury,  and 
Stephen  S.  Foster,  imbibed  their  antislavery  sentiments,  but  not 
their  fanaticism,  from  Congregational  sources,  for  they  were  orig- 

*  While  Mr.  Weld  was  holding  a  series  of  meetings  in  Steubenville,  Ohio,  he  noticed  a  young 
lawyer  in  his  audience  evening  after  evening,  taking  notes.  At  the  close  of  his  last  lecture  the 
young  man  came  forward  and  introduced  himself,  remarking,  "  I  came  here  resolved  to  answer 
you,  and  have  taken  notes  of  every  lecture ;  but  you  have  converted  me."  That  young  lawyer 
was  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  and  thus  God  raised  up  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  a  fit  Secretary 
of  War. 

t  Congregational  Quarterly,  1876,  p.  554, 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  461 

inally  Congregational  ministers  or  candidates  for  that  office.  .  .  . 
I  freely  acknowledge  that  the  Church  did  not  do  its  whole  duty. 
In  our  own  denomination  the  prom-nent  ministers  particularly 
seemed  to  be  unduly  subject  to  commercial  influences.  Still  the  true 
picture,  although  it  has  dark  shades,  is  luminous  and  attractive."  * 

The  Free-Will  Baptists,  located  almost  entirely  in  the  North, 
kept  clear  of  the  evil,  and  were  decided  in  their  protests  against  it. 
on  account  of  which  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature,  for  many 
years  an  ultra-Democratic  body,  refused  to  grant  an  act  of  incor- 
poration for  their  publishing  house. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  extending  through  the  South, 
every-where  maintained  extremely  conservative  ground.  Through 
all  the  antislavery  agitations,  and  even  during  the  late  civil  war, 
her  ministry,  in  their  pulpits  and  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  stu- 
diously avoided  the  question  of  slavery  and  all  politico-religious 
matters.  As  the  result  a  considerable  number  of  conservative, 
"  South-side "  politicians,  disturbed  by  what  was  stigmatized  as 
"political  preaching"  in  other  denominations,  united  with  that 
Church,  which  tended  to  make  it  still  more  conservative. 

The  action  of  two  other  large  denominations  will  be  sketched 
more  at  length. 

The  Presbyterian  Church 

had  many  sharp  contests  on  this  question.  In  1833  ^he  Synod  of 
Kentucky,  after  discussing  for  two  days  with  much  spirit  a  reso- 
lution declaring  slavery  within  its  bounds  a  great  moral  evil,  incon- 
sistent with  the  Word  of  God,  indefinitely  postponed  the  subject; 
whereupon  Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckenridge  left  the  house,  declaring, 
"  Since  God  has  forsaken  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  Robert  J.  Breck- 
enridge will  forsake  it  too."  The  following  year  an  able  committee 
was  directed  to  prepare  a  plan  for  the  instruction  and  future  eman- 
cipation of  slaves.  They  reported  the  ne.xt  year,  recommending 
gradual  emancipation.  But  the  committee  were  in  advance  of  the 
Synod,  and  their  report  failed  of  approval.  Under  what  was  char- 
acterized as  "Northern  aggressions,"  "inflammatory  periodicals." 
etc.,  a  reaction  set  in,  and  the  prospects  of  emancipation  became 
less  hopeful.  Slave  laws  were  made  more  stringent,  and  Sabbath- 
schools  for  the  slaves  were  suspended. 

The  subject  of  slavery  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  in  1836  by  the  report  of  a  committee 
appointed  the  previous  year  to  consider  certain  petitions  and  me- 

*  Congregational  Quarterly,  1876,  p.  553. 


462  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

morials.  The  majority  recommended  that  no  action  be  taken  on 
the  subject.  The  minority  report  proposed  certain  resolutions 
strongly  opposed  to  slavery.  After  a  variety  of  motions  and  prop- 
ositions the  whole  subject  was  indefinitely  postponed  by  a  vote  of 
156  yeas  to  87  nays;  28  members  protested  against  the  decision. 
The  excitement  was  very  great  during  the  debates.  * 

A  purely  ecclesiastical  question  in  regard  to  the  benevolent 
"  boards  "  of  the  Church,  with  which  the  slavery  question  became 
complicated,  hindered  and  embarrassed  their  action.  A  compromise 
quieted  the  South  and  prevented  a  ruptur^Xbut  it  was  accomplished 
on  the  humiliating  condition  that  slavery  was  no  more  to  be  allowed 
to  disturb  the  General  Assembly,  t  Subsequently  the  agitation  was 
renewed.  Year  after  year  memorials  and  overtures  were  presented, 
eliciting  warm  and  extended  discussion  and  resulting  in  action  which 
failed  to  satisfy  the  more  zealous  antislavery  men  of  the  North,  and 
excited  dissatisfaction  at  the  South.  The  antislavery  sentiment  of 
the  Church  was  increasing,  as  was  evident  from  the  utterances  of  the 
General  Assembly;  but  its  official  action  under  the  preponderating 
desire  for  unity  continually  exposed  it  to  criticism  from  radical  re- 
formers at  the  North  and  from  apologists  for  slavery  at  the  South. 
In  1857  a  secession:}:  on  account  of  the  slavery  question  took  place, 
forming  the  United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

A  very  considerable  portion  of  the  strength  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  was  within  the  limits  of  those  States  which  seceded  from 
the  Federal  Union  in  1861  ;  and  "  upon  the  Assembly  of  that  year 
the  long-deferred  question  pressed  with  the  weight  of  an  avalanche." 
The  Assembly  indicated  its  loyalty  by  appropriate  resolutions,  de- 
claring its  repugnance  to  a  rebellion  instituted  in  the  interest  of 
slav.ery,  which  were  passed  by  a  vote  of  156  yeas  to  66  nays.  The 
result  was  the  secession  of  the  Southern  churches  and  presbyteries 
and  the  formation  of  the  Southern  General  Assembly. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  first  movements  against  slavery  in  this  body  after  1830  were 
made  in  the  New  England  and  New  Hampshire  Conferences,  under 
the  leadership  of  Rev.  Orange  Scott  in  the  former  and  Rev.  George 
Storrs  in  the  latter.  When  Rev.  Wilbur  Fisk,  D.D.,  in  the  New 
England  Conference,  in  June.  1834,  offered  resolutions  in  favor  of 
the  Colonization  Society,  Mr.  Scott  moved  to  lay  them  on  the  table, 
which  was  carried  after   a  stormy  debate.     In  January-,  1835.  Mr. 

*  History  0/  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D. 
Vol.  II,  p.  524.  +  Ibid.,  pp.  526,  527.  I  Ibid.,  pp.  555-559- 


THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  463 

Scott  commenced  a  long  series  of  articles  on  slavery  in  the  Zions 
Herald  {Boston),  and  on  the  4th  of  February  following,  an  "Appeal" 
to  the  Church  on  the  subject  of  slavery  appeared  in  the  same  paper 
over  the  signatures  of  LeRoy  Sunderland,  Orange  Scott,  Abram  D. 
Merrill,  Shipley  W.  Wilson,  George  Storrs  and  Jared  Perkins.  On 
the  8th  of  April  a  "  Counter  Appeal  '*  appeared,  written  by  Rev.  D. 
D.  Whedon  and  signed  by  Wilbur  Fisk,  John  Lindsay,  Bartholomew 
Otheman,  Hezekian  S.  Ramsdell,  Edward  T.  Taylor,  Abel  Stevens, 
Jacob  Sanborn  and  H.  H.  White.  In  June  the  New  England  and 
New  Hampshire  Conferences  organized  antislavery  societies*  and 
made  arrangements  to  circulate  Wesley's  "  Thoughts  on  Slavery  " 
and  other  documents.  Thus  was  reopened  the  antislavery  agitation 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Then  followed  in  rapid  succession  a  long  series  of  exciting  events  : 
the  address  of  fourteen  Baltimore  ministers  and  the  report  of  the 
Ohio  and  Kentucky  Conferences  disapproving  of  abolitionism  ;  the 
address  of  Bishops  Hedding  and  Emory,  September  10,  1835,  to  the 
ministers  and  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  within 
the  bounds  of  the  New  England  and  New  Hampshire  Conferences, 
expressing  great  solicitude  on  account  of  the  excitement  occasioned 
by  agitating  the  subject  of  "  immediate  emancipation  ;"  the  address 
of  Dr.  Wilbur  Fisk,  one  of  the  purest  and  best  constituted  minds  in 
the  Church,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Europe,  in  a  similar 
style ;  the  establishment  of  Zions  Watchma7i  in  New  York  city 
January  i,  1836,  devoted  especially  to  the  cause  of  abolition,  with 
LeRoy  Sunderland  as  editor;  the  resolutions  of  the  Baltimore  and 
New  York  Conferences  strongly  condemning  abolition  and  the 
Watchman  ;  the  presentation  to  the  General  Conference  at  Cincin- 
nati (May,  1836,)  of  petitions  from  New  England,  signed  by  200 
ministers  and  2,284  laymen,  praying  for  action  against  slavery;  the 
censuring  by  that  body  of  two  of  its  members  for  attending  and  ad- 
dressing an  abolition  meeting  in  Cincinnati ;  the  passage  of  a  reso- 
lution disclaiming  any  "right,  wish  or  intention  to  interfere  with  the 
civil  and  political  relation  between  master  and  slave  as  it  exists;" 
the  attempt  of  the  southern  members  to  elect  a  slave-holding  bishop 
contrary  to  the  established  policy  of  the  Church  ;  the  exciting  scenes 
in  1837  over  the  slavery  question  at  the  New  England  and  the  New 

*By  invitation  the  Hon.  George  Thompson,  an  English  Wesleyan  local  preacher,  preached 
a  powerful  sermon  before  the  New  England  Conference,  from  Ezekiel  28.  14-16.  The  North 
Bennett  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  opened  to  Mr.  Thompson,  on  fast  day,  for  a 
sermon,  and  also  for  a  meeting  of  the  Ladies'  Antislavery  Society,  which  Mr.  Thompson  rd- 
dressed  ;  which  acts,  at  a  time  when  Mr.  Thompson  was  every-where  denounced,  were  highly 
commended  in  the  Liberator. 


464  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES.       . 

Hampshire  Conferences  and  in  Methodist  antislavery  conventions 
held  in  Utica  and  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  and  Lynn,  Mass. ;  the  action  of 
the  New  York  Conference,  the  following  year,  calling  to  account  two 
of  its  members  for  attending  the  Utica  Convention ;  the  issuing  of 
the  Wesleyan  Quarterly  Review  in  1838,  by  Rev.  Orange  Scott,  for  the 
fuller  discussion  of  antislavery  questions,  and  Mr.  Scott's  arraign- 
ment by  Bishop  Hedding  at  the  following  session  of  the  New  En- 
gland Conference  in  Boston  ;  the  arraignment  of  LeRoy  Sunderland 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Bangs  for  a  similar  cause  ;  the  discussion  of  the 
famous  "  Plan  of  Pacification  "  and  questions  of"  Conference  Rights  " 
in  1838  and  1839;  the  extreme  pro-slavery  utterances  of  southern 
Conferences  declaring  that  "  slavery  as  it  now  exists  in  these  United 
States  is  not  a  moral  evil;"  and  the  starting  of  the  American  Wes- 
leyan  Observer,  a  new  antislavery  paper,  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  November 
7,  1839,  edited  by  Revs.  Jotham  Horton  and  Orange  Scott. 

These  events,  occurring  between  1834  and  1840,  show  the  intense 
aggressive  spirit  of  opposition  to  slavery  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  no  less  determined  resistance  to  antislavery  action 
by  southerners  and  southern  sympathizers.  During  these  six  years 
the  Church  Was  agitated  by  the  most  exciting  contests  ever  known 
in  her  history.  The  South  threatened  to  divide  the  Church,  and 
many  at  the  North,  fearing  it,  sought  to  avert  the  calamity,  but  the 
antislavery  sentiment  steadily  increased. 

The  Last  of  the  Retrograding  Series. 

The  General  Conference  of  1840  was  in  harmony  with  that  of 
1836,  where  the  downward  tendency  of  conservatism  touched  bot- 
tom. The  action  of  the  Missouri  Conference,  condemning  a  minister 
of  maladministration  for  receiving  the  testimony  of  colored  persons 
against  white  persons  in  a  church  trial,  was  approved,  and  by  a 
vote  of  seventy-four  to  thirty-six  this  Conference  declared  that 
"such  a  practice  is  inexpedient  and  unjustifiable  in  those  States 
where  colored  persons  are  not  allowed  to  testify  in  trials  at  law." 
But  the  most  remarkable  action  was  taken  upon  a  memorial  from 
Westmoreland,  Va.  The  Conference  afifirmed  that  ownership  of 
slave-property,  in  States  and  Territories  where  the  laws  do  not  admit 
of  emancipation,  or  permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom,  con- 
stitutes no  legal  barrier  to  the  election  and  ordination  of  ministers 
to  the  various  grades  of  office  known  in  the  ministry  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  cannot  therefore  be  considered  as  oper- 
ating any  forfeiture  of  right  in  view  of  such  election  and  ordination. 


ACTION  OF   THE  MISSOURI  CONFERENCE.  463 

These  concessions,  contrary  to  the  time-honored  policy  of  the 
Church,  aroused  attention  and  augmented  the  immense  antislavery 
force  in  process  of  development  within  and  without  the  ecclesiastical 
lines.  The  tide  turned  in  1840,  after  which  no  more  concessions 
were  made  to  the  slave-power.  The  "Wesleyan"  schism,  in  1842, 
in  which  about  twenty  traveling  elders  and  five  thousand  members 
seceded,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  slavery, 
contributed  somewhat  to  this  end. 

When  the  General  Conference  met  in  1844  it  found  on  its  hands 
a  great  question  to  settle — whether  the  bishops  should  be  allowed 
to  hold  slaves  ;  Bishop  Andrew  having  become  a  slave-holder  by 
marriage — the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  denomination. 
The  northern  members  contended  that  the  episcopal  chair  must  be 
kept  free  from  this  evil,  as  it  always  had  been,  and  that  he  must 
therefore  resign  his  position.  His  friends  pleaded,  protested  and 
threatened  division  if  he  was  not  let  alone.  But  the  Conference,  by 
a  vote  of  no  to  68,  declared  that  he  must  desist  from  the  exercise 
of  his  office.  The  result  was  the  secession  of  a  large  number  of 
southern  ministers  and  members,  and  the  formation  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Sixteen  more  years  of  contest  remained  before  the  unequivocal 
rule  against  all  slave-holding  could  be  enacted  by  the  necessary 
three  fourths  vote  of  the  General  Conference.  In  i860  the  chapter 
on  slavery  in  the  Discipline  was  strengthened  so  as  to  embody  this 
exclusive  principle,  and  four  years  later  the  specific  rule  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  207  to  9.  The  civil  war,  occasioned  by  the  triumph  in 
the  nation  of  the  policy  of  the  non-extension  of  slavery  in  the  Ter- 
ritories, achieved  very  largely  by  the  prayers,  appeals  and  suffrages  of 
antislavery  church  members,  aided  the  final  solution. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  trace  the  antislavery  struggle  in  the 
Baptist  Church,  so  similar  to  those  already  sketched,  which  culmi- 
nated in  the  division  of  the  denomination  in  1845,  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  northern  and  southern  Baptist  Conventions.  Nor 
have  we  space  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the  humiliating  compro- 
mises of  various  benevolent  boards. 

In  the  course  of  these  agitations  another  movement  took  place, 
one  of  the  most  painful  to  record,  because  of 

The  Bitter  and  Destructive  Spirit  It  Engendered. 
I  have  no  disposition  to  detract  from  any  credit  due  to  Mr.  Gar- 
rison as  an  antislavery  agitator.     His  peculiar  talent  made  him  con- 
spicuous and   left  a  deep  impression.     But  the  time  came  when  the 
30 


466  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Garrison  party  diminished  in  numbers  and  in  influence,  and  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  was  carried  forward,  not  merely  without  his  aid,  but 
even  in  spite  of  his  hinderance.  He.  possessed  an  extraordinary  power 
of  vituperation,  and  his  philippics  were  terrible  irritants.  "  He  prej- 
udiced the  minds  of  good  men  against  the  antislavery  cause,  while 
the  political  movement,  which  ultimately  proved  the  successful  one, 
ever  after  1838  met  with  his  opposition."  * 

In  less  than  five  years  from  the  organization  of  the  first  society 
under  Mr.  Garrison  the  American  Antislavery  Society  numbered 
1,350  auxiliaries,  existing  in  every  free  State  except  Indiana  and 
New  Jersey,  and  its  annual  receipts  reached  $45,000.  But  notwith- 
standing this  rapid  progress  he  became  impatient,  and  his  intensely 
radical  spirit,  panting  for  still  more  radical  reforms,  repelled  his  best 
tried  friends.  He  forgot  that  he  drew  his  first  antislavery  breath 
from  the  Church  ;  that  his  best  supporters  were  the  people  of  the 
churches.;  that  of  the  persons  participating  in  the  organization  of 
the  American  Antislavery  Society  and  its  auxiliaries,  and  those  at- 
tending the  antislavery  anniversaries  and  conventions,  full  one  third 
were  ministers,  while  more  than  half  of  the  remainder  were  com- 
municants of  the  churches ;  that  three  fourths  of  the  antislavery 
agents  and  editors  were  clergymen  ;  that  Hon.  George  Thompson, 
with  whom  he  had  communed  so  closely,  was  a  Wesleyan  local 
preacher;  that  his  ablest  adherents  and  confreres  were  Revs. 
A.  A.  Phelps,  Joshua  Leavitt,  William  Goodell,  Nathaniel  Colver, 
Baron  Stow,  Orange  Scott,  Jotham  Horton,  Samuel  J.  May,  etc., 
and  that  instead  of  a  decline  there  was  a  steady  growth  of  reform 
sentiment  and  activity  in  the  churches.  All  these  things  and  many 
more  he  forgot.  He  abhorred  and  denounced  the  Church  and  State, 
and  sought  their  overthrow. 

In  a  Fourth-of-July  address  at  Providence  in  1837  he  frenziedly 
declared,  "  I  stand  forth  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy  to  proclaim  in  the 
ears  of  the  people  that  our  doom  as  a  nation  is  sealed,"  adding,  "If 
history  be  not  wholly  fabulous,  if  revelation  be  not  a  forgery,  if  God 
be  not  faithless  in  the  execution  of  his  threatenings,  the  doom  is 
certain  and  the  execution  thereof  sure.  The  overthrow  of  the  Amer- 
ican Confederacy  is  in  the  womb  of  events.  .  .  .  The  corruptions  of 
the  Church,  so-called,  are  obviously  more  deep  and  incurable  than 
those  of  the  State,  and  therefore  the  Church,  in  spite  of  every  pre- 
caution and  safeguard,  is  first  to  be  dashed  in  pieces."! 

Mr.  Garrison  and  his  intimate  friends  were  soon  intent  on  other 

*  Editor  of  the  Congregational  Quarterly,  October,  1876,  p.  552. 

\The  True  History  0/  the  Late  Division  in  the  Antislavery  Societies,  p.  8,  1841. 


^EXTREME  SENTIMENTS.  467 

reforms.  "Anti-church,"  "Anti-ministry,"  "Anti-Sabbath,"  "No 
Government,"  "Woman's  Rights,"  etc.,  were  the  watch-words. 
Standing  alone  on  their  individual  merits  these  reforms  could  get 
no  hearing  before  the  public ;  therefore  it  was  attempted  to  "  sift 
them  in  "  upon  the  antislavery  reform.  * 

The  ultraists  pleaded  f  that  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  the  polit- 
ical organizations  failed  to  grasp  the  question  of  slavery  as  its  im- 
portance demanded ;  that  the  slave  power  was  aggressive,  arrogant, 
mandatory  and  grasping;  that  Church  after  Church  had  looked  on 
with  little  interest,  often  using  their  influence  rather  to  quiet  aboli- 
tionists than  to  harm  slavery;  that  politicians  were  afraid  to  attack 
the  monster  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  and  quailing  statesmen  cowered 
before  the  bowie-knife  and  revolver.  Under  such  circumstances 
these  champions  of  reform  became  impatient,  bitter,  vindictive  and 
desperate.  Out  of  this  feeling  the  "Comeouter"  movement  arose, 
dividing  the  opposers  of  slavery  into  two  parties. 

The  "Comeouter"  Party, 

led  by  the  Liberator,  edited  by  Mr.  Garrison,  opposed  the  American 
Church — not  merely  the  pro-slavery  part,  but  the  Church  itself — as 
the  bulwark  of  American  slavery,  and  consequently  an  institution 
that  could  not  be  reformed,  and,  therefore,  to  be  abolished  before 
slavery  could  be  reached.  The  ministry,  as  dumb  dogs  (D.Ds.)  that 
would  not  bark,  were  placed  in  the  same  category,  and  must  go  with 
the  Church.  The  Sabbath  was  denounced  ;  all  days  were  to  be  re- 
garded alike.  The  Bible  received  a  liberal  share  of  abuse,  most 
of  them  discarding  its  authority  as  a  standard  of  appeal.  It  was 
a  stench  in  their  nostrils,  because  slave-holders  and  their  apologists 
perverted  it  to  sustain  slavery.  Reason  and  conscience  were  above 
the  Bible.  The  Old  Testament  was  rejected  as  of  no  authority 
whatever,  and  the  New  also  when  it  confronted  their  theories. 
These  topics  were  forced  upon  the  antislavery  meetings  for  dis- 
cussion and  indorsement,  and  special  meetings  were  called  and  their 
doings  published  in  the  Liberator  as  antislavery  literature. 

Another  obstacle  in  the  way  of  emancipation  was  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  Human  governments,  they  affirmed  in 
general,  were  "  of  the  devil,"  and  the  United  States  Constitution  in 
particular  was  a  "covenant  with  death,  a  league  with  hell."     It  was 

♦  The  True  History  of  the  Late  Division  in  the  Antislavery  Societies,  p.  15. 
t  For  some  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  origin  of  the  "Comeouter "  movement  the  author 
is  indebted  to  a  letter  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  June  9,  1873,  by  J.  W.  Alden. 


468  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  sin  to  vote  under  it  even  to  free  the  slave,  because  their  tender 
consciences  could  not  approve  the  act  of  voting.  Slave-holding 
politicians  for  fifty  years  had  construed  the  Constitution  in  favor  of 
slavery,  and  pro-slavery  divines  had  done  the  same  thing  with  the 
Bible.  Inasmuch  as  the  Church,  the  ministry,  the  Sabbath,  the 
Bible  and  the  United  States  Constitution  all  lay  in  the  way  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  they  must  be  removed  before  slavery  could  be 
reached.  "  The  antislavery  movement  at  the  start  favored  the  use 
of  the  elective  franchise  in  behalf  of  the  slave;"  but  in  1838  the 
Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Garrison, 
"was  made  to  abandon  its  own  original  doctrines  on  the  subject  of 
political  action,  and  became  subservient  to  the  promotion  of  the 
dogma  of  non-governmentism." 

These  views  caused  a  division  and  a  new  organization  of  anti- 
slavery  workers.  From  that  time  Mr.  Garrison's  influence  declined, 
and  the  sphere  of  his  operations  was  narrowed  to  a  small,  dwindling 
circle  of  sour,  wrangling  spirits,  while  the  great  movement  to  which 
his  earlier  labors  contributed  an  impulse  rolled  on  in  widening  cir- 
cles under 

Other  and  Wiser  Leaders. 

The  division  occurred  in  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
in  May,  1839,  and  ^^  ^^e  American  Antislavery  Society  the  year  fol- 
lowing. By  packing  the  business  meeting  of  the  latter  Society  in 
1839  with  Massachusetts  delegates  in  sympathy  with  Mr.  Garrison's 
peculiar  views,  equal  in  number  to  nearly  one  third  of  all  the  votes 
cast,  the  Woman's  Rights  and  Non-government  party  triumphed. 
In  1840  this  victory  was  made  sure,  by  transporting,  by  special  steam- 
boat arrangements,  several  hundred  women  from  Boston  and  vicinity 
to  New  York  to  vote  in  the  meeting.  The  party  opposed  to  the 
peculiar  dogmas  of  Garrison  withdrew,  and  organized  the  American 
and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society  in  May,  1840.  In  Massachusetts, 
where  the  split  occurred  the  previous  year,  the  new  party  was  organ- 
ized as  the  "  Massachusetts  Abolition  Society,"  under  the  leadership 
of  Rev.  Amos  A.  Phelps.  The  party  was  chiefly  composed  of  evan- 
gelical antislavery  Christians  of  all  denominations  who  believed  in 
using  the  ballot-box  for  the  purpose  of  freeing  the  slaves.  Its  paper. 
The  Abolitionist,  was  edited  at  first  by  Rev.  Mr.  Phelps,  then  by 
Elizur  Wright,  Jr.  Subsequently  its  name  was  changed  to  the  Free 
American,  and  it  was  edited  by  Rev.  Charles  T,  Torrey.  Agents  were 
sent  out  and  auxiliaries  were  formed.  Antislavery  churches  opened 
their  pulpits  to  the  agents,  and  those  who  would  not  commit  them- 


CONSCIENTIOUS  DISAPPROVAL.  469 

selves  to  antislavery  action  were  glad  to  part  with  antislavery  mem- 
bers, who  formed  churches  on  the  basis  of  non-fellowship  with 
slave-holders.  But  no  evangelical  church,  however  antislavery,  re- 
ceived the  approbation  of  the  other  party.  While  this  work  was 
going  on  "  the  scattering  system  "  at  the  polls  was  abandoned,  and 
the  **  liberty  party"  was  organized  in  1840. 

About  this  time  The  Emancipator,  which  had  been  started  in 
New  York  city,  was  removed  to  Boston  and  united  with  the  Free 
American,  with  Rev.  Joshua  Leavitt,  D.D.,  and  J.  W.  Alden  as  edi- 
tors and  proprietors,  while  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  D.D.,  and  Rev. 
William  Goodell  published  the  Principia  in  New  York. 

Those  Christian  men  who  did  not  unite  with  the  antislavery  so- 
cieties were  doubtless  conscientious,  of  high  character  and  intel- 
ligence, and  not  wanting  in  true  sympathy  for  the  slave.  Some 
could  not  approve  the  impracticable  measures  of  the  reformers. 
Others,  from  taste  or  principle,  disliked  such  associations,  and  felt 
that  they  could  not  be  held  responsible  before  the  public  for  either 
the  policy  or  the  opinions  advocated  by  the  radical  agitators.  Deeply 
abhorring  slavery,  and  desiring  to  do  something  for  its  removal,  never- 
theless Mr.  Garrison's  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation  seemed 
impracticable  and  impossible.  They  also  shrank  from  contact  with 
violent  and  denunciatory  persons,  who  scornfully  repelled  prudential 
suggestions  or  more  moderate  measures. 

On  the  other  hand,  other  Christian  men  enjoyed  the  reform  asso- 
ciations, even  the  stormiest  scenes  ;  organizing,  leading,  and  sustain- 
ing the  meetings  vigorously,  imparting  to  the  cause  its  most  reliable 
and  influential  support,  tempering  it  with  their  presence,  inspiring 
hope  and  confidence  in  the  darkest  moments,  and  securing  the  divine 
blessing  by  their  prayers. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the  movement  the  churches 
were  largely  represented  *  by  the  ministry  and  the  laity,  usually  con- 
stituting a  large  majority  and  often  seven  eighths  of  the  working 
force.  Of  146  delegates  whose  names  appear  in  the  annual  report 
of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  for  1838,  the  year  before  the 
division,  50  were  ministers,  nearly  all  of  them  belonging  to  "evan- 
gelical churches."  It  was  so  every  year  from  1833  and  onward  until 
the  division.  And  yet  in  the  Liberator,  in  1837,  Mr.  Oliver  Johnson 
said  :  "  The  antislavery  car  has  rolled  forward  thus  far  not  only  with- 
out the  aid,  but  against  the  combined  influence  of  the  ministers  and 
churches  of  the  country."     Could  any  statement  more  completely 

*  It  is  difficult  to  do  justice  to  the  numerous  toilers  in  this  work  of  reform.  We  will  not  at- 
tempt it,  so  great  would  be  the  risk  of  overlooking  many  whose  names  deserve  mention. 


470  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ignore  the  real  facts  up  to  that  time?  Rev.  Amos.  A.  Phelps,  of 
the  Congregational  Church,  was  regarded  by  many  as  "the  head 
and  front  of  antislavery  movements  in  Massachusetts,  doing  more 
soUd  work  than  almost  any  other  person."  Revs.  Joshua  Leavitt 
and  William  Goodell  were  little  behind  him,  and  some  will  place 
Rev.  Orange  Scott,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  a  parallel 
with  him  in  effective,  self-sacrificing  labors.  Statistics  exist  showing 
that,  in  1837,  the  antislavery  societies  in  Massachusetts  numbered 
19,206  members,  equivalent  to  one  in  thirty-six  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  the  State,  while  of  the  792  ministers  in  the  State,  367,  or 
almost  one  half,  were  enrolled  members  of  these  societies.  Of  the 
fifty-six  agents  employed  by  the  American  Antislavery  Society  prior 
to  1837,  forty-three  were  ministers.  Thus,  in  this  unpopular  period 
of  the  agitation,  while  the  ministers  were  one  in  five  hundred  of  the 
whole  population,  they  were  one  in  five  of  the  front  ranks  of  this 
reform.  *  And  yet  Theodore  Parker,  who  espoused  this  cause  nearly 
ten  years  later  than  the  date  under  consideration,  was  wont  to  ex- 
claim, "  When  did  the  Christianity  of  the  Church  ever  denounce  a 
popular  sin  ?" 

And  whence  came  the  antislavery  martyrs  but  from  these  churches? 
Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy  (1837),  Charles  T.  Torrey  (1846),  John 
Brown  (1859),  ^"^^  Rev.  Anthony  Bewley  (i860),  who  laid  down 
their  lives  in  devotion  to  antislavery  principles,  were  of  evangelical 
churches.  The  imprisonment  and  inhuman  branding  (S.  S.,  slave- 
stealer)  of  Captain  Jonathan  Walker,  of  Massachusetts,  at  Pensacola, 

*A  writer  of  a  political  tract,  over  the  signature  of  Junius  (supposed  to  be  Calvin  Colton), 
said:  "Nearly  all  the  practical  abolitionists  and,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  all  the  abolition 
preachers,  lecturers,  and  missionaries,  are  religious  men.  Religion  every-where  is  the  high  and 
holy  sanction  relied  upon  to  enforce  the  doctrine." 

Mr.  Oliver  Johnson,  whose  severe  arraignment  of  the  churches  in  the  Liberator  in  1837  has 
been  quoted,  at  a  more  recent  date,  in  the  Christian  Union  of  May  7,  1874,  under  the  mellowing 
influence  of  later  years,  said  :  "The  antislavery  movement  originated  in  the  deepest  religious 
convictions,  and  derived  its  main  impulse  from  the  spirit  of  Christianity  in  the  hearts  of  its  cham- 
pions. It  is  important  to  affirm  this  because  efforts  have  been  made  in  certain  quarters  to  justify 
or  excuse  the  hostility  to  the  movement  of  the  great  body  of  ministers  and  churches  in  the  coun- 
try on  the  ground  of  its  alleged  'infidel'  character  and  tendency.  On  this  point  history  must  not 
be  perverted  nor  the  truth  concealed." 

Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke  said  :  "If  the  churches  as  organizations  stood  aloof,  being  only 
•timidly  good'  as  organizations  are  apt  to  be,  the  purest  of  their  body  were  sure  to  be  found  in 
this  great  company  of  'latter-day  saints.'  "  Again  :  "Nevertheless  from  the  Christian  body  came 
most  of  those  who  devoted  their  lives  to  the  extirpation  of  this  great  evil.  And  Mr.  Garrison 
always  maintained  that  his  converts  were  most  likely  to  be  made  among  those  whose  consciences 
had  been  educated  by  the  Church  and  the  Bible." 

Hon.  George  Thompson,  in  his  celebrated  debate  with  Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckenridge,  of  Ken- 
tucky, on  slavery,  in  Glasgow,  1836,  said  of  the  American  antislavery  reformers :  "They  are 
universally  men  and  women  of  religious  principles,  and,  in  most  instances,  of  unquestioned 
piety."  He  had  never  known  any  benevolent  enterprise  cariied  forward  more  in  dependence 
upon  divine  direction  and  divine  aid  than  the  abolition  cause  in  the  United  States, 


--*•■•  -  ANTI-GARRISONIANS.  *7 1 

in  1840;  the  mobbing  of  Dr.  Bailey,  editor  of  the  National  Era, 
Washington,  D.  C,  in  1848;  and  of  Dr.  John  S.  Prettyman,  editor 
of  a  Republican  paper  in  Delaware,  in  1859;  and  ^^^  murderous 
assault  upon  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  the  incorruptible  senator, 
deserve  sharp  denunciation;  but  Thomas  Garrett  (1848),  who  suf- 
fered in  Delaware  ;  Rev.  John  G.  Fee  and  Miss  Delia  Webster, 
in  Kentucky;  Revs.  Daniel  Worth  and  Silas  M'Kenney,  in  Texas; 
Rev.  Dr.  Nelson  and  Messrs.  Thompson  and  Burr  (students  for 
the  ministry),  and  Work,  in  Missouri  ;  and  "  Parson "  Brownlow 
in  Tennessee,  well-known  victims  of  slave-holding  vengeance,  were 
ministers  or  communicants  of  evangelical  churches  no  less  devoted 
to  the  cause  of  the  slave. 

The  Garrison  party,  withdrawing  from  all  political  relations  and 
diverted  in  purpose  by  complex  social  and  skeptical  hobbies,  be- 
came a  small  contracted  sphere  that  could  not  grow,  notwithstand- 
ing the  most  assiduous  efforts  to  bring  to  their  platform  every-thing 
that  could  draw  and  impress  an  audience.  Many  attended  their 
anniversaries  to  witness  the  gladiatorial  sport,  for  they  were  fierce 
tournaments.  But  the  movement  did  not  expand.  It  lacked  moral 
cohesion  ;  was  repellant  and  chilling  rather  than  attractive  and  vital- 

izing. 

"  Their  orators  were  of  every  kind  :  rough  men  and  shrill-voiced 
women,  polished  speakers  from  the  universities,  stammering  fugi- 
tives from  slavery,  philosophers  and  fanatics,  atheists  and  Christian 
ministers  wise  men  who  had  been  made  mad  by  oppression,  and 
babes  in  intellect,  to  whom  God  had  revealed  some  of  the  noblest 
truths.  They  murdered  the  king's  English  ;  they  uttered  glaring 
fallacies-  the  blows  aimed  at  evil  often  glanced  aside  and  hit  good 
men  Invective  was,  perhaps,  the  too-frequent  staple  of  their  argu- 
ment ;  and  any  difference  of  opinion  would  be  apt  to  turn  their 
weapons  against  each  other.     The  Church  militant  often  became  a 

Church  termagant."*  ,      ^        •        r      ,-.•     , 

But  the  newly  organized  party,  retaining  the  doctrine  of  political 
action  against  slavery,  formerly  advocated  by  Garrison,  gradually 
erew  Hundreds  of  ministers  and  thousands  of  the  laity  left  pro- 
slavpry  churches  and  organized  churches  on  a  strict  antislavery  basis. 
Ministerial  antislavery  conventions  were  held,  and  Christian  anti- 
slavery  conventions,  large  influential  bodies,  and  wholly  by  the 
anti-Garrison  party.  Simultaneously  with  them,  and  mutually  con- 
tributing to  each  other,  started  the  Liberty  Party  (.840),  the  Free 


^Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  D  D..  in  Xorth  American  Reviru.',  Januar>-.  .875,  P-  54- 


472  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Soil   Party  (1848),  and  the  Republican   Party  (1854),  all  the  out- 
growth, in  and  out  of  the  churches,  of  the  antislavery  spirit. 

A  few  collateral  facts  should  be  added  to  complete  the  story. 
The  culnninating  events  of  the  antislavery  movement  and  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves,  sketched  in  the  next  period,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  political  measures,  effected  by  civil  agencies,  were 
not  accomplished  without  the  permeating  and  extensively  control- 
ling influence  of  the  churches.  The  ecclesiastical  conferences, 
associations  and  conventions  throughout  the  North,  from  1850  to 
the  close  of  the  civil  war,  passed  numerous  resolutions  bearing 
upon  national  issues,  such  as  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  the  Dred  Scott  Decision,  the  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  schemes,  etc. 

The  Congressional  records  show  numerous  petitions  and  remon- 
strances of  individual  churches,  of  ministers  and  ecclesiastical 
bodies,  bearing  upon  these  great  questions.  The  religious  press 
entered  into  the  contest,  conspicuous  among  which  was  the  Inde- 
pendent, edited  by  Revs.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.D.,  J.  P.  Thompson, 
D.D.,  R.  S.  Storrs,  D.D.,  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Uncle  Toms 
Cabin,  and  kindred  works,  imbued  with  fervid  religious  sentiment, 
moved  the  masses.  The  very  boldness  of  the  projects  of  the  slave 
power  awakened  revulsion  and  intensified  antislavery  action. 
Memorials  numerously  signed  by  clergymen  from  the  Middle  and 
Western  States  poured  into  Congress,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  separate  remonstrances  within  a  few  months  came  from  the 
ministers  of  the  six  New  England  States.  There  came  a  mammoth 
memorial,  two  hundred  feet  long,  bearing  the  names  of  three  thou- 
sand and  fifty  New  England  clergymen,*  so  ingeniously  engrossed 
as  to  preserve  the  original  signature  and  heading  of  each  petition, 
protesting  "  in  the  name  of  Almighty  God,"  against  the  proposed 
extension  of  the  domain  of  slavery  in  the  territory  of  the  United 
States.  On  its  presentation  to  the  Senate  Hon.  Edward  Everett 
apologetically  alluded  to  it  as  "  a  somewhat  voluminous  document." 
Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  characterized  it  as  "  informal  and  mon- 
strous," and  Hon.  John  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  and  Mr.  Butler,  of 
South  Carolina,  poured  out  their  indignation  against  the  political 
parsons,  and  prognosticated  evil  omens  from  such  participation  in 
political  action   by  the  Christian  clergy.     Hon.   Samuel   Houston, 

♦This  idea  originated  with  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe,  who  suggested  it  to  Rev.  Henry  M.  Dexter, 
D.D.,  editor  of  the  Congregationalist,  through  whose  ag-ncy  the  heading  was  prepared  at  a 
meeting  of  Boston  ministers,  and  the  names  were  obtained.  None  except  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy  refused  to  sign  it. 


'    THE  SABBATH  REFORM.  473 

with  characteristic  magnanimity,  declared  that  he  saw  in  the  paper 
nothing  informal  nor  monstrous,  and  that  "this  memorial,  signed 
by  three  thousand  and  fifty  ministers  of  the  living  God,  is  evidence 
that  the  people  are  deeply  moved."  And  Hon.  Charles  Sumner, 
then  fresh  in  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  thanked  the  ministers  for  their 
interposition,  adding:  "In  the  days  of  the  Revolution  John  Adams, 
yearning  for  independence,  said,  'Let  the  pulpits  thunder  against 
oppression,*  and  the  pulpits  thundered.  The  time  has  come  for 
them  to  thunder  again." 


Section  5.— Tlie  Sabbatli  Reform. 

The  subject  of  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  prominently  occu- 
pied the  attention  of  the  churches  after  the  opening  of  this  century. 
During  the  period  of  general  infidelity  and  demoralization  of  man- 
ners, at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  this  sacred  institution  suffered 
serious  harm.  In  the  new  communities  along  the  frontier  the 
Sabbath  was  generally  disregarded  and  often  practically  unknown. 
The  first  missionaries  in  western  New  York,  Ohio,  Michigan,  and 
other  new  States,  testified  that  the  Sabbath  was  only  a  day  of 
amusement,  spent  in  horse-racing  and  dissipation ;  that  stores  were 
opened  as  on  other  days,  and  that  it  was  not  distinguishable  from 
other  days,  except,  perhaps,  by  an  excess  of  wickedness.  In  the 
older  States,  although  there  were  few  instances  of  open  excesses  or 
public  trade,  yet  there  was  a  serious  disregard  of  the  sacredness  of 
the  day,  and  a  growing  laxity  in  its  observance.  Even  the  general 
government  was  party  to  its  public  desecration.  The  action  of 
Congress  deserves  to  be  recapitulated.  An  eminent  divine  who 
passed  through  that  period  has  left  a  sketch  of  the  action : 

Mail  Carrying. 

By  a  law  passed  in  1810  the  Postmaster-General  considered  himself  bound  to 
compel  the  deputy  postmasters,  at  offices  where  a  mail  arrived  on  the  Sabbath,  to 
keep  open  on  that  day  for  the  delivery  of  letters.  It  seems,  however,  that  he  had 
some  scruples  of  conscience  on  the  subject,  for  he  directed  the  carriers  of  the 
mail  to  pass  as  quietly  as  possible  through  the  country,  "without  announcing  their 
arrival  or  departure  by  the  sounding  of  horns  or  trumpets,  or  in  any  other  way 
calculated  to  draw  off  the  attention  of  the  people  from  their  devotions."  Post- 
masters were  required  to  keep  their  offices  open  only  one  hour  after  the  arrival  of 
the  mail  on  the  Sabbath  ;  but  if  it  arrived  during  public  worship  that  hour  should 
be  immediately  alter. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress  the  people  from  different  parts  of  the  country 
sent  up  remonstrances,  first  against  the  carrying  of  the  mail  on  the  Sabbath,  and. 


474  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

secondly,  against  requiring  postmasters  to  open  their  offices  for  the  delivery  of  let- 
ters on  that  day.  These  remonstrances  were  referred  to  the  proper  committee, 
who  reported  in  favor  of  carrying  the  mail  and  opening  offices.  In  1812,  1815  and 
1817  similar  remonstrances  called  forth  similar  reports.  In  1812  and  1815  the 
reason  assigned  for  not  repealing  the  law  was  the  peculiar  state  of  the  country,  it 
being  engaged  in  war,  and  it  was  deemed  a  work  of  necessity.  The  report  of 
181 5  was  presented  before  the  news  of  peace  arrived.  Mr.  Meigs,  the  Postmaster- 
General,  assigned  as  a  reason  for  carrying  the  mails  on  the  Sabbath  the  astounding 
argument  that,  if  they  were  not  carried  "  they  would  be  delayed  one  seventh  of  the 
time."  A  member  of  Congress  said  "  \)\ih\\c  convenience  r&(\VL\xcdi  it."  In  1817 
the  Postmaster-General  assigned  the  following  remarkable  reason  for  carrying 
mails  on  the  Sabbath:  "The  contents  of  the  mail,"  he  said,  "are  not  confined  to 
public  dispatches  nor  to  subjects  of  private  business  or  pleasure.  The  same  mail 
which  transports  such  matters  conveys  supplies  to  those  in  v^fant,  consolation  to 
the  afflicted,  and  to  the  pious  evangelical  correspondence  ;  and  thus,  performing 
works  of  charity,  it  may  be  regarded  as  doing  good  on  the  Sabbath  day."  During 
this  year  the  committee  reported  that  while  it  was  necessary  to  transport  mails  on 
the  Sabbath  it  was  not  needful  that  offices  should  be  kept  open  for  the  delivery  of 
letters.  Here  the  matter  rested  until  1825,  when  a  law  was  passed  more  rigid  than 
any  that  had  previously  been  enacted.  It  required  that  all  posi-offices  at  which 
mails  arrived  on  the  Sabbath  should  be  kept  open  during  the  whole  of  that  day. 
In  1829  petitions  were  presented  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  praying  for  the  repeal 
of  that  law.  In  March,  1830,  Hon.  Richard  M.  Johnson  presented  his  famous 
report,  drawn  forth  by  the  petitions  of  1829,  respecting  which  it  has  been  said, 
"Satan  never  accomplished  a  greater  temporary  victory  over  the  Sabbath,  through 
any  agency,  in  any  country,  than  was  accomplished  by  this  report,  if  we  except 
the  abolition  of  the  Sabbath  in  France  during  the  reign  of  infidelity."  A  minor- 
ity of  the  committee  presented  at  the  same  time  an  able  report  advocating  better 
views,  but  Mr.  Johnson's  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  land.  It  called  forth 
a  fuller  expression  of  public  opinion  than  was  ever  had  before  on  this  subject,  from 
the  press  and  pulpit  and  legislative  halls.  Laws  requiring  the  transportation  of 
the  mail  on  the  Sabbath  were  regarded  by  many  as  unconstitutional.  Almost 
every  State  in  the  Union  prohibits  its  citizens  from  keeping  their  shops  open  and 
from  engaging  in  secular  labors  on  the  Sabbath.  The  laws  of  Congress,  it  was 
said,  conflicted  with  the  rights  of  the  States.* 

The  Churches  Speak. 

During  the  first  thirty  years  of  this  century  the  various  ecclesi- 
astical bodies  often  passed  stirring  resolutions  in  regard  to  the 
Sabbath,  expressing  their  views  and  stimulating  the  Christian  pub- 
He  to  exert  their  influence  in  its  behalf.  As  early  as  181 2  a  society 
was  organized  in  Connecticut  "  For  the  Promotion  of  Morals," 
before  which  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher  preached  one  of  his  reinarkable 
sermons.  This  Society  had  a  twofold  object — to  promote  the 
\observance  of  the  Sabbath  and  a  temperance  reform.     In  1814  the 

*See    The  Hal/  Century^    by  Rev.    Emerson    Davis,    D.D.      Buston.     1851.      Tappan   & 
Whittemore.     Pp.  184,  185,  186. 


-HONORS   TO  LAFAYETTE.  478 

General  Association  of  Congregational  churches  in  Connecticut 
sent  out  an  "Address"  on  the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
prepared  and  circulated  a  petition  to  Congress  against  the  transpor- 
tation and  opening  of  the  mails  on  the  Lord's  day.  The  following 
year  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts  took  similar  action 
in  regard  to  the  mails.  From  1812  to  18 19  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  repeatedly  engaged  in  discussions  on 
this  subject,  and  petitions  were  drawn  up  and  sent  to  the  people 
for  signatures  and  then  forwarded  to  Congress,  praying  for  the 
repeal  of  the  laws  requiring  the  conveyance  of  the  mail  on  the 
Sabbath. 

In  1827  Rev.  Dr.  Gardner  Spring  and  a  few  other  gentlemen 
attempted  to  hold  a  puBTicrneetTng  in  the  City  Hall,  New  York 
city,  for  the  promotion  of  a  better  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
Able  speakers  were  engaged,  but  long  before  the  time  for  the  meeting 
the  place  was  preoccupied  by  those  who  had  taken  alarm  at  the 
supposed  invasion  of  their  rights.  When  Dr.  Spring  and  his  friends 
entered  the  hall  they  found  the  rabble  passing  resolutions  advis- 
ing the  "ministers  to  mind  their  business,"  etc.     Dr.  Spring  says  : 

We  were  marked  men.  The  excited  multitude  looked  daggers  at  us.  They 
would  not  listen  to  us.  Our  persons  were  in  danger  and  we  left  the  hall.  .  .  . 
Other  efforts  were  made,  but  without  success.  Even  the  most  glaring  Sabbath 
nuisances  could  not  be  abated,  while  the  abetters  of  such  efforts  met  a  storm  of 
reproach  from  the  press." 

When  General  Lafayette  visited  this  country  in  1824  public  mil- 
itary honors  were  paid  to  him  on  the  Lord's  day.  The  General 
Association  of  Massachusetts  at  its  next  session  passed  resolutions 
presenting  their  views  of  the  importance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath, 
their  painful  apprehensions  in  witnessing  the  growing  indifference 
to  the  sanctity  of  the  day,  and  especially  the  public  and  repeated 
violations  of  it  in  paying  honors  to  General  Lafayette. 

Organization. 

In  1828  a  "General  Union  for  the  Observance  of  the  Sabbath" 

I  was  organized  in    New  York  city.  Rev.  M.  Bruen,   secretary,  and 

!  Hon.   Arthur  Tappan,    treasurer.     This  Society  was  immediately 

recommended  by  the  various  religious  bodies  to  the  sympathy  of 

the  churches.     The   report   of   the  Postmaster-General,  in  1829,  in 

favor  of  Sunday  mails,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  aroused 

a  strong  feeling  of  indignation,  and  excited  the  churches   to  more 

earnest  measures  for  preserving  the  Sabbath  from  profanation. 

From  1830  to  1840  no  special  organized  efforts  were  put  forth  to 


476  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

promote  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  About  1840  the  radical 
abolitionists,  who  received  the  designation  of  "  Comeouters,"  began 
to  assail  the  churches,  the  Bible,  and  the  Sabbath  as  bulwarks  of 
slavery,  and  sought  their  overthrow.  They  held  several  anti- Sab- 
bath conventions,  in  which  the  most  violent  language  was  used  in 
denouncing  the  Lord's  day,  shocking  the  moral  sense  of  the  Chris- 
tian public.  But  these  things  had  an  influence  to  quicken  the  friends 
of  the  Sabbath  into  action.  During  the  year  1842  Rev/justin  Ed- 
wards, D.D.,  who  for  seven  years  had  acted  a  leading  part  in  con- 
ducting and  organizing  the  temperance  reformation,  and  had  just 
closed  a  six  years'  presidency  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
devoted  himself  especially  to  the  promotion  of  temperance,  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  proper  treatment  of  the  Bible. 

On  the  27th  of  June,  1842,  in  Andover,  Mass.,  Dr.  Edwards 
formed  a  Sabbath  association.  On  the  29th  he  was  at  VVestborough, 
Mass.,  attending  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  and 
procuring  the  passage  of  resolutions  on  temperance,  the  Sabbath, 
and  the  Bible.  On  the  31st  he  was  at  New  Haven,  raising  funds  for 
the  Sabbath  cause  ;  then  at  Saratoga  and  at  Mr.  Edward  C.  Dele- 
van's,  at  Ballston  ;  then  at  Utica,  then  at  Rochester,  holding  a  Sab- 
bath convention  ;  then  successively  at  Geneva,  Auburn,  Albany, 
Troy,  Boston,  and  other  parts  of  New  England,  conferring  with 
gentlemen  as  to  providing  funds,  and  otherwise  exerting  his  power- 
ful agency  for  the  cause  of  the  Sabbath,  to  which  he  devoted  seven 
years  of  his  public  life.*     On  the  4th  of  April,  1843, 

The  American  and  Foreign  Sabbath  Union 

was  formed  in  Boston,  Chief-Justice  Williams,  of  Connecticut,  pres- 
ident; Dr/justin  Edwards,  secretary.  A  year  after  Dr.  Edwards 
reported  tttat  he  had  visited  ten  States,  had  traveled  12,000  miles, 
had  held  five  general  Sabbath  conventions,  and  had  addressed 
twenty-five  different  ecclesiastical  bodies. 

On  the  27th  of  November,  1844,3  National  Sabbath  Convention 
was  held  in  Baltimore,  attended  by  upward  of  seventeen  hundred 
delegates  from  eleven  different  States,  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams 
presiding.  This  convention  adopted  with  great  unanimity" twenty 
resolutions  expressive  of  their  sense  of  the  sacredness,  the  divine 
authority,  the  obligations,  and  the  benefits  of  the  Sabbath,  and  also 
three   able    and    forcible   public   appeals  for  the   true   and   proper 


*  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.D.     By  Rev.  Wm.  A.  HaUock.     American  Tract  Society.     Pp. 
448-451. 


SABBATH  CONVENTIONS.  ^11 

observance  of  the  day — one  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  one 
to  all  Canal  Commissioners,  and  one  to  railroad  directors.  Within 
the  first  three  years  of  Dr.  Edwards's  labors  fifteen  general  Sabbath 
conventions  were  held,  of  which  seven  were  State  conventions,  each 
attended  by  from  one  hundred  to  five  hundred  delegates.  On  the 
adjournment  of  the  National  Convention,  at  Baltimore,  Dr.  Edwards 
entered  upon  one  of  those  extensive  and  laborious  tours  for  which 
he  had  become  noted  in  other  departments  of  reform,  and  by 
which  he  exerted   so  effective  an  influence. 

During  his  connection  with  this  Society  as  its  secretary.  Dr. 
Edwards  prepared  a  valuable  series  of  Permanent  Sabbath^  Docu- 
ments,  the  first  of  which  was  issued  in  1844,  exhibiting  "the  ends 
lor  which  the  Sabbath  was  appointed,"  "the  reasons  why  it  should 
be  kept,  the  benefits  of  observing  it,  and  the  evils  which,  by  laws 
that  no  one  can  annul  or  evade,  must  come  upon  those  who  profane 
it.  The  second  appeared  in  1845,  upo^i  "The  change  from  the 
seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the  week;"  the  third,  in  1847,  entitled, 
"The  Sabbath  a  family  institution;"  the  fourth,  in  1848,  showing 
"The  proper  mode  of  keeping  the  Sabbath."  The  fifth,  and  last, 
was  upon  "The  developments  of  Providence  in  regard  to  the  Sab- 
bath," and  was  published  the  following  year. 

In  1846  Dr.  Edwards  prepared  the  Sabbath  Manual,  which  was 
stereotyped  in  several  languages  and  very  widely  circulated  through 
the  country.  Mr.  Edward  C.  Delevan,  of  Albany,  had  one  hundred 
thousand  copies  printed  and  circulated  among  the  stockholders  and 
travelers  on  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  from  Albany  to  Buffalo, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  discontinuance  of  railroad  travel  on  the 
Sabbath.  The  American  Tract  Society  co-operated  in  this  work, 
circulating  the  Sabbath  Manual  in  English,  German,  Spanish,  and 
French,  to  the  surprising  number  of  one  million,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  copies.* 

Dr.  Edwards's  last  report  was  made  in  May,  1850.  in  which  he 
stated  that  he  had  traveled  more  than  forty-eight  thousand  miles 
through  twenty-five  of  the  United  States.  "About  forty  railroad 
companies,"  he  says.  "  stop  the  running  of  their  cars  on  the  Sab- 
bath on  about  four  thousand  miles  of  roads.  The  communities 
through  which  they  pass,  and  whose  right  to  the  stillness  and  quiet 
of  the  day  had  for  years  been  grossly  violated  by  the  screaming 
and  rumbling  of  cars  in  time  of  public  worship,  are  now  free  from 
the  nuisance,  and  are  permitted  to  enjoy  their  rights  and  privileges 
without  molestation." 

*  Life  0/  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  p.  496- 


478  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ORGANIC  CHANGES  IN  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES. 


SEVERAL  important  ecclesiastical  movements  occurred  during 
this  period.  The  schisms  occasioned  by  Arian  and  Socinian 
tendencies  will  be  sketched  in  the  next  chapter.  "Tlfose'wTirch  will 
be  here  noticed  were  caused  almost  entirely  by  differences  occasioned 
by  questions  of  policy  or  polity. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

experienced  the  greatest  number  of  these  schisms.  The  Reformed 
Methodist  Church  had  its  origin  in  Vermont,  in  1814,  under  the 
leadership  of  Rev.  Messrs.  Elijah  Bailey  and  Ezra  Amiden,  and 
grew  entirely  out  of  questions  of  polity — a  protest  against  Episco- 
pacy. Rev.  Pliny  Britt,  for  some  years  a  successful  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  New  England,  joined  the  movement, 
and,  after  spending  about  forty  years  in  that  body,  a  short  time 
before  his  death  returned  to  the  mother  Church.  This  denomina- 
tion has  never  numbered  more  than  five  thousand  members,  and 
has  existed  chiefly  in  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  northern  New  York 
and  Ohio. 

A  colored  secession  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
originating  near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  in  Philadelphia,  under 
the  leadership  of  Rev.  Richard  Allen,  became  more  fully  organized 
in  1 8 16,  and  took  the  name  oFTIie  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Mr.  Allen  was  elected  and  ordained  as  the  first  bishop, 
and  served  until  his  death  in  1831,  when  he  was  followed  in  the 
episcopal  office  by  Rev.  M.  Brown.  Since  i860  this  body  has  grown 
very  rapidly. 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  originated  in  the 
city  of  New  York  in  1820,  in  a  secession  from  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  in  1821  the  first  Annual  Conference,  consisting  of 
22  ministers,  was  held  in  New  York  city.  In  1836  Rev.  Christopher 
Rush   was  elected  Superintendent    for  four  years.      In    1847  two 


-  "^-METHODIST  CHURCHES.  479 

superintendents  were  elected.  This  church  also  has  grown  very 
rapidly  since  i860. 

The  Stilwellite  secession  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
occurred  in  New  York  city  in  1820,  but  never  became  a  large  body, 
and  long  since  disappeared.  Opposition  to  the  polity  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  was  the  basis  of  the  movement.  Its  few 
churches  existed  for  a  while  on  an  independent  plan  and  sub- 
sequently joined  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 

The  Methodist  Protestant  Church  was  formed  in  1830  by  a 
secession  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  agitation 
which  culminated  in  this  organization  was  continued  through  a  half 
dozen  previous  years.  The  objections  which  were  alleged  against 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  its  episcopal  form  of  govern- 
ment and  the  exclusion  of  the  laity  from  the  legislative  councils  of 
the  Church.  Efforts  were  made  to  secure  a  representation  in  the 
Conferences,  but  without  avail.  In  1824  a  meeting  of  the  reformers 
was  held  in  Baltimore,  at  which  a  "  Union  Society"  was  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  agitating  the  question  of  a  change  of  government. 
Similar  organizations  were  formed  elsewhere,  and  a  periodical  was 
established  called  the  Mutual  Rights.  In  the  spring  of  1826  the 
Baltimore  Union  Society  initiated  a  movement  for  a  general  con- 
vention to  consider  the  expediency  of  petitioning  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1828  for  lay  representation.  The  convention  was  held 
November,  1827,  and  the  petition  was  presented,  but  received 
an  unfavorable  answer.  The  reform  movement  was  opposed,  the 
"  Union  Societies "  were  condemned,  and,  in  some  places,  mem- 
bers were  expelled  who  belonged  to  them.  Thereupon  the 
"  Reformers  "  began  to  secede  in  considerable  numbers.  A  conven- 
tion met  in  Baltimore  November  12,  1828,  which  drew  up  provis- 
ional articles  of  association,  and  November  2,  1830,  another 
convention  assembled  in  the  same  place  and  adopted  a  constitution 
and  Book  of  Discipline  under  the  name  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church.  Rev.  Francis  Waters,  D.D.,  of  Baltimore,  was  president  of 
the  convention. 

The  Evangelical  Association,  sometimes  called  "  German  Meth- 
odists "  and  "  Albrights  " — noticed  in  the  preceding  period — was 
organized  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1800,  by  Rev.  Jacob  Albright,  orig- 
inally a  convert  to  Methodism.  Gradually  societies  multiplied  and 
conferences  were  formed,  and  in  18 16  a  General  Conference  was  held. 
Since  1843  ^  General  Conference  composed  of  delegates  elected  by 
the  Annual  Conferences  among  the  elders  has  held  quadrennial 
sessions. 


480  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  1829  four  Primitive  Methodist  preachers  came  from  England 
and  commenced  preaching  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  and 
some  other  places.  A  few  churches  were  organized,  but  they  did  not 
thrive,  and  the  ministers  soon  identified  themselves  with  other  de- 
nominations. In  1842  this  Church  began  to  assume  a  more  perma- 
nent form  in  the  West.  Several  local  preachers  and  laymen  came 
from  England  and  settled  at  Grant  Hill,  in  Illinois.  They  have 
since  increased  somewhat,  but  very  slowly,  numbering  at  the  present 
time  not  more  than  two  Conferences  and  about  5,000  members. 
J  The  ^'True  Wesleyati'  schism  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
I  was  occasioned  by  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  polity  of  the  Church 
I  and  the  treatment  of  the  slavery  question.  No  radical  differences, 
since  the  small  secession  of  Rev.  James  O'Kelley,  in  1793,  had 
ever  existed  in  this  denomination  in  regard  to  the  doctrines,  nor 
have  there  been  until  this  day,  except  in  a  few  individual  cases.  In 
respect  to  doctrines  Methodism  throughout  the  world  is  essentially 
a  unit.  But  dissatisfaction  arose  in  reference  to  the  episcopacy  and 
some  cognate  features  of  polity,  and  during  the  great  anti-slavery 
agitation  a  large  party  demanded  the  immediate  expulsion  of  all 
slave-holders  from  the  fellowship  of  the  Church.  These  questions 
were  pressed  very  hard.  The  epithets  "abolition"  and  "pro- 
slavery  "  were  freely  used.  The  Watchman,  published  at  New  York, 
under  the  editorship  of  Rev.  LeRoy^underland,  was  the  organ  of 
the  radical  party,  and  Revs.  Orange  Scott,  Jothan  Horton  and 
LeRoy  Sunderland  were  the  leaders  of  this  class  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  Revs.  John  Crocker,  Hiram  Mackee,  R. 
McCurdy  and  Dr.  Timberman,  in  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 
On  the  8th  of  November,  1842,  Revs.  Messrs.  Scott,  Horton  and 
Sunderland  withdrew  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  in 
the  same  month  the  first  number  of  the  True  Wesleyan,  a  paper  in  the 
interest  of  the  movement,  was  published  under  the  editorship  of  the 
two  former  gentlemen.  On  the  first  page  they  set  forth  the  reasons 
for  their  withdrawal;  namely,  that  "  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  not  only  a  slave-holding  but  a  slavery-defending  church,"  and  that 
her  "  government  contains  principles  which  are  subversive  of  the 
rights  both  of  ministers  and  laymen."  On  the  31st  of  May,  1843,  ^ 
convention  was  held  in  Utica,  New  York,  composed  of  parties  who 
had  been  connected  with  the  two  bcforementioned  Methodist  bodies, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  "  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  "  free 
from  episcopacy  and  slavery.  After  several  days  of  deliberation  a 
"  Form  of  Discipline  "  was  adopted,  and  six  Annual  Conferences  were 
organized,  chiefly  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States,  numbering 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH,   SOUTH.  481 

in  a  short  time  about  300  ministers  and  2o,(X)0  members.  They 
have  not  increased  since  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  their  exist- 
ence. 

But  the  largest  division  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
the  last  in  this  period,  was 

The  Southern  Methodist  Schism. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  common  with  other  churches, 
suffered  much  from  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question.  It  has 
been  noticed  that  in  the  first  conferences  where  slavery  existed,  in  the 
Northern  as  well  as  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  the  subject  was 
introduced  into  the  legislative  body  of  the  Church  and  every-where 
freely  discussed.  Resolutions  were  passed  disapproving  of  the  traf- 
fic in  slaves,  and  requiring  that  members  of  the  Church  should  eman- 
cipate them  wherever  it  was  allowed  by  the  States.  During  the 
prolonged  agitation  of  the  subject  the  laity  were  allowed  to  hold 
slaves  but  the  ministry  were  prohibited,  except  when  held  for  pur- 
poses of  humanity. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1840  it  was  declared  by  formal 
resolution  that,  "under  the  provisional  exception  to  the  general  rule 
of  the  Church  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  mere  ownership  of  slave 
property  in  States  or  Territories  where  the  laws  do  not  admit  of 
emancipation  and  permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom  con- 
stitutes no  legal  barrier  to  the  election  or  ordination  of  ministers  to 
the  various  grades  of  office  known  in  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church."  *  This  resolution,  however,  it  was  claimed, 
was  never  intended  to  justify  any  minister  in  voluntarily  acquiring 
slave  property,  nor  to  overrule  what  had  always  been  the  uniform 
policy  of  the  Church  ;  namely,  the  entire  exemption  of  the  episco- 
pacy from  all  complicity  with  slavery  in  any  form.  The  bishops 
were  general  superintendents,  traveling  through  the  whole  Church, 
and,  if  slave-holders,  they  would  be  unacceptable  in  the  Northern 
Conferences.  Hence  the  resolution  expressly  stipulated  that  its 
conditions  came  under  "  the  provisional  exception  to  the  general 
rule  of  the  Church." 

In  January,  1844,  Bishop  Andrew  m.arried  a  widow  who  owned 
slaves  bequeathed  by  a  former  husband.  He  made  no  efforts  to 
free  them,  but  rather  took  steps  to  have  their  freedom  placed 
entirely  beyond  his  power,  f  In  process  of  time  the  fact  became 
generally  known   and  excited  various  comments.     It  was  evident 

♦  History  of  the  Great  Secession.     By  Rev.  C.  ElUot,  D.D.     P.  228.  Mbid.    P.  295. 

31 


482  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

that  his  action  could  not  be  overlooked.  The  General  Conference 
assembled  in  May  of  that  year  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was  a 
large  body  and  its  session  was  one  of  great  interest.  After  a  long 
debate  over  Bishop  Andrew's  case,  and  a  variety  of  propositions,  it 
was  finally  voted  that  he  be  required  to  desist  from  the  exercise  of 
the  functions  of  his  episcopal  office. 

Immediately  after  this  action  the  representatives  of  thirteen 
Annual  Conferences,  embraced  in  the  slave-holding  States,  presented 
a  declaration  which  set  forth  their  solemn  conviction  that  a  contin- 
uance of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Conference  over  the  Annual 
Conferences  thus  represented  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Methodist  ministry  in  the  slave-holding  States.  This 
declaration  was  accompanied  with  a  formal  protest  against  the  action 
of  the  majority  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew,  and  led  to  the 
adoption  of  a  plan  of  separation  by  the  General  Conference.  The 
Church  in  the  South  and  South-west,  in  primary  assemblies  and  in 
Quarterly  and  Annual  Conferences,  sustained  the  declaration  of  the 
delegates,  and  measures  were  immediately  adopted  for  the  assem- 
bling of  a  convention  in  May,  1845,  at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  By 
its  action  the  connection  of  the  Southern  Conferences  with  the 
General  Conference  was  dissolved,  and  a  separate  ecclesiastical  body 
was  created  under  the  name  of  the  "  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South."  The  following  year  the  first  General  Conference  of  the 
Southern  Methodist  Church  was  held  at  Petersburfj,  Virginia. 

At  the  time  when  this  division  took  place  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  was  in  the  full  tide  of  prosperity,  having  had  an 
increase  during  the  four  previous  years  of  869  traveling  preachers, 
1,748  local  preachers,  and  375,911  members.  In  1844  the  whole 
Church  numbered  33  Annual  Conferences,  4,282  traveling  preachers, 
8,087  local  preachers,  and  1,171,356  members. 

The  relative  strength  of  these  bodies  after  the  separation  in  1846 
was — 

M.F..  Church.    M.  E.  Church,  South. 

Traveling  Preachers 3,280  i  .384 

Local 2,550 

Members 649.344  462,428 

These  two  bodies  have  remained  separate  and  distinct  until  this 
day. 

Baptist  Churches. 

In  1818  a  denomination  of  Baptists  who  sacredly  observe  the 
seventh  day  of  the  week  as  Sabbath  rejected  the  name  Sabbata- 
rians, by  which  they  had  heretofore  been  known,  and  adopted  the 


BAPTIST  SEPARATIONS,  483 

term  Seventh-Day  Baptists.  A  General  Conference  was  organized 
early  in  this  century,  which  held  its  meetings  at  first  annually,  and 
since  1846  triennially.  About  this  time  they  divided  themselves 
into  five  associations:  Eastern,  Western,  Central,  Virginia  and 
Ohio.  A  foreign  missionary  society  was  formed  in  1842.  They 
have  also  a  tract  and  publishing  society.  They  have  maintained 
strong  action  against  slavery  and  the  liquor  traffic. 

In  1827  the  Free-Will  Baptists  organized  a  General  Conference, 
which  at  first  met  annually,  then  biennially,  and  later  triennially, 
composed  of  delegates  appointed  by  the  yearly  meetings.  In  the 
midst  of  the  great  antislavery  agitation,  just  prior  to  1840,  a  body 
of  about  4,000  members,  largely  slave-holders,  withdrew,  but  in 
1841  the  Free-Communion  Baptists  (Separates)  united  with  them. 
About  12,000  Baptists  in  Kentucky,  of  the  Free-Will  persuasion, 
who  made  overtures  of  union  with  the  Free-Will  Baptists,  were  not 
received,  on  account  of  slavery. 

The  Separates'^  or  Free-Communion  Baptists  originated  under 
the  preaching  of  Whitefield,  in  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut. 
Starting  under  the  name  "Separates,"  they  gradually  became  Bap- 
tists, with  open  communion.  In  1785  they  organized  the  Groton 
Union  Conference,  which  in  1820  embraced  25  churches.  A  General 
Conference  was  formed  in  1835,  but  in  1841  the  whole  body  united 
with  the  Free-Will  Baptists. 

In  1822  a  small  denomination  calling  themselves  General  Baptists 
was  formed  in  the  West,  principally  in  the  States  of  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Missouri  and  Kentucky. 

In  the  first  half  of  this  century,  a  class  of  Baptists  opposed  to  the 
formation  of  missionary  societies,  Sunday-schools,  and  similar  insti- 
tutions, which  they  regarded  as  flood-gates  for  letting  in  "  contriv- 
ances which  seem  to  make  the  salvation  of  men  depend  on  human 
effort,"  withdrew  from  the  Regular  Baptists  and  assumed  the  name 
of  Old  Baptists.  They  have  been  more  generally  called  Anti-Effort, 
or  A nti- Mission  Baptists.  In  1844  they  were  reported  as  numbering 
61,000,  and  in  1854,  66,500.     They  have,  however,  since  declined. 

In  18 1 7  the  Regular  Baptist  denomination  organized  a  triennial 
Convention,  but  it  was  subsequently  discontinued. 

The  great  division  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1844  was 
immediately  followed  by  a  similar  separation  in  the  Baptist  denom- 
ination. The  slavery  question  was  the  exciting  cause— more 
decided  anti-slavery  sentiments   in   the  North   and   an   increasing 


»  See  Encyclopedia  Metropolitan.     Article,  Baptists.     Also  Belcher's  Religious  Denomina- 
tions. 


484  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tendency  to  pro-slavery  views  in  the  South.  These  differences 
every  year  became  more  radical,  leading  to  bitter  discussions  in 
the  national  conventions,  conferences,  etc.,  of  the  churches,  and  a 
constant  agitation  during  the  intervals  of  their  sessions.  Tiie 
bonds  of  union  gradually  weakened  until  1845,  when  a  rupture 
occurred,  since  which  time  there  have  been  two  general  con- 
ventions of  the  Baptists  in  the  United  States,  divided  by  the 
lines  of  the  slave-holding  territory.  These  bodies  have  remained 
separate  until  this  day. 

"The  Church  of  God." 

"T/ie  Church  of  God,"  or  Winebrennerians  was  organized  out  of  a 
schism  which  took  place  in  the  German  Reformed  Church.  In  the 
year  1820  Rev.  John  Winebrenner  settled  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  as  a 
minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  and  took  charge  of  four 
congregations,  one  in  the  town  and  three  in  the  country.  Soon 
after  his  settlement  in  this  charge  it  pleased  the  Head  of  the  Church 
to  commence  a  work  of  grace,  both  in  the  town  and  in  the  country. 
But  as  revivals  of  religion  were  new  and  almost  unheard-of  things 
in  those  days,  among  the  German  people  of  that  region  this  work 
excited  great  wrath  and  opposition.  This  condition  of  things  con- 
tinued about  five  years,  resulting  in  a  separation  from  the  German 
Reformed  Church. 

About  1825  more  extensive  and  powerful  revivals  of  religion 
commenced  in  various  other  towns  and  neighborhoods,  Shiremans- 
town,  Lisbon,  Mechanicsburg,  Churchtown,  Middletown,  Millers- 
town,  Lebanon,  Lancaster,  Marietta,  etc.  In  these  revivals  large 
numbers  professed  conversion.  These  conversions  led  to  the  organ- 
ization of  churches.  In  the  course  of  this  work  Mr.  Winebrenner 
says  that  his  views  materially  changed  in  regard  to  the  nature  and 
organization  of  churches,  in  favor  of  what  he  termed  "  a  more  apos- 
tolic plan  as  taught  in  the  New  Testament."  which  led  him  to 
establish  "  spiritual,  free  and  independent  churches,  consisting  of 
believers  or  Christians  only,  without  any  human  name  or  creed  or 
ordinances  or  laws,"  etc.     Mr.  Rupp  says  : 

From  among  the  young  converts  in  these  newly-planted  churches  it  pleased 
God  to  raise  up  several  able  men,  to  take  upon  them  the  solemn  and  responsible 
office  of  the  Gospel  ministry.  These  ministering:  brethren,  with  a  few  other  great 
and  good  men  with  similar  views  and  kindred  spirits,  labored  and  co-operated  with 
each  other  for  a  few  years  promiscuously,  or  without  any  system  of  co-operation  ; 
but  finally  they  agreed  to  hold  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  a  regular 
system  of  co-operation.     Accordingly  they  met  together  for  this  purpose,  pursuant 


THE  CAMPBELL! TES.  483 

to  public  notice,  in  the  Union  Bethel,  at  Harrisburg.  in  the  month  of  October, 
1830,  and  organized  by  appointing  John  Winebrenner,  of  Harrisburg,  speaker,  and 
John  Elliott,  of  Lancaster,  clerk,* 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  "  Church  of  God."  Thirteen 
years  after,  they  numbered  83  ministers,  125  churches,  260  preach- 
ing-places and  about  10,000  church  members. 

Campbellites  or  Disciples. 

Another  schism  in  this  period  was  organized  under  the  name  of 
Campbellites  or  Disciples.  This  denomination  had  its  origin  under 
the  leadership  of  Rev.  Thomas  Campbell,  long  a  minister  of  the 
"  secession "  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  north  of 
Ireland.  At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  Mr.  Campbell 
and  his  family  emigrated  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Washington 
County,  Pa.  Having  conceived  a  strong  aversion  to  ecclesiastical 
creeds  and  discipline,  he  drew  up  and  published  a  "declaration  and 
address,"  setting  forth  these  views,  and  inviting  all  who  sympathized 
with  his  sentiments  to  form  a  union  upon  that  basis.  A  consider- 
able number  of  individuals  responded  to  this  appeal,  and  a  congre- 
gation was  immediately  organized  upon  Brush  Run,  in  Washington 
County,  on  the  7th  of  September,  1810,  where  a  house  of  worship 
was  erected  and  ministerial  duties  were  jointly  performed  by  Mr. 
Campbell  and  his  son  Alexander, 

Some  form  was  at  first  observed  in  the  reception  of  members  to 
their  communion,  all  being  required  to  give  proof  that  they  under- 
stood the  nature  of  the  relation  assumed  and  the  scriptural  ground 
of  salvation.  Much  devotion  and  harmony  were  manifested  by  this 
infant  church  for  a  number  of  months.  They  were  poor,  and  for 
some  time  their  church  edifice  remained  unfinished.  They  visited 
each  other,  prayed  together,  and  searched  the  Scriptures,  striving 
to  keep  down  all  old  prejudices  and  party  feelings.  In  a  short  time 
the  questions  of  baptism,  the  mode  of  administering  it,  and  its 
proper  subjects,  came  up  for  consideration,  and  Mr.  Campbell  and 
his  parish,  after  extended  investigations,  adopted  views  contrary  to 
those  which  they  had  before  entertained.  Mr.  Campbell  soon  went 
forth,  and  became  extensively  known  as  a  champion  of  immersion 
and  an  uncompromising  opponent  of  infant  baptism.  In  June, 
1820,  he  held  a  public  debate  with  Mr.  J.  Walker,  at  Mount  Pleas- 
ant, Ohio,  upon  the  question  of  Christian  baptism.     The  publication 

*  Nistory  of  the  Religious   Denominations  in  the    United  States.      By  I.    Daniel  Rupp. 
Philadelphia.     1844.     P.  i74. 


486  CHRISTIANirY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  the  substance  of  the  debate  brought  Mr.  Campbell  into  full  notice 
before  the  public.  A  second  debate  was  held  in  1823,  in  Kentucky, 
with  Rev.  M.  McCalla,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  autumn 
of  1823  the  little  church  of  Brush  Run  became  connected  with  the 
Redstone  Baptist  Association,  carefully  and  expressly  stipulating  at 
the  time,  in  writing,  that  "  no  terms  of  union  or  communion  other 
than  the  Holy  Scriptures  should  be  required."  Their  admission  to 
the  Association  under  these  conditions  soon  excited  considerable 
inquiry,  and  in  process  of  time  some  feeling  was  engendered.  This 
was  greatly  inflamed  after  Mr.  Campbell's  public  debates,  to 
which  reference  has  just  been  made,  in  which  he  gave  free  utterance 
to  principles  which  were  regarded  as  very  radical  and  disorganizing. 
Considerable  discussion  arose,  accompanied  with  animosity  toward 
the  church  at  Brush  Run,  which  led  to  the  dismissal  of  about  thirty 
of  its  members,  including  Mr.  Alexander  Campbell,  to  Wellsburg, 
Va.,  where  they  were  constituted  a  new  church  and  were  admitted 
into  the  Mahoning  Association  of  Ohio.  The  views  of  Mr.  Camp- 
bell were  freely  discussed  in  various  meetings  of  preachers  and 
laymen,  and  at  length  the  whole  Association  adopted  them.  In 
the  year  1828  it  rejected  all  human  formularies  of  religion  and 
relinquished  all  claim  to  jurisdiction  over  its  churches,  and  resolved 
itself  into  simply  an  annual  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  receiving 
reports  of  the  progress  of  the  churches,  for  worship  and  mutual 
co-operation. 

The  schism  thus  produced  soon  extended  to  Kentucky,  eastern 
Virginia,  and  to  all  those  associations  and  churches  into  which  the 
views  of  Mr.  Campbell  had  been  introduced  by  his  writings  and 
debates,  the  Baptists  in  all  cases  separating  from  their  communion 
all  who  favored  the  sentiments  of  the  Disciples.  Being  thus  cut  off 
from  all  connection  with  the  Baptists  they  formed  themselves  into 
distinct  churches,  independent  of  each  other's  control,  but  holding 
the  same  sentiments,  having  the  same  fellowship,  and  continuing  to 
carry  out  the  principles  originally  professed.  The  persecution 
experienced  from  the  Baptists  contributed  to  their  growth,  and  a 
considerable  number  of  members  and  also  of  the  clergy  of  that  body 
came  over  to  the  ranks  of  the  Disciples.  It  is  claimed  by  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Campbell  that  his  debate  in  Cincinnati,  in  1829,  with 
Mr.  Robert  Owen  exerted  a  great  influence  upon  many  infidels, 
and  that  a  considerable  number  of  this  class  were  brought  over  to 
Christianity  and  united  with  this  denomination. 

The  True  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  a  small  secession  from  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church,  was  formed  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  1822. 


FRESBYTERIAN  SECESSIONS.  487 

Presbyterian  Churches. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  body  was  organized  in  Tennessee 
in  1810.  It  was  a  split  from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  principally 
because  of  a  refusal  to  set  aside  the  rule  of  that  denomination 
which  required  a  classical  education  as  a  qualification  for  license  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  It  was  at  a  period  of  considerable  religious 
excitement,  when  the  labors  of  clergymen  were  in  great  demand. 
They  also  dissented  in  several  respects  from  the  Confession  of  Faith 
of  the  General  Assembly,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  doctrines  of 
reprobation,  partial  atonement,  etc.  At  first  there  were  but  nine 
preachers  in  the  denomination,  only  four  of  whom  had  been  ordained. 
In  1830  they  had  spread  into  other  States  and  had  a  synod  and 
several  presbyteries,  and  a  college  had  been  founded  at  Princeton, 
Kentucky. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod  in  the  year  1800  enacted  that 
no  slave-holder  should  be  retained  in  its  communion.  In  1809  it 
organized  itself  into  "  The  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  in  America,''  with  three  constituting  presbyteries.  After  the 
war  of  18 12  the  relations  of  the  Church  to  the  national  government 
were  much  discussed,  and  radical  ground  was  taken,  resulting  in  a 
rending  of  the  Church  in  1833,  and  the  formation  of  an  independent 
synod. 

The  seceding  minority  in  the  case  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
paragraph  took  the  name,  "■'The  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian Church^'  adhering  to  the  distinctive  principles  of  the 
Covenanters. 

Old  School  and  New  School  schism  took  place  immediately  after 
a  season  of  very  great  prosperity.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1829 
there  were  in  connection  with  the  Assembly  19  synods,  98  presby- 
teries, 1,491  ministers,  2,158  churches,  with  a  membership  of 
^73»329-  In  1831  the  additions  to  the  churches  on  examination 
were  15,357;  in  1832,  34,160:  in  1833,  23,546;  in  1834,  20,296, 
amounting  in  four  years  to  a  little  more  than  93,000.  It  was  in 
the  midst  of  this  remarkable  and  unprecedented  advance  of  the 
Church,  both  in  numbers  and  in  enterprise,  that  signs  of  approaching 
danger  manifested  themselves. 

The  causes  of  the  unhappy  division  were  numerous,  many  of  them 
of  long  standing  and  gradual  in  their  operation.  The  whole  subject 
was  ably  sketched  by  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D.,  in  his  Religion  in 
\A  merica :  * 


*  Harper  &  Brothers.     1856.     Pp.  243,  243. 


488  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Since  the  year  1800  there  had  been  going  on  a  constant  and  very  great  emi- 
gration from  the  New  England  States  to  the  central  and  western  parts  of  New 
York  and  to  the  North-western  States  of  the  Union.  These  emigrants  had  in 
general  been  accustomed  to  the  Congregational  form  of  Church  government  preva- 
lent in  New  England.  As  they  met,  however,  in  their  new  locations  with  many 
Presbyterians,  and  as  their  ministers  generally  preferred  the  Presbyterian  form  of 
government,  they  united  with  them  in  the  formation  of  churches  and  ecclesiastical 
judicatories.  In  1801  the  General  Assembly  and  the  General  Association  of  Con- 
necticut* agreed  upon  what  was  called  "The  Plan_ofJJjaipn  between  Presbyterians 
and  Congregationalists  in  the  new  settlements."  Under  this  plan,  which  purports 
to  be  a  temporary  expedient,  a  great  number  of  churches  and  presbyteries  and 
even  several  synods  were  formed,  composed  partly  of  Presbyterians  and  partly  of 
Congregationalists.  Though  this  plan  seems  to  have  operated  beneficially  for  a 
number  of  years,  yet  as  it  was  extended  far  beyond  its  original  intention,  giving 
Congregationalists,  who  had  never  adopted  the  standards  of  doctrine  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  who  were  avowedly  opposed  to  its  form  of  government,  as 
much  influence  and  authority  in  the  government  of  the  Church  as  an  equal  number 
of  Presbyterians,  it  naturally  gave  rise  to  dissatisfaction  as  soon  as  the  facts  of  the 
case  came  to  be  generally  known,  and  as  soon  as  questions  of  discipline  and  policy 
arose,  in  the  decision  of  which  the  influence  of  these  Congregationalists  was  sensi- 
bly felt. 

In  addition  to  this  source  of  uneasiness  was  that  which  arose  out  of  diversity  of 
opinions  on  points  of  doctrine.  Certain  peculiarities  of  doctrine  had  liecome  preva- 
lent among  the  Calvinists  of  New  England,  which  naturally  spread  into  those  por- 
tions of  the  Presbyterian  Church  settled  by  New  England  men.  These  peculiarities 
were  not  regarded  on  either  side  as  sufficient  to  justify  any  interruption  of  ministe- 
rial communion  or  to  call  for  tlie  exercise  of  discipline,  but  they  were  sufficient  to 
give  rise  to  the  formation  of  two  parties,  which  received  the  appellations  of  Old  and 
New  Schools.  Within  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years,  however,  opinions  had  been 
advanced  by  some  of  the  New  England  clergy  which  all  the  Old  School  and  a  large 
portion  of  the  New  School  party  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  considered  as  involving 
a  virtual  denial  of  the  doctrines  of  original  sin,  election,  and  efficacious  grace,  and 
which  were  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  ministerial  standing  in  the  body.  Several 
attempts  were  made  to  subject  the  Presbyterian  advocates  of  these  opinions  to 
ecclesiastical  discipline.  These  attempts  failed  partly  on  account  of  deficiency  of 
proof,  partly  from  irregularity  in  the  mode  of  proceeding,  and  other  causes. 

To  the.se  sources  of  uneasiness  was  added  the  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the 
best  mode  of  conducting  certain  benevolent  operations.  The  Old  School,  as  a 
party,  were  in  favor  of  the  Church,  in  her  ecclesiastical  capacity,  by  means  of 
boards  of  her  appointment  and  under  her  own  control,  conducting  the  work  of 
domestic  and  foreign  missions  and  the  education  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
The  other  party  had  generally  preferred  yoluntary^  societies,  disconnected  with 
church  courts,  and  embracing  different  religious  denominations,  for  these  pur- 
'poses.  It  might  seem  at  first  view  that  this  was  a  subject  on  which  the  members 
of  the  Church  might  differ  without  inconvenience  or  collision.  But  it  was  soon 
found  that  these  societies  or  boards  must  indirectly  exert  a  great,  if  not  a  controlling 
influence  on  the  Church.  The  men  who  could  direct  the  education  of  candidates 
Tor  the  sacred  office  and  the  locations  of  the  hundreds  of  domestic  missionaries 


*  At  that  time  the  only  Association  of  Congregationalists. 


OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  SCHISM.  489 

/must  sooner  or  later  give  character  to  the  Church.  On  this  account  this  question 
I  was  regarded  as  one  of  great  practical  importance. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  differences  and  alienations  arising  from  these  various 
sources  tliat  the  General  Assembly  met  in  1837.  Both  parties  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  a  separation  was  desirable  ;  but  though  they  agreed  as  to  the 
terms  of  separation  they  could  not  agree  as  to  the  mode  in  which  it  should  be 
effected.  Tl*e  General  Assembly,  therefore,  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the  existing 
difficulties  in  another  way.  It  first  abolished  the  plan  of  union  formed  in  1801,  and 
then  passed  several  acts  the  purport  and  effect  of  which  were  that  no  Congrega- 
tional Church  should  hereafter  be  represented  in  any  Presbyterian  judicatory,  and 
that  no  presbytery  or  synod,  composed  partly  of  Presbyterians  and  partly  of  Con- 
gregationalists,  should  hereafter  be  considered  as  a  constituent  portion  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  These  acts  were  defended  on  the  ground  that  they  were  nothing 
more  than  the  legitimate  exercise  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, requiring  that  the  constitution  of  the  Church  should  be  conformed  to  by  all  its 
constituent  parts. 

Had  the  synods  and  other  judicatories  affected  by  these  acts  seen  fit  to  separate 
from  the  Congregationalists  with  whom  they  had  been  united,  and  to  organize  as 
purely  Presbyterian  bodies,  the  General  Assembly  would  have  been  bound  by  its 
own  acts  to  recognize  them  as  constituent  parts  of  the  Church.  But  those  brethren 
having  assembled  in  convention  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  unanimously  resolved  that  they 
would  consider  the  plan  of  union  as  still  in  force,  its  abrogation  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  and  that  they  would  not  separate  from 
their  Congregational  brethren.  Accordingly,  in  1838,  the  delegates  from  the  pres- 
byteries contained  in  these  synods  attended  the  General  Assembly  and  claimed 
their  seats  as  members.  As  this  was  not  immediately  granted  (though  it  was  not 
refused),  tiiey  rose,  nominated  a  moderator  and  clerk,  and,  being  joined  by  those 
members  who  sympathized  with  them,  they  declared  themselves  the  true  General 
Assembly  and  withdrew  from  the  house. 

A  suit  was  immediately  brought  by  them  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Penn- 
sylvania to  decide  which  Assembly  was  to  be  regarded  as  the  true  one,  or  which 
had  the  right  to  appoint  the  professors  and  administer  the  funds  belonging  to  the 
theological  seminaries  under  the  care  of  the  "  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America."  The  decision  of  the  judge  and 
jury  was  in  their  favor,  but  when  the  case  was  taken  before  the  court  in  bank — that 
is,  before  the  court  with  all  the  judges  present — that  decision  was  reversed,  and 
the  way  left  open  for  the  New  School  Assembly  to  renew  the  suit  if  they  should 
think  proper.  There  the  matter  rested,  leaving  what  is  called  the  Old  School 
Assembly  in  possession  of  the  succession  and  in  the  management  of  the  seminaries. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  this  decision  has  given  to  that  Assembly  very  little  more 
than  what  vvas  admitted  to  be  their  due  by  the  opposite  party— that  is,  in  the  terms 
of  separation  agreed  upon  by  the  two  parties  in  1837,  but  which  were  not  acted 
upon,  it  was  admitted  that  the  seminaries  and  funds,  having  in  fact  been  founded  and 
chiefly  sustained  by  them,  should  be  under  the  control  of  the  Old  School  body  ;  and 
these  funds  constitute  almost  the  whole  sum  held  in  trust  by  the  General  Assembly. 

During  the  controversies  and  agitations  which  prevailed  in  the  .^ 
Church  previous  to  the  separation,  the  spirit  of  religion  declined,  and  \ 
the  revivals,  which  had  been  before  quite  numerous,  almost  entirely 


490  CHRISTIAiVlTY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ceased.  The  membership  decreased,  numbering  thirteen  thousand 
less  in  1837  than  in  1833.  In  1837  there  were  135  Presbyteries, 
2,140  ministers,  280  licentiates,  244  candidates,  2,865  churches, 
220,557  communicants.  Raised  for  missions,  $163,563  21;  edu- 
cation, $90,83388;  theological  seminaries,  $20,431  14;  commis- 
sioners, $6,137  85;  contingent  fund,  $1,023  41. 

In  the  course  of  the  two  following  years  the  separation  became 
I  complete,  and  the  two  bodies  were  known  as  the  Old  School  and 
'  the  New  School  Presbyterian  churches.  The  following  table  will 
\  show  the  relative  strength  of  these  two  bodies  after  the  division,  in 

!  1839: 

*  Old  School.  New  School. 

Presbyteries 0  83 

I           Ministers 1,243  I.181 

I           Licentiates 192  105 

'           Candidates I75  43 

i          Churches 1.823  1.286 

?           Communicants 128,043  100,805 

t          Raised  for  Domestic  Missions $33.989  45  $45,68600 

!                 "       "    Foreign         "         5I.307  3°                 

\                "       "    Education   27,41695  12,71800 

I                •*       "    Theological  Seminaries .' 9,663  63  642  00 

"       "    Tracts,  etc 5,11498                 

"       "    Commissioners 5.791  63  1,231  00 

"       •*    Contingent '. 1,15304  1,05200 

These  bodies  remained  separate  until  1869,  when  they  were 
lappily  reunited. 

In  1822,  the  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  having  been 
brought,  under  the  leadership  of  Re\(Qohn  M.  Mason,  D.D.,  to  favor 
union  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  that  union  took  place  ;  but  a 
very  considerable  minority  refused  to  acquiesce  in  the  measure,  and 
retained  a  separate  existence.  In  1831  the  Western  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  was  organized  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg;  but  the 
General  Assembly  of  1837  accepted  the  overtures  of  the  Pittsburg 
Synod  and  established  the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  New  York 
city.  The  Assembly  of  1838  appointed  a  Board  of  Publication,  to 
which  were  transferred  the  property  and  business  of  the  Presbyterian 
Tract  and  Sabbath  School  Book  Society,  organized  a  few  years 
before  by  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia.  In  1839  the  fiftieth  year  of 
the  organization  of  the  General  Assembly  was  celebrated.  In  18 16 
the  Board  of  Missions,  later  called  Domestic  Missions,  was  organized, 
and  in  1819  a  Board  of  Education  to  assist  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try. The  New  School  Presbyterians  preferred  to  aid  the  American 
Home  Missionary  and  the  American  Education  Societies.     In    1844 


LUTHERAN  GENERAL   SYNOD.  49  i 

the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  added  to  its  duties  the  work  of 
church  erection,  though  carried  on  by  a  special  committee. 

Important  Movements  Among  the  Lutherans. 

The  Lutheran  Church  felt  the  influence  of  German  Rationalism 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the  present  cent- 
ury, and  alarming  symptoms  of  spiritual  decay  followed.  After  the 
opening  of  the  century,  however,  the  Church,  under  the  influence  of 
the  new  tides  of  spiritual  life  which  were  coming  in,  revived  from  a 
state  of  lamentable  indifference  and  inactivity  to  a  condition  of  new 
zeal  and  devotion.  This  led  to  the  formation  of  the  General  Synod 
in  1820,  from  which  date  a  new  era  in  the  history  and  the  operations 
of  this  Church  may  be  traced.  Hitherto  the  separate  synods  had  no 
organic  connection,  and  there  was  but  little  moral  union,  for  there 
was  no  mutual  co-operation  in  building  up  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 
At  this  time  the  Church  had  no  college,  no  theological  seminary,  no 
home  or  foreign  missionary  society,  no  education,  church  extension, 
or  publication  boards — no  general  agency  of  any  kind.  The  General 
Synod  became  a  bond  of  union — a  central  power  which  has  proved 
efficient  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  Church.  At  this  time 
(1820)  there  were  5  synods,  170  ministers,  and  35,000  communicants, 
of  whom  135  ministers  and  33,000  communicants  were  represented 
in  the  union. 


492  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER   VI 


DIVERGENT    CURRENTS. 


Sec.  I.  Unitarianism. 
*'  2.  Universalism. 
"      3.  The  Christians. 


Sec.  4.  The  Progressive  Friends. 
"      5.  The  New  Jeru.salera  Church. 
•'     6.  Millerism. 


Section  1.— Unitarianism. 

WHEN  this  century  opened  the  leaven  of  Arian  and  Socinian 
sentiments  traced  in  previous  periods  was  effecLively  working 
in  old  churches  in  New  England.  No  open  movement  had  taken  place, 
but  it  could  not  be  long  delayed.  The  "orthodox  party"  seemed 
unaware  of  the  extent  of  the  defection,  though  there  were  manifest 
diversities  of  belief  —  two  parties  —  and  the  terms  "evangelical," 
"liberal,"  "Calvinist,"  "Arminian,"  and  "Pelagian"  were  freely 
used.  The  name  Unitarian,  then  comparatively  unknown  in  Amer- 
ica, when  first  used  was  felt  to  be  a  term  of  reproach.  Channing 
especially  disliked  it,  but  it  was  gradually  forced  upon  them  and  at 
last  reluctantly  accepted. 

The  earlier  fathers  of  this  party  had  passed  away — Dr.  Mayhew, 
in  1766;  Drs.  Gray  and  Chauncy,  in  1787,  and  Drs.  John  Clarke  and 
Jeremy  Belknap,  in  1798. 

Others  remained,  in  advanced  years: 

Rev.  Daniel  Shute,  D.D.,  of  Hingham,  Mass.,  1746-1802. 
Rev.  Gad  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  of  Pembroke,  Mass..  1748-1803. 
Rev.  Simeon  Howard,  D.D.,  of  Boston.  Mass..  1762-1804. 
Rev.  Samuel  West,  D.D.,  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  1761-1807. 
Rev.  William  Symmes,  D.D..  of  North  Andover,  Mass..  1751-1807. 
Rev.  Samuel  West,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  1761-1808. 
Rev.  David  Barnes,  D.D.,  of  Scituate,  Mass.,  1753-1811. 
Rev.  Henry  Cummings.  D.D.,  of  BIHerica,  Mass.,  1761-1823. 
Rev.  John  Lathrop,  D.D.,  of  Boston.  Mass.,  1765-1816. 

A  large  and  able  body  of  this  class  of  ministers  were  in  full  vigor : 

Rev.  Thomas  Barnard,  D  D.,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  1773-1814. 
Rev.  John  Eliot,  D.D.,  ot  Boston,  Mass.,  1776-1813. 


■■■—■  THE  CLASSICAL  ERA.  493 

Rev.  Zedekiah  Sanger,  D.D.,  of  South  Bridgewater,  Mass..  1776-1820. 

Rev.  Ezra  Ripley,  D.D.,  of  Concord,  Mass.,  1778-1841. 

Rev.  John  Prince,  LL.D.,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  1779-1830. 

Rev.  Joseph  Motley,  of  Lynnfield,  Mass.,  1779-1821. 

Rev.  Aaron  Bancroft,  D.D.,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  1779-1839. 

Rev.  Thomas  Thatcher,  of  Dedham,  Mass.,  1780-181 2. 

Rev.  John  Reed,  D.U,.  of  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  1780-1831. 

Rev.  Charles  Stearns,  D.D.,  of  Lincoln,  Mass.,  1781-1826. 

Rev.  William  Bentley,  D.U.,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  1782-1819. 

Rev.  Eliphalet  Porter,  D.D.,  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  1782-1823. 

Rev.  James  Freeman,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  1 782-1 835. 

Rev.  Samuel  Kendall,  D.D.,  of  Weston,  Mass.,  1783-1814. 

Rev.  Bezaleel  Howard,  D.D.,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  1 783-1 837. 

Rev.  Noah  Worcester,  D.D.,  of  Thornton,  N.  H.,  1786-1837. 

Rev.  Henry  Ware,  D.D.,  of  Hingham,  Mass.,  1787-1845. 

To  the  above  may  be  added  the  following  younger  nninisters: 
Revs.  John  Allen,  D.D..  T.  M.  Harris,  D.D.,  Peter  Eaton,  D.D., 
David  C.  Saunders,  D.D.,  William  Emerson,  Nathaniel  Thayer, 
D.D.,  William  Weli.s,  D.D.,  J.  T.  Kirkland,  D.D,  LL.D.,  Abiel 
Abbot,  D.D.,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Abiel  Abbot,  D.D.,  of  Cov- 
entry, Conn. 

Immediately  after  the  century  began  new  names  were  enrolled 
in  these  ranks,  some  of  whom  became  very  conspicuous: 

Rev.  Joseph  Tuckerman,  D.D.,  in  1801. 
Rev.  Joseph  Stephens  Buckminster,  in  1805. 
Rev.  William  Ellery  Channing,  D.D.,  in  1802. 
Rev.  James  Flint,  D.D.,  in  1806. 
Rev.  Nathan  Parker,  D.D.,  in  1807. 
Rev.  Andrews  Norton,  in  1809. 
Rev.  Francis  Parkman,  D.D..  in  181 1, 
Rev.  Edward  Everett.*  Jn  1814. 

The  gifted  minds  of  Channing,  Buckminster,  Kirkland,  Emer- 
son, and  Ware  soon  added  new  features  to  the  "liberal"  tendency, 
giving  it  greater  breadth  and  higher  culture,  on  account  of  which 
they  have  been  said  to  have  "inaugurated  the  classical  era  in  liberal 
Christianity."  They  at  first  attached  little  consequence  to  doc- 
trines. Practicing  the  motto,  Ncque  teneo  ncque  rcpcllo,  utterly 
unambitious  of  polemical  distinction  and  exhibiting  no  desire  to 
build  up  a  new  sect  or  to  revolutionize  an  old  one,  they  seemed 
intent  upon  classical  culture  and  religious  esthetics. 

Devotedly  wedded  to  higher  education,  they  aimed  to  usher  in  a 
golden  era  of  religious  "classicism"  which   should  displace  the  iron 

•  Mr.  Everett  was  in  the  ministry  only  a  few  years. 


494  CHRIST/AXITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

era  of  "  Puritan  scholasticism."  But  they  were  not  long  allowed  to 
remain  in  these  quiet  and  congenial  employments.  The  leaven, 
silently  working,  was  rising  to  the  surface.  The  great  Unitarian 
controversy  was  at  hand,  in  which  their  able  pens  were  to  be  called 
into  arduous  service,  and  their  classical  and  esthetic  culture  were  to 
be  brought  into  conflict  with  invincible  logic  and  Bible  truth. 

Causes  Which  Hastened  the  Rupture. 

The  establishment  of  the  Monthly  Anthology*  in  Boston,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  new  party,  in  1804,  and  its  rival,  the  Panoplisty 
in  1805,  under  Rev.  Dr.  Morse,  of  Cliarlestown ;  the  semi-contro- 
versial discourses  delivered  before  the  annual  conventions  of  Con- 
gregational ministers  from  1804  onward,  in  which  the  two  parties 
were  alternately  represented;  the  election  of  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  of 
Hingham,  understood  to  be  a  "decided  Arminian  and  Unitarian," 
to  the  Hollis  Professorship  of  Divinity  in  Harvard  College,  in  1804; 
the  publication  of  Rev.  Noah  Webster's  book,  entitled  Bible  News 
of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  in  18 10,  placing  him  outside  of 
the  Trinitarian  ranks;  the  interruption  of  pulpit  exchanges  between 
the  two  factions,  introduced  by  Rev.  Messrs.  John  Codman,  of  Dor- 
chester, and  Samuel  Osgood,  of  Springfield,  in  181 1 ;  the  publication 
of  a  pamphlet  in  Boston,  in  1815,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Morse,  of  Charlestown, 
and  intended  as  an  exposure,  entitled,  American  Unifarianism,  or  a 
Brief  History  of  the  Progress  and  Present  State  of  Unitarian 
Churches  in  America,  compiled  from  documents  and  information 
communicated  by  Rev.  James  Freeman,  D.D.,  and  William  Wells, 
Jr.,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  and  from  other  Unitarian  gentlemen  in  this 
country,  and  by  Rev.  James  Belsham,  London,  and  the  controversy 
which  grew  out  of  it;  Rev.  William  E.  Channing's  sermon  at  the 
ordination  of  Rev.  Jared  Sparks,  in  Baltimore,  in  1819,  which  Uni- 
tarians say  produced  "a  more  extensive  and  powerful  effect  on  the 
religious  public  than  had  ever  been  known  in  America,"  and  the  dis- 
cussions which  followed  with  Rev.  Professors  Moses  Stuart,  D.D. 
and  Leonard  Woods,  D.D.,  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and 
Samuel  H.  Miller,  D.D.,  of  Princeton  College — are  some  of  the 
more  marked   events  which   hastened    to  a  culmination,  the  move- 


*  In  1804  the  Monthly  Anthology  was  established  under  Unitarian  auspices,  "  as  a  half  literary 
and  half  theological  magazine."  After  being  published  seven  years  it  was  suspended,  and  was 
followed  in  1813  by  the  Christian  Repository,  which  lasted  two  years.  In  1813  Noah  Webster 
commenced  to  publish  the  Christian  Disciple,  which  for  six  years  discouraged  controversy.  In 
1819  it  passed  into  other  hands,  abandoned  "its  neutral  attitude,"  and  assumed  the  tone  of  vig- 
orous theological  discussion.     The  Christian  Examiner  fallowed  in  1824. 


CHANGES  IN  HARVARD.  498 

ment   which    resulted   in  the  distinct  existence  of   the   Unitarian 
denomination  in  the  United  States. 

Two  of  the  most  important  acts  which  precipitated  the  rupture 
were  the  election  of  Revs.  Henry  Ware  and  J.  T.  Kirkland,  LL.D., 
to  positions  in  the  faculty  of  Harvard  College.  This  action  was 
regarded  by  the  "  orthodox  "  party  as  a  perversion  of  the  institu- 
tion from  the  intention  of  its  founders,  and,  therefore,  a  breach  of 
sacred  trust.  Its  founders  were  Trinitarians  and  Calvinists.*  John 
Harvard,  who  bequeathed  to  it  one  half  of  his  property,  was  a 
deeply  religious  man,  and  contemplated  nothing  else  than  the  pro- 
motion of  "evangelical"  religion.  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis,  also,  a 
wealthy  London  merchant,  founded  the  professorship  of  divinity, 
stipulating  that  the  men  chosen  to  fill  the  chair  should  be  of  "sound 
and  orthodox  principles."  In  1747  Mr.  Daniel  Hinchman,  of  Bos- 
ton, made  liberal  donations  to  this  professorship,  with  equally 
stringent  stipulations.  Nevertheless,  in  1804,  Mr.  Ware,  an  esti- 
mable gentleman,  but  well  known  to  be  Unitarian  in  his.  views,  was 
elected  to  the   Hollis   Professorship   of  Divinity,  and  in    18 10   Mr. 


*  Other  changes  resulting  in  the  complete  control  of  the  institution  by  the  Unitarians  will  be 
given  in  the  language  of  fine  who  was  in  the  midst  of  the  scenes.  "For  the  purpose  of  promot- 
ing and  perpetuating  Unitarianism  in  Harvard  College  repeated  alterations  have  been  attempted 
in  the  Constitution  of  Beard  of  Overseers.  This  board  consisted  originally  of  the  governor, 
lieutenant-governor,  counselors  and  senators  of  the  Commonwealth,  with  the  ministers  of  the 
Congregational  churches  in  Cambridge,  Watertown,  Charlestown,  Bost<n,  Roxbury,  and  Dor- 
chester. But  as  a  body  constituted  after  this  manner  was  liable  to  continual  changes,  and  Uni- 
tarians might  not  long  constitute  a  majority,  an  alterati'  n  was  in  due  time  proposed  and  effected." 
An  act  passed  in  1810,  prepared  by  the  late  Chief-Justice  Parsons,  which  he  declared  to  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  he  had  held  in  readiness  for  more  than  two  years,  waiting  for  a  safe  opportunity 
to  bring  it  forward,  according  to  which  '  the  board  was  t>  consist  cf  the  president  of  the  Senate, 
the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  an  elective  body  of  fifteen  clergymen  and  fif- 
teen laymen  with  power  to  fill  their  own  vacancies. '  By  this  law  Unitarianism  was  virtually 
enthroned  at  Cambridge  and  the  way  prepared  f^r  its  perpetual  dominion.  It  was  soon  found, 
however,  that  what  the  Legislature  could  do  the  Legislature  could  undo,  as,  in  1812,  the  new 
order  of  things  was  totally  abolished  and  the  government  of  the  cllege  restored  to  its  former 
standing.  Only  two  years  after,  the  law  of  1810,  with  s  'me  alterations,  was  revived.  "Accord- 
ing to  this  last  enactment,  which  is  still  in  force,  the  Board  of  Overseers  consists  of  the  governor, 
lieutenant  governor,  the  council.  Senate,  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  an  elect- 
ive body  of  thirty  persons  having  power  to  fill  their  own  vacancies."  The  circumstances  under 
which  this  act  was  introduced  were  very  extraordinary.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin  had  been  for  some 
time  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Boston,  and  as  such,  by  the  express  language 
of  the  constitution,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College.  No  notice, 
however,  was  taken  of  him,  nor  was  he  apprised  of  the  time  or  place  of  any  meetings.  At 
length  he  went  unasked  and  claimed  his  seat  as  a  member  of  tiie  Board.  His  claim  was  dis- 
puted and  the  subject  referred  to  a  committee,  a  majority  of  whom  rep-^rted  in  favor  of  Dr. 
Griffin.  Still  his  right  was  not  allowed  him  ;  an  adjournment  was  called  for  to  save  time, 
and  in  the  interval  the  law  of  which  we  are  speaking  was  whipped  through  the  Legislature, 
obviously  for  the  purpose  of  excluding  Dr.  Griffin  and  preventing  others  of  similar  sentiments 
from  ever  more  obtaining  seats  in  the  old  established  way  as  Overseers  of  Harvard  College."— 
Spirit  of  the  Pilgrims.  Sept.,  1829.  P.  478-  Supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Dr.  Wis- 
ner,  of  Boston. 


496  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Kirkland,  an  eloquent  Boston   clergyman,  but  a  decided  Socinian, 
was  elevated  to  the  presidency  of  the  college. 

On  the  election  of  Dr.  Ware  a  storm  of  indignation  burst  forth 
in  the  orthodox  churches.  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  of  Newburyport,  came 
out  in  two  sermons  denouncing  the  action  as  a  violation  of  a  sacred 
trust  and  a  triumph  of  heresy.  Dr.  Pearson,  another  professor  at 
Harvard,  resigned,  and  was  subsequently  elected  to  a  position  in  the 
theological  seminary  started  by  the  orthodox  party  at  Andover  a 
few  years  later.  From  that  day  the  moral  unity  of  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  was  broken,  and  yet  there  was  a  general  hesitation 
to  take  aggressive  steps.  The  sea  of  strife  was  before  them,  the 
waves  yearly  rising  higher  and  higher.  "It  was  indeed  wonderful 
that  by  a  kind  of  consent  the  storm  should  gather  so  slowly.  But 
in  truth  the  parties  themselves  were  unprepared  for  decisive  acts 
which  must  estrange  parish  from  parish,  neighbor  from  neighbor, 
shake  the  whole  system  of  the  Commonwealth  to  its  foundations,  rend 
many  communities  asunder,  and  bring  into  families  and  individual 
hearts  a  boundless  distress."  *  But  on  both  sides  the  preparation 
went  on. 

Unitarianism  Predominant  in  Boston  in  1800. 

It  is  difficult  at  the  present  time  to  realize  the  full  extent  of  the 
apostasy  from  orthodoxy  in  Boston  at  the  beginning  of  this  century. 
A  few  facts  will  help.  In  the  year  1800  only  one  Congregational 
church  remained  true  to  orthodoxy.  None  had  then  taken  the 
name  Unitarian,  but  they  were  thoroughly  permeated  with  Unita- 
rianism. Even  the  church  which  has  been  excepted,  the  Old  South, 
occupied  a  doubtful  attitude,  and  her  pastor.  Rev.  Dr.  Eckley, 
rendered  to  orthodoxy  "only  a  trembling  support."  His  theology 
has  been  described  as  "equivocal,"  and,  in  the  language  of  Rev. 
Lyman  Beecher,  "a  large  part  of  the  members  of  that  church 
were  shivering  in  the  breeze."  There  was  no  other  church  to  repre- 
sent the  orthodox  Con:Jjregational  party  until  the  Park  Street  Church 
was  formed  in  1809.  There  were  two  Baptist  churches,  two  Epis- 
copalian, and  one  small  iMcthodist  society,  all  true  to  the  Trinitarian 
theology.  These  six  churches  represented  the  evangelical  theology 
in  the  old  Puritan  metropolis  in  1800.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  eight  Congregational  churches  and  one  Episcopal  church  that 
had  become  Unitarian,  and  one  Universalist,  making  ten  "liberal" 
churches,  so  called,  to  six  evangelical,  though  one  of  the  latter  was 
doubtful.     Within    the   present    limits  of    Boston  there  were  then 

*  Pages  from  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,  p.  57. 


DR.  GRIFFIN  IN  BOSTON.  497 

only  two  orthodox  Congregational  churches  and  thirteen  Unitarian. 
And  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  around  Boston  there  were  then  only 
ten  Congregational  churches  which  remained  true  to  orthodoxy  when 
the  schism  came,  while  twenty-two  went  over  to  Unitarianism. 

But  the  number  of  these  organized  bodies  by  no  means  repre- 
sents the  social,  civil,  and  intellectual  status  of  the  two  parties.  In 
these  respects  the  preponderance  was  immeasurably  in  favor  of  the 
"liberal"  party.  So  sharply,  too,  were  the  lines  drawn,  and  so 
intense  was  the  feeling  about  1812,  when  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  Griffin, 
the  first  pastor  of  the  Park  Street  Church,  delivered  his  famous 
"  Park  Street  Lectures,"  that  but  few  persons  dared  to  enter  an 
"evangelical"  house  of  worship.  Social  ostracism  on  account  of 
religious  views  was  often  inflicted  by  the  professedly  " liberal" 
party.  When  Dr.  Griffin  entered  upon  his  labors,  in  July,  181 1,  the 
task  before  him  required  a  stout  heart  and  a  bold  hand.  Boston 
was  second  to  no  other  city  in  the  country  for  intelligence  and  the 
average  wealth  of  its  inhabitants.  But  the  current  of  the  prevail- 
ing thought  was  so  averse  to  evangelical  religion  that  to  raise  a 
voice  in  its  defense  was  to  hazard  one's  reputation  among  respect- 
able classes.  Dr.  Griffin  stood  up  almost  alone  preaching  "the 
Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God."  "The  finger  of  scorn  was  pointed 
at  him  and  he  had  to  breast  a  tide  of  misrepresentation  and 
calumny,  of  opposition  and  hatred,  which  would  have  overwhelmed 
one  who  had  not  the  spirituality  of  an  apostle  and  the  strength  of  a 
giant."  *  Dr.  Griffin's  rare  eloquence,  boldness,  and  evangelical 
warmth  attracted  many  to  hear  him.  On  Sabbath  evenings  in  the 
winter  of  1812-13  he  delivered  his  celebrated  "Park  Street  Lect- 
ures "  to  crowded  audiences,  many  of  whom  were  attracted  by 
curiosity  and  others  by  interest  in  the  rising  discussions  of  that 
period.  Elsewhere  Dr.  Griffin  had  witnessed  great  revivals  of  relig- 
ion under  his  ministry,  but  not  in  Boston.  A  lifeless  inertia  and  a 
staring  unbelief  met  him  on  every  side  and  pressed  him  down.  The 
cry  of  "bigotry,"  "  illiberality,"  and  "exclusiveness"  was  echoed 
on  every  breeze.  The  tide  of  sentiment  in  the  higher  circles  was 
sternly  against  evangelical  religion.  "At  that  time  the  evangelical 
religion  was  so  unpopular  that  people  disguised  themselves  to 
attend  upon  Dr.  Griffin's  preaching,  and  could  be  frequently  seen 
in  obscure  corners  of  the  church,  with  caps  drawn  over  their  faces 
and  their  wrappers  turned   inside   out."t     Such   was  the  state    of 

*  Biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Griffin  in  American  Quarterly  Register.     iS40-4r.     P.  374- 
t  Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  D  D.,  in  an  address  at  the  anniversar)-  of  Union  Church,  Boston, 
June  lo,  1872. 
32 


498  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

sentiment.  The  great  mass  of  the  old  famih'es,  the  culture,  the 
wealth  and  influence  in  the  city,  were  with  the  "liberal  party."  This 
party  has  ever  since  relatively  waned,  and  at  no  time  more  rapidly 
than  in  the  last  thirty  years. 

The  Outbreak. 

The  year  1815  has  been  designated  as  marking  more  distinctly 
than  any  other  the  year  when  Unitarianism  began  to  assume  a  tan- 
gible form.  At  that  time  the  parties  arrayed  themselves  in  a  more 
open  manner.  The  publication  of  "Belsham's  Letters"  early  in 
that  year  was  followed  by  a  "Review"  in  the  Panoplist  in  June  fol- 
lowing, charging  the  "  liberal "  party  with  heresies  and  infidelity. 
Dr.  Channing  replied  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Thacher,  indig- 
nantly protesting  against  the  aspersions  in  the  Panoplist.  This 
reply  was  regarded  by  Professor  Andrews  Norton  as  virtually  accept- 
ing the  name  Unitarian,  and  founding  the  denomination  as  a  distinct 
body.  It  certainly  marks  the  origin  of  what  was  known  as  the 
"Unitarian  Controversy,"  and  drew  the  lines  between  the  two 
parties.  Dr.  Channing's  Baltimore  sermon,  in  18 19,  revived, 
enlarged,  and  intensified  the  "controversy,"  and  led  it  out  upon 
more  distinctively  doctrinal  lines.  The  text  (  "Prove  all  things ;  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good")  indicates  the  character  of  the  discourse. 
It  was  an  able  defense  of  Unitarianism,  outspoken  in  style,  making 
it  plain  that  he  was  an  Arian,  and  attributing  to  the  death  of  Christ 
some  direct  though  undefined  influence  as  a  means  of  the  sinner's 
forgiveness.  Several  editions  of  the  sermons  were  published.  Pro- 
fessor Moses  Stuart,  of  Andover,  reviewed  it  in  a  pamphlet  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  pages.  Professor  Norton  replied  in  the  Chris- 
tian Disciple.  Other  pamphlets,  eight  in  all,  followed,  between 
Professors  Stuart  and  Woods,  of  Andover,  and  Professors  Norton 
and  Ware,  of  Harvard  College. 

In  1825  the  American  Unitarian  Association  was  organized  as  a 
bond  of  sympathy  and  co-operation  for  their  isolated  churches,  in 
the  propagation  of  their  sentiments  by  books,  tracts,  and  missions, 
and  to  aid  feeble  parishes.  From  this  date  Unitarianism  may  be 
said  to  have  had 

An  Organized  Existence. 

In  1 82 1  the  famous  church  property  case — that  of  the  First 
Church  in  Dedham — was  decided  by  Chief-Justice  Parker,  establish- 
ing the  principle  that  a  church  has  no  civil  right  apart  from  the 
parish ;  that  the  only  circumstance  which  gives  a  church  any  legal 


ORGANIZED    UNITARIANISM.  499 

character  is  its  connection  with  some  legally  constituted  parish 
society ;  that  the  secession  of  a  whole  church  from  a  parish  society 
would  be  the  extinction  of  its  legal  claims,  but  the  body  corporate, 
the  parish,  would  remain,  and  hence  the  major  voice  of  the  parish 
is  the  only  legal  utterance. 

The  following  statement  by  an  eminent  divine  presents  the  most 
concise  view  that  can  be  given,  and  one  as  helpful,  perhaps,  as  any 
other  in  forming  a  candid  judgment  of  the  issue: 

At  the  opening  of  this  controversy,  which,  for  the  sake  of  a  precise  date,  we 
may  assign  to  1810,  the  whole  number  of  the  Congregational  churches  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  361;  all  of  them  founded  on  the  old  Puritan  faith— at  least  all 
professedly  Trinitarian.  In  the  course  of  this  controversy  96  of  these  churches 
passed  over  to  Unitarianism,  besides  30  parishes,  where  the  same  views  predom- 
inated to  the  exclusion  of  evangelical  preaching  from  their  pulpits,  and  conse- 
quently the  withdrawal  of  the  churches  from  their  meeting-houses;  so  that  126 
places  of  worship,  with  their  appurtenances  of  parish  and  church  funds,  were  lost 
to  the  cause  of  evangelical  religion  and  gained  to  its  opposite.  The  full  amount 
of  this  loss  and  gain  cannot  be  exactly  stated,  and  yet  we  have  the  data  for  a 
probable  estimate.* 

The  General  Association  of  Massachusetts  in  1833  appointed  a 
committe  of  twenty-three  gentlemen  to  investigate  the  "condition 
of  those  churches  which  have  been  driven  from  their  houses  of 
worship  by  town  or  parish  votes,  or  by  measures  equivalent  to  such 
votes,"  and  to  report  thereon.  After  three  years  of  careful  inves- 
tigation they  presented  their  report,  in  which  they  enumerated  81 
"exiled  churches"  with  the  amount  of  "parish  funds"  left  behind 
when  they  went  into  "  exile,"  the  amount  of  church  funds,  including 
communion  furniture,  library,  etc.,  of  which  they  were  deprived, 
the  general  condition  of  the  meeting-houses  from  which  they  were 
"driven,"  and  also  the  proportion  of  members  that  remained  with 
the  parish.  The  figures  combined  make  a  total  of  parish  and  church 
funds  of  $365,968;  the  value  of  the  meeting-houses  at  $3,000 
each— "a  low  estimate  "—$243,000  more.  Total  property  surren- 
dered by  these  81  churches,  or  taken  away,  $608,658.  These  exiled 
churches  before  the  separation  numbered  5,182  members,  of  which 
the  exiled  portion  were  3.900,  and  those  who  "tarried  at  home  to 
divide  the  spoil"  were  1,282— the  majority  of  the  parish  or  congre- 
gation deciding  the  question  against  the  church.  "  This  statement 
does  not  include  the  funds  of  15  out  of  the  96  old  Puritan  churches 
that  passed  over  to  the  other  side  without  a  schism,  nor  does  it 
take  in  the  orthodox  endowments  made  to  Harvard  College  before 
Unitarianism  was  heard  of." 

*  Dr.  Joseph  S.  Clark's  History  0/ the  Congregational  Churches  of  Massachusetts,  p.  270. 


800  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

When  the  division  was  completed  it  was  found  that  the  whole  number  of  Con- 
gregational churches  in  Massachusetts  was  544  (leaving  out  of  the  account  such 
as  had  becoine  extinct  or  were  merged  in  others),  of  which  135  were  Unitarian 
and  409  Orthodox.*  Dropping  those  Unitarian  churches  which  were  originally 
founded  by  the  Orthodox,  and  which  came  into  possession  of  meeting-houses 
before  the  separation  took  place,  and  used  for  evangelical  worship  until  that  time, 
there  remain  but  24  as  the  fruit  of  Unitarian  enterprise  developed  in  church  exten- 
sion; while  the  Orthodox  during  the  same  period  had  planted  (or  re-planted,  as  the 
case  might  be.)  193,  and  had  actually  built  that  number  of  meeting-houses,  which 
is  67  more  than  belonged  to  the  whole  body  of  Congregationalists  before  the  sep- 
aration. Thus  the  two  parties  stood  in  the  comparative  number  of  their  churches 
when  this  fraternal  strife  ceased.  The  ratio  between  them  was  as  one  to  three.  In 
the  number  of  church  members  the  disparity  was  far  greater;  from  the  most  relia- 
ble data  at  command  it  may  be  given  as  one  to  ten.f 

The  loss  of  Harvard  College  by  the  orthodox  Congregational- 
ists was  followed  by  the  founding  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
in  1808,  and  Amherst  College  in  1821,  as  bulwarks  of  Trinitarian 
theology  ;  but  the  theological  position  of  Andover  Seminary  was  so 
offensive  in  eastern  Massachusetts,  where  the  Unitarian  sentiment 
greatly  preponderated,  that  the  Legislature  of  the  State  long  hesi- 
tated to  grant  it  the  power  of  holding  a  sufficient  amount  of  funds, 
and  placed  them  for  a  season  under  the  direction  of  Phillips 
Academy:}:  and  a  Board  of  Visitors.     Rev.  Dr.  D.  C.  Eddy  says: 

The  political  power  of  the  State  was  all  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  Unitari- 
ans, and  Orthodoxy  has  scarcely  recovered  it  to  this  day.  To  be  popular  and  influ- 
ential in  the  State  it  was  necessary  to  be  a  Unitarian.  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke,  in 
reply  to  a  letter  §  in  the  Christian  Examiner,  \  attributed  to  Chief-Justice  Parker, 
quotes  one  of  the  public  papers  of  that  period,  in  which  it  is  remarked  that  "  Any 
person  to  attain  to  any  of  the  honors  of  this  State  (Massachusetts)  must  be  a 
thorough  Federalist  and  Unitarian.  If  they  have  a  blotch  of  Democracy  or  Cal- 
vinism a!)out  them  they  must  bid  adieu  to  pul)lic  honors  or  to  Massachusetts,  The 
Catholics  are  not  more  exclusive  in  Spain  than  are  Mr.  Otis  and  his  associates  in 
Boston."  Dr.  Cooke  declares  that  at  the  time  he  wrote,  1829,  "The  Trinitarian 
denominations  comprised  more  than  three  fourths  of  the  people  of  the  State,  while 
nine  tenths  of  the  political  influence  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Unitarians."  IT 

The  Unitarians  of  that  period  were  very  sanguine  in  their 
expectations,  confident  that  their  views  would  soon  sweep  the  con- 
tinent.    The  London  Repository '^'^  said,  "There  is  reason  to  expect 

*  This  summary  was  for  the  year  1840. 

t  Historical  Sketch  0/  the  Congregational  Churches  in  Massachusetts,  by  Rev.  Joseph  S. 
Clark,  D.D.     Boston.     1858.     Pp.  170,  171,  172. 

X  A  school  for  boys  at  Andover,  Mass.  §  Bearing;  date  of  1829. 

I  Vol.  V,  p.  279. 

t  General  Repository.  Vol.  IV,  p.  374.  Address  by  Rev.  D.  C.  Eddy,  D  D.,  before  the 
American  Baptist  Historical  Society,  1864.     P.  24.  **  Vol.  Ill,  p.  302. 


ABLE  SUPPORTERS.  501 

that  in  thirty  or  forty  years  the    whole  of  Massachusetts  will  be 
Unitarian." 

Such  were  the  proportions  of  this  movement  when  it  assumed 
its  position  openly  before  the  country.  It  had  the  preponderance 
of  wealth,  culture  and  influence  in  Boston  and  in  eastern  Massa- 
chusetts. It  had  the  oldest,  largest  and  best-endowed  college  in 
the  land.  It  had  the  prestige  of  a  learned  and  able  ministry. 
Buckminster,  who  had  been  idolized  as  a  mental  and  spiritual 
prodigy,  "  a  man  of  chastened  but  thrilling  earnestness,"  who  had 
attracted  crowds  within  the  walls  of  the  old  Brattle  Street  Church, 
had  early  departed.  Edward  Everett,  a  gentleman  of  broad  and 
cultivated  taste,  profound  and  eloquent,  the  persuasive  preacher, 
the  skillful  educator,  the  astute  statesman,  the  courtly  embassador, 
and  the  impressive  orator ;  Kirkland,  affable,  polished  and  benig- 
nant,  "  stripping  religion  of  its  stiff  and  formal  costume;"  the  elder 
Ware,  honored  and  revered  for  eminent  talents  and  high  character; 
the  younger  Ware,  a  man  of  practical  earnestness  and  deep  devo- 
tion ;  Holley,  the  brilliant  orator  ;  Channing,  a  man  of  ardent  sensi- 
bilities, of  shining  intellect,  an  impersonation  of  lucid  thought,  a  pre- 
eminent teacher  of  ethics  and  a  bold  champion  of  freedom  and 
humanity  ;  Palfrey,  devout,  learned,  the  man  of  research  ;  Norton,  a 
rare  scholar,  of  intellectual  strength,  wide  personal  influence  and 
intense  earnestness;  Pierpont,  full  of  independence,  undaunted 
frankness  and  poetic  fervor ;  Sparks,  Thacher,  Parkman,  and  many 
others  remained,  soon  reaching  the  zenith  of  their  power. 

In  the  laity  were  many  old  and  noble  families— the  Ehots,  the 
Smiths,  the  McLeans,  the  Lymans,  the  Thorndykes,  the  Perkinses, 
the  Parkmans,  the  Boylstons.  and  many  others-who  freely  poured 
out  their  ample  treasures.  The  statesmen,  the  jurists  and  the 
scholars  of  New  England  were  largely  represented  m  the  Unitarian 
congregations,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Parsons,  Storey, 
Parker  Dexter,  Lowell  and  Bowditch.  No  other  religious  denomi- 
nation'before  ever  started  with  such  advantages;  and  if  it  were  in 
the  power  of  intellectual  abilities,  culture,  learning,  eloquence, 
wealth  and  social  prestige  to  give  success  to  religious  mstitutions, 
they  were  certain  to  succeed. 

The  Influence  of  the  Baptists. 

The  relation  of  the  Baptist  churches  to  the  Unitarian  apostasy 
should  not  be  overlooked.  Baptist  writers  claim  that  their  denomi- 
nation exerted  great  influence   in  restraining   its  course.     One  of 


e02  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

their   own    number   shall   tell    the   story.     Rev.   Dr.  D.  C.  Eddy- 
says  : 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  there  were  not  quite  one  hundred 
churches  of  the  Baptist  denomination  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  the  most 
prominent  of  which  were  two  in  Boston.  The  first  Baptist  church  was  organized 
in  1665,  and  it  was  the  third  of  any  denomination  constituted  in  that  city.  From 
1765  to  1807,  during  much  of  the  Unitarian  controversy,  Dr.  Samuel  Stillman,  a 
man  of  great  purity  of  life  and  a  preacher  of  unusual  eloquence,  was  pastor  of  the 
church.  The  Second  Church,  now  worshiping  in  Baldwin  Place,  was  constituted 
in  1742,  and  from  the  first  was  a  very  vigorous  body.  From  179010  1825  Dr. 
Thomas  Baldwin  was  pastor,  his  ministry  covering  the  most  active  and  demon- 
strative period  of  the  revolution  of  opinions.  Other  Baptist  churches  of  more  or 
less  note  dotted  the  old  Pilgrim  Commonwealth.  From  1766  to  1805  that  sterling 
champion  of  Baptist  faith.  Rev.  Hezekiah  Smith,  was  settled  over  the  church  in 
Haverhill.  Lucius  Bowles  was  in  Salem  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  from  1804. 
Joseph  Grafton  was  at  Newton.  Other  true  and  faithful  men  held  up  Bap- 
tist views  during  the  theological  revolution,  and,  though  persecuted,  pro- 
scribed and  ill-treated  through  all  that  period,  these  men  lifted  up  a 
standard  which  was  like  the  sun  amid  the  murky  shadows  of  that  dismal 
night.  The  steady  adherence  of  Baptists  to  the  Scriptures  instead  of  tradition, 
and  the  pertinacity  with  which  they  insisted  on  faith  as  a  condition  of  church 
membership  and  baptism,  and  the  zeal  with  which  they  guarded  the  holy  com- 
munion, saved  their  churches  from  unconverted  members,  and  while  Pedo-Baptist 
churches  fell  one  by  one  into  the  arms  of  Unitarianism,  not  one  Baptist  church  for- 
sook its  apostolic  creed,  and  not  one  minister  of  any  note  went  over  to  the  enemy.* 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Methodist  churches. 

Drifting. 

Very  soon  after  it  fully  started  upon  its  career  Unitarianism 
began  to  undergo  radical  changes,  for  which  it  has  ever  since  been 
noted,  and  which  have  characterized  it  as  a  drift  of  religious  senti- 
ment. The  causes  producing  them  were  both  internal  and  external. 
In  the  earlier  period  the  major  sentiment  leaned  strongly  toward 
the  Divine;  but  in  its  subsequent  history  it  has  been  decidedly 
marked  by  tendencies  toward  the  human. 

The  seeds  of  this  departure  were  sown  at  the  outset.  The  lead- 
ing feature  of  the  movement  was  a  revolt  against  ecclesiasticism, 
protesting  against  creeds  and  inquiry  into  personal  belief  and  expe- 
rience;  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  its  cognate  doctrines,  as 
they  stand  in  orthodox  theolog3%  were  also  denied.  Agreeing  in 
these  negative  positions,  which  close  the  door  of  return  to  evangel- 
ical principles  and  experiences,  and  adopting  rationalistic  methods 
of  scriptural  interpretation,  the  largest  liberty  of  opinion  consistent 

♦Historical  Address  of  Rev.  D.  C.  Eddy,  D.D.,  before  referred  to,  on  pp   29,  30. 


RADICAL  DIFFERENCES.  803 

with  this  positive  dissent  was  allowed.  Such  a  platform  left  the 
door  open  for  the  intrusion  of  doubt.  Channing  and  his  associates 
did  not  dream  that  opinions  so  widely  diverged  from  those  they 
held  would  within  a  half  century  be  inculcated  in  many  Unitarian 
pulpits.  In  allowing  the  largest  liberty  of  thought  they  suspected 
no  danger,  trusting  that  submission  to  the  authority  of  Christ  and 
the  Scriptures,  then  generally  prevalent  among  them,  would  suf- 
ficiently conserve  the  body  against  dangerous  departures. 

As  early  as  1825  there  were  different  classes  of  Unitarians — 
Arians,  Socinians  and  Sabellians,  but  not  disturbing  the  general 
harmony.  Other  and  more  radical  divisions  soon  appeared.  Almost 
from  the  first,  from  the  body  itself,  we  read  of  its  "two  wings" — 
wings  of  unequal  dimensions,  causing  erratic  and  uncertain  flight. 
In  1825  the  Christian  Examiner  declared  that  "  those  who  agreed 
on  the  general  point  of  the  simple  unity  of  God  differed,  and  should 
differ  in  peace  ;  "  that  every  thing  should  be  tolerated  except  the 
phrase,  "the  eternal  Son  of  God;"  that  those  believed  enough  who 
held  no  more  than  the  humanity  of  Jesus,  who  denied  the  exist- 
ence of  the  devil,  and  who  regarded  the  New  Testament  language 
in  regard  to  evil  spirits  to  be  only  the  language  of  popular  super- 
stition. The  editor  was  a  decided  advocate  of  "rational  Christian- 
ity," did  not  fear  to  "exalt  reason  above  revelation;"  contended 
that  the  Scriptures  must  be  made  to  pass  before  "  the  tribunal  of 
human  reason,"  and  that  "human  reason  is  to  decide  whether  God 
is  such  a  being  as  we  can  safely  trust."  In  1826  a  new  editor 
assumed  the  control  of  the  Examiner,  and  boldly  declared  that  his 
advocacy  of  religion  should  be  known  not  merely  as  "liberal," 
but  pre-eminently  as  "  rational." 

A  few  more  specimens  of  opinions  which  appeared  in  the  Chris- 
tian Examiner  at  this  period  will  show  the  earliest  stages  of  the 
great  departure.  One  writer  said  that  the  reasoning  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  "  could  not  be  regarded  as  of  any  force  at  the 
present  day;"  that  Paul's  reasoning  "would  not  always  bear  a 
philosophical  scrutiny  :  "  that  the  evangelists  were  "  themselves  alle- 
gorists,"  and  had  but  "  reported  the  words  of  Christ  from  memory, 
and  that  not  always  with  perfect  accuracy."  Another  denied  that 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  canonical,  contended  that  it  was 
not  written  by  St.  Paul,  asserting  that  the  author,  whoever  he  was, 
was  "  unable  to  distinguish  between  realities  and  figures,"  and  had 
misapprehended  the  manner  in  which  the  Messiah  "  sacrificed  him- 
self in  the  cause  of  God  and  of  mankind."  Another,  in  1830. 
deplored  the  manner  in  which  the  Old  Testament  was  used,  and  the 


804  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

importance  which  was  attached  to  it,  declaring  that  "  many  pro- 
fessed Christians  have  nothing  but  the  Hebrew  religion,"  that  the 
Old  Testament  ought  to  be  comparatively  set  aside,  and  that  the 
gospels  ought  to  be  regarded  as  "  the  great  treasury  of  religion." 
Another  writer  was  willing  to  accept  Unitarian  Christianity  because 
it  demanded  less  than  any  other  system  ;  accepting  Christianity 
only  as  the  best  and  highest  form  in  which  human  intuitions  had 
clothed  themselves — more  religious  than  Platonism,  purer  than  Mo- 
hammedanism and  more  gentle  than  Judaism.  From  1825  to  1838, 
under  Professor  Norton,  a  semi-rationalistic  style  of  criticism  was 
applied  to  biblical  interpretation,  in  which  revelation  was  degraded 
from  its  sacred  supremacy. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson 

appeared  in  the  pastorate  of  the  Second  Church  in  Boston  in  1830, 
as  the  successor  of  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  who  had  been  called  to 
the  professorship  of  pastoral  theology  at  Cambridge.  Mr.  Emerson 
belonged  to  a  clerical  race — the  son  of  Rev.  William  Emerson,  of 
the  First  Church,  who  had  heralded  the  dawn  of  Unitarianism,  and 
the  eighth  generation,  in  orderly  succession,  of  a  consecutive  line 
of  New  England  ministers.  In  genius  and  splendor  of  thought  he 
far  outstripped  them  all,  as  also  in  the  boldness  of  his  speculations. 
A  lover  of  nature,  full  of  ideality,  simplicity,  and  poetic  beauty,  his 
style  has  been  compared  to 

"  The  pellucid  brook. 
That  glides  and  ripples  and  smiles 
Through  wood  and  mead,  through  shade  and  sun." 

In  1 83 1  he  obtained  a  dismission  from  his  church  on  account 
of  radical  theological  differences  between  him  and  them  in  regard 
to  the  Lord's  Supper  and  other  matters;  and  there  is  no  account 
of  his  ever  preaching  after  that  event.  From  an  early  period  Mr. 
Emerson  manifested  great  impatience  with  all  "  fixed  forms  of 
belief,"  and  rejected  all  limitations  upon  the  freedom  of  intellectual 
action.  He  soon  became  widely  known  as  a  public  lecturer,  in 
which  capacity,  usually  before  very  select  audiences,  he  gave  great 
prominence  to  an  "  idealism  "  which  placed  him  at  the  head  of 

New  England   Transcendentalists. 

In  metaphysics  the  term  transcendental  has  usually  been  applied 
to  ideas  and  principles  not  limited  or  suggested  by  experience — the 
method   of  ascertaining,  a  priori^    the    fundamental  principles  of 


TRANSCENDENTALISM.  808 

human  knowledge,  restricted  to  those  conceptions  and  judgments 
which  are  universal  and  necessary,  and  which  transcend  the  sphere 
of  knowledge  furnished  by  experience.  Hence  transcendentalism 
claims  an  original  intuitional  process  for  obtaining  true  knowledge 
of  all  things,  material  and  immaterial,  human  and  divine,  as  far 
as  the  mind  is  capable  of  knowing  them.  It  denies  a  supernatural 
revelation,  pronounces  its  miraculous  sanctions  to  be  philosophically 
impossible  and  absurd,  and  hence  wholly  discards  the  authority  of 
the  Scriptures.  This  doctrine  appeared  among  a  class  of  thinkers 
that  arose  among  the  New  England  Unitarians  at  this  time.  A 
few  persons  probably  received  it  with  little  if  any  modifications :  but 
in  most  minds  at  all  influenced  by  it  there  were  some  modifying 
elements,  on  account  of  which  this  class  of  New  England  Tran- 
scendentalists  has  been  regarded  as  somewhat  peculiar  and  diversi- 
fied in  its  character — "a  school  of  idealists.".  For  this  reason, 
presumably,  the  term  transcendental  has  come  to  be  used  for  that 
which  is  vague  and  illusory  in  philosophy.  The  first  meeting  of 
what  was  later  well  known  as  "  The  Transcendental  Club  "  was  held 
in  Boston,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  George  Ripley,  September  19,  1836  ; 
present,  Messrs.  Ripley,  R.  VV.  Emerson.  F.  H.  Hedge,  Convers 
Francis,  James  Freeman  Clarke  and  A.  Bronson  Alcott.  Subse- 
quently Revs.  J.  S.  Dwight,  VV.  H.  Channing  and  C.  A.  Bartol  met 
with  them,  and  a  little  later  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  and  later  still 
Miss  Margaret  Fuller,  Miss  Elizabeth  Peabody,  Theodore  Parker, 
etc.,  etc. 

In  September,  1836,  Mr.  Emerson's  first  book,  yV.rz//^r^,  was  pub- 
lished, and  the  same  year  Carlyle's  Sartor  Resartus ;  and  Mr. 
Brownson  was  lecturing  in  the  Masonic  Temple,  subsequently  the 
United  States  Court  House.  In  1837  Mr.  Brownson  commenced 
his  Quarterly  Review.  In  1837  Wendell  Phillips  bounded  into  ora- 
torical prominence,  and  about  this  time  Mr.  George  Ripley's 
Philosophical  Miscellanies,  translations  from  German  philosophy,  were 
published.  In  July,  1840,  the  Dial  was  first  printed,  a  quarterly 
journal  of  remarkable  brightness,  keenness  and  originality,  edited 
by  Mr.  Ripley  and  Miss  Fuller,  and  extending  to  only  sixteen  num- 
bers in  four  brief  years.  Thenceforth  the  transcendental  views  were 
more  widely  extended,  permeating  a  considerable  class  of  cultured 
minds. 

In  1841  a  series  of  Mr.  Emerson's  Essays  was  published.  The  author  might 
proudly  say  of  these  as  Bacon  said  of  his  own,  "  that  their  matter  could  not  be 
found  in  books."  It  is  probable  that  they  would  have  been  at  once  widely  wel- 
comed as  a  positive   addition   to   literature   had  it  not    been  for    some   startling 


806  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

paradoxes  and  audacious  statements,  which,  while  they  were  in  direct  conflict  with 
the  theological  beliefs  of  the  people,  were  supported  neither  by  facts  nor  arguments, 
but  rested  on  the  simple  testimony  of  the  author's  individual  consciousness.* 

Mr.  Emerson's  Peculiarities. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  a  clear  and  satisfactory  digest  of  Mr.  Em- 
erson's views.  He  never  grouped  his  thoughts  together  by  methods 
of  logic.  Insight,  not  logical  processes,  was  his  method.  The  writer 
of  the  article  on  Mr.  Emerson,  in  Appletoiis  Cyclopedia,  says : 

System  in  his  mind  is  associated  with  charlatanism.  His  largest  generalization 
is  "Existence  "  (a  lecture).  On  this  inscrutable  theme  his  conceptions  vary  with 
his  moods  and  his  experiences.  Sometimes  it  seems  to  be  a  man  who  parts  with 
his  personality  in  being  united  to  God  ;  sometimes  it  seems  to  be  God  who  is 
impersonal,  and  who  comes  to  personality  only  in  man,  and  the  real  obscurity  and 
vacillation  of  his  metaphysical  ideas  is  increased  by  the  vivid  and  positive  concrete 
forms  in  which  they  are  successively  clothed.  Generally  the  Divine  Being  is  felt 
or  conceived  as  a  life-imparting  influence,  divinizing  nature  and  man,  and  as 
identical  with  both. 

In  1838  Mr.  Emerson  was  invited  by  the  graduating  class  of  the 
Divinity  School  at  Harvard  College  to  deliver  the  annual  address. 
While  his  audience  admired  and  approved  many  things  in  his 
address,  not  a  few  were  deeply  pained  by  dangerous  utterances 
against  the  supernatural  element  of  Christianity.  This  was  especially 
felt  by  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  who  had  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Emerson  on  the  subject,  which  was  followed  by  correspondence  f 
and  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Ware  on  the  Personality  of  God. 

*  Appleton's  Cyclopedia.     Article,  '•  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson." 

t  Mr.  Emerson's  letter  to  Mr.  Ware  will  show  the  peculiar  character  of  his  mind  and  his  tran- 
scendental theories.  He  says  :  "  I  believe  I  must  tell  you  what  I  think  of  my  new  position.  It 
strikes  me  very  oddly  that  good  and  wise  men  at  Cambridge  should  think  of  raising  me  into  aa 
object  of  criticism.  I  have  always  been— from  my  incapacity  of  methodical  writing—'  a  chartered 
libertine,"  free  to  worship  and  free  to  rail— lucky  when  I  could  make  myself  understood,  but 
never  esteemed  near  enough  to  the  institutions  and  mind  of  society  to  deserve  the  notice  of 
masters  of  literature  and  religion.  I  have  appreciated  fully  the  advantages  of  my  position,  for  I 
well  know  that  there  is  no  scholar  less  willing  or  less  able  to  be  a  polemic.  I  could  not  give 
account  of  myself  if  challenged.  I  could  not  possibly  give  you  one  of  the  'arguments'  you  so 
cruelly  hint  at  on  which  any  doctrine  of  mine  stands;  fir  I  do  not  know  what  arguments  mean 
in  reference  to  any  expression  of  thought.  I  delight  in  telling  what  I  think,  but  if  you  ask  me 
how  I  dare  say  so,  or  why  it  is  so,  I  am  the  most  helpless  of  mortal  men.  I  do  not  even  see  that 
either  of  these  questions  admits  of  an  answer.  So  that,  in  the  present  droll  posture  of  my  affairs, 
when  I  see  myself  suddenly  raised  into  the  importance  of  a  heretic,  I  am  very  uneasy  when  I 
advert  to  the  supposed  duties  of  such  a  personage,  who  is  to  make  good  his  thesis  against  all 
comers.  I  certainly  shall  do  no  such  thing.  I  shall  read  what  you  and  otiier  good  men  write,  as 
I  have  always  done — glad  when  you  speak  my  thoughts  and  skipping  the  page  that  has  nothing 
for  me.  I  shall  go  on  ju^t  as  before,  seeing  whatever  I  can  and  telling  what  I  see ;  and,  I  sup- 
pose, with  the  same  fortune  that  has  hitherto  attended  me — the  joy  of  finding  that  my  abler  and 
better  brothers  who  work  with  the  sympathy  of  society,  lovin:j  and  beloved,  do  now  and  then 
unexpectedly  confirm  my  perceptions,  and  find  my  nonsense  is  only  their  own  thought  in  motley." 
(See  Li/e  0/ Rev.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.     Vol.  II,  pp.   188-9.) 


THEODORE  PARKER.  507 

Mr.  Emerson's  ideas  have  exerted  a  great  influence  in  the 
Unitarian  body  and  outside  of  it,  and  he  may  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  forerunners  of  the  later  "  Free  Religion  "  movement.  An 
editorial  in  the  Liberal  Christian  *  said  "  Mr.  Emerson  must  be 
regarded  as  the  fountain-head  of  Rationalism  " — meaning  all  use  of 
reason  which  discards  all  testimony  not  its  own— in  this  country,  and 
especially  in  Boston. 

Theodore  Parker. 

Before  Dr.  Channing's  death  a  young  man  of  remarkable  genius 
and  power  appeared  in  this  denomination,  whose  influence  was 
destined  to  be  widely  felt,  leading  many  minds  to  assert  their  inde- 
pendence of  Christ  and  divine  revelation.  In  1837  Mr.  Theodore 
Parker  became  the  pastor  of  a  Unitarian  church  at  West  Roxbury. 
According  to  the  usual  custom  in  the  denomination,  at  his  ordina- 
tion no  questions  were  asked  in  regard  to  his  theological  opinions. 
He  had  been  a  diligent  student  of  the  rationalistic  literature  of 
Germany,  and  had  formed  views  radically  subversive  of  historic 
Christianity  which  he  hastened  to  proclaim.  In  his  famous  sermon 
on  "  The  Transient  and  Permanent  in  Christianity,"  at  the  ordination 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Shackford  in  South  Boston,  May  19,  1841,  he 
rejected  and  derided  the  supernatural  elements  in  Scripture  history. 
The  Old  Testament  was  treated  as  "  a  pile  of  gorgeous  pictures," 
the  New  "as  filled  with  mistaken  legends  and  opinions,"  and  Jesus 
Christ  as  only  such  a  person  as  others  might  be  if  the  hidden  divin- 
ity within  them  were  fully  revealed.  The  congregation  was  aston- 
ished, and  looked  one  to  another,  but  the  ordination  went  on. 
Boston  Unitarianism  was  stirred  ;  but  freedom  and  progress  had 
ever  been  the  watchwords,  and  there  was  no  remedy.  Mr.  Parker 
had  only  advanced  a  little  beyond  many  of  his  brethren,  but  he  was 
practically  disowned  in  various  ways.  A  few  years  more  sufficed  to 
separate  him  wholly  from  the  denomination,  when  he  boasted  that 
he  "  had  thoroughly  broken  with  the  ecclesiastical  authority  of 
Christendom."!  In  1848  his  name  appeared  in  the  published  list 
of  the  clergy  in  the  Unitarian  Year  Book  for  the  last  time. 

After  Mr.  Parker  appeared  as  a  bold  champion  of  rationalism,  a 
new  influence  was  felt  in  the  Unitarian  denomination.  Channing, 
who  died  in  1842,  had  been,  more  than  any  other  man,  the  leader 
and  prophet  of  the  body,  whose  beautiful  spirit  was  every-where 
felt,  exerting  its  sweet,  genial,  and  almost  magical  influence.  But 
Mr.  Parker  strode  forth  into  the  field  Goliath-like,  rash,  self-willed, 


*July  I,  1871.  ^  Experience  as  a  Minister.     By  Theodore  Parker. 


808  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

without  reverence  for  accumulated  wisdom  and  experience,  confi- 
dent of  superiority  to  the  past,  relying  upon  his  own  personal 
insight — "  a  direct  vision  without  the  correcting  testimony  of  ages.'' 
Channing's  style  was  chaste,  flowing,  direct,  elegant — that  of  "an 
ethical  teacher  by  nature,  a  polemic  by  stress  of  circumstances." 
Parker  was  a  natural  polemic,  scenting  the  battle  from  afar  and 
neighing  for  the  conflict.  He  loved  sharp,  incisive  statements,  had 
a  fatal  habit  of  gross  exaggeration,  often  sacrificed  truth  on  the 
altar  of  personal  conceit,  and  often  in  attempts  at  bold  and  startling 
rhetoric.  He  was  a  man  of  moods  marked  by  a  double  conscious- 
ness, at  one  time  praising  Christ  as 

The  great  friend  of  all  the  sons  of  men, 

and  on  another  occasion  declaring: 

I  have  seen  the  gospel  of  God's  love  more  clearly  written  in  the  life  of  a  cold 
snake  than  even  the  Nazarene  Jesus  could  tell  the  tale. 

Channing  was  a  devout  disciple  of  Christ,  claiming  him  as  the 
source  of  spiritual  life.  Parker  was  a  merciless  critic  of  Christ. 
Channing  was  a  decided  supernaturalist,  though  of  the  rational  order. 
Parker  openly  denounced  all  supernaturalism. 

Strange  contradictions*  met  in  Mr.  Parker:  opposite  extremes  of 
opinion  into  which  he  ran,  oftentimes  with  an  inconsiderate  haste ; 
powers  and  attainments  of  a  giant  united  at  times  with  the  intel- 
lectual weakness  of  a  child.  While  stating  one  class  of  facts  with 
remarkable  clearness,  at  the  same  time  he  had  a  pre-eminent  ability, 
or  liability,  whichever  it  was,  for  utterly  overlooking  other  facts, 
no  less  evident,  of  an  opposite  character.  With  some  indications  of 
many-sidedness,  he  was  nevertheless  notoriously  and  incurably  one- 
sided.    And  this  was  the  most  conspicuous  trait  in  his  character. 

*  Mr.  Parker  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  a  man  of  prodigious  learning.  His 
wonderful  library,  vast  reading,  and  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  world's  faiths  have  been 
much  spoken  of.     The  Christian  Register  (Unitarian)  took  a  different  view  of  him.     It  says  : 

"  Mr.  Parker  was  a  devourer  of  books  ;  an  omnivorous  reader.  The  natural  result  was  a  men- 
tal indigestion.  He  made  his  mind  a  perfect  lumber-room.  Had  he  read  only  a  tenth  part  of 
what  he  credits  himself  with  in  his  journal,  he  would  have  been  wiser,  purer,  and  clearer  in  his 
mental  vision.  Mr.  Frothingham  regards  him  as  a  thoroughly  learned  scholar,  exact,  exhaustive, 
and  trustworthy  in  reporting  his  results.  Such  was  not  the  judgment  of  his  peers  among  his 
brethren— of  scholars  like  Drs.  Frothingham,  Lamson,  Noyes,  Francis,  Hodge,  etc.  It  is  curious, 
after  his  biographer  has  credited  him  with  a  course  of  French  study  and  reading  (he  quotes  sub- 
sequently from  his  journal  in  Paris),  that  'a  cabman  took  compa-ssion  on  him  for  his  ignorance 
of  the  language.'  One  of  his  warmest  admirers,  preaching  upon  him  after  his  death,  said  that 
he  had  read  all  the  books  in  his  library  of  17,000  volumes.  The  author  of  this  preposterous 
statement,  if  he  had  seen,  must  have  forgotten,  that  severely -wrought  essay  of  De  Quincey's  on 
the  number  of  books  which  the  most  diligent  man  can  possibly  read  in  along  life." 

See  also  an  elaborate  criticism  and  very  able  review  of  his  life  and  works  by  Rev.  Prof.  George 
Prentice,  D.D.,  in  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  January  and  April,  1873. 


FREE  RELIGION.  809 

He  was  an  able,  a  decided,  and  an  uncompromising  representative 
of  a  system  which  was  positively  anti-Christian,  and  yet  he  claimed 
to  be  a  restorer  of  true  Christianity.  Historic  Christianity  and  the 
historic  gospels  he  rejected  as  the  corruptions  of  the  ages.  True 
Christianity  he  claimed  to  be  the  absolute  religion;  the  religion  of 
the  intuition,  of  individual  insight;  a  direct  vision  which  is  in  har- 
mony with  the  intuitions  of  the  original  Christ.  Of  this  he  was  a 
restorer;  and  in  this  sense  he  called  himself  a  Christian,  and  not  as 
a  follower  of  what  he  termed  "  the  dogmatic  Christ  "  of  history. 
While  he  quoted  from  the  Scriptures,  he  nevertheless  rejected  large 
portions  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments.  Mr.  Parker, 
however,  clung  to  the  doctrine  of  the  providence  of  God  and  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul.  But  he  seems  to  have  had  no  fully  matured 
system.  He  was  rich  in  thought,  but  not  logical  and  well  defined  ; 
strong  and  forcible  in  style,  but  bold,  erratic,  paradoxical  and 
irreverent. 

Emerson  never  defined  his  views  on  those  questions  of  such  pro- 
found interest  to  human  hearts.  He  abhorred  every  thing  in  the 
shape  of  a  system  or  a  formula,  and  perhaps  we  may  even  say  a 
method  of  thought.  His  genius  delighted  in  vague  but  brilliant 
corruscations  of  mystical  sentiment.  His  susceptibility  to  the 
sublime  was  very  great,  and  there  were,  at  times,  indications  of 
broad  generalizations,  but  broken  and  fragmentary.  His  musings 
are  cold,  strangely  beautiful,  and  sometimes  austere.  In  short,  he 
was  a  dreamer,  and  whatever  semblance  of  system  he  has  is  dreamy 
and  incoherent — a  "gorgeous  mysticism." 

Such  were  the  prophets  of  Free  Religion,  and  the  Free 
Unitarianism  of  Parker  was  its  prefatory  stage. 

But  it  was  not  through  Messrs.  Parker  and  Emerson  alone  that 
these  radical  changes  were  effected.  The  germinal  principle  of 
rationalism  inhered  in  the  body  itself,  and  the  writings  of  Lessing, 
Herder,  Eichorn,  De  VVette,  Strauss,  and  other  rationalistic  writers, 
and  the  transcendental  philosophy,  extensively  welcomed  and 
admired  by  many  Unitarian  clergymen,  have  steadily  fostered  and 
carried  forward  the  movement  of  which  Mr.  Parker  was  the  open 
champion.  Besides  these,  the  phrenologists,  represented  by  Spurz- 
heim  and  Combe,  the  writings  of  Wordsworth,  Carlyle,  Coleridge 
and  Cousin,  just  then  very  generally  disseminated,  increased  and 
strengthened  this  tendency. 

Thus  closes  the  classical  era  of  Unitarianism.  The  Christian 
Examiner  and  The  Religions  Monthly  Magazine  were  its  leading 
periodicals,  abounding  in  specimens  of  fine  literature. 


510  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  ;^.— Universalism. 

The  incipient  stages  of  the  formation  of  this  denomination  were 
sketched  in  the  previous  period.  Rev.  Elhanan  Winchester,  the 
founder  of  the  Restoration  wing,  died  in  1796.  and  Rev.  John  Mur- 
ray, the  chief  founder,  continued  in  the  active  ministry  in  Boston, 
with  occasional  preaching  tours  in  the  country,  until  1809,  when  he 
was  disabled  by  paralysis  until  his  death  in  18 14.  Until  1820  the 
growth  of  this  denomination  was  slow,  but  from  1820  to  1850  it 
rapidly  increased,  reaching  its  maximum  size  numerically  in  its  whole 
history.  The  period  from  1800  to  1850  was  one  of  radical  theolog- 
ical changes,  in  which  the  more  evangelical  views  of  Murray  and 
Winchester  were  discarded,  and  Arian  and  Socinian  ideas  were 
adopted,  sharing  in  the  general  revulsion  then  going  on  in  New 
England  and  elsewhere  in  the  direction  of  Unitarianism.  Thence- 
forth Universalism  bore  strong  resemblance  to  Unitarianism. 

The  Leaders. 

The  leading  spirits  of  the  period  were  Revs.  Hosea  Ballou,  D.D., 
Walter  Balfour  and  Thomas  Whittemore,  D.D.  Rev.  Sebastian 
Streeter  should  also  be  introduced,  being  for  many  years  a  very 
popular  Universalist  preacher  in  Boston  ;  but  Messrs.  Ballou,  Bal- 
four and  Whittemore  evidently  shaped  the  period. 

Mr.  Ballou  began  to  preach  in  1791,  became  pastor  of  a  Univer- 
salist Church  in  Dana,  Mass.,  in  1794,  then  went  to  Barnard,  Vt., 
then  to  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,to  Salem,  Mass.,  in  181 5,  and  to  Boston 
in  18 1 7,  where  he  remained  pastor  of  the  School  Street  Church 
until  his  death,  in  1852.  When  he  came  to  Boston  he  was  in  his 
forty-second  year,  and  had  already  acquired  considerable  influence 
in  the  denomination.  He  had  been  a  diligent  student  and  a  steady 
thinker,  and  the  views  for  which  he  became  distinguished  were 
already  nearly  matured.  Mr.  Whittemore  says  that  "  he  became  an 
avowed  Unitarian  as  early  as  1795."  *  He  thus  early  rejected  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  of  a  personal  devil.  In  i8d4he  published  a 
volume  o{  Notes  on  the  Parables  and  in  1805  a  Treatise  on  the  Atone- 
ment, which  was  essentially  Unitarian  in  its  character.  He  discarded 
the  doctrine  of  regeneration  and  the  efficacy  of  saving  grace  and 
faith  in  Christ,  as  taught  by  Murray  and  the  evangelical  theologians. 
Boston  was  a  central  position,  where  Mr.  Ballou  became  very  prom- 
inent at  once,  and  was  soon  felt  as  a  master-mind,  the  leader  and 
champion  of  the  denomination. 

*Li/e  0/ Ballou.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  87. 


UNIVERSALIST  LEADERS.  311 

In  the  dissemination  of  his  peculiar  views  Mr.  Ballou  was  soon 
supported  by  several  men  who  exerted  an  extensive  influence.  The 
one  who  attained  to  the  earliest  prominence  was  Rev.  Walter 
Balfour.  He  had  been  reared  and  well  educated  in  Scotland,  and 
became  pastor  of  a  Baptist  Church  in  Charlestown,  Mass.  In  1823 
he  avowed  himself  a  Universalist,  and  within  a  few  years  he  pub- 
lished some  of  their  ablest  controversial  works.  He  died  January 
3,  1853,  almost  five  months  after  the  decease  of  Mr.  Ballou.  Rev. 
Thomas  Whittemore,  D.D.,  although  a  much  younger  man,  came 
very  soon  into  the  front  ran^,  and  maintained  it  until  his  death  in 
1861.  He  was  born  in  Boston,  in  the  year  1800.  In  his  twentieth 
year  he  fell  under  Mr.  Ballou's  influence,  with  whom  he  studied  for 
the  ministry,  and  entered  upon  its  work  in  Milford,  Mass..  in  182 1. 
The  following  year  he  became  pastor  of  a  church  in  Cambridge, 
where  he  remained  nine  years.  During  a  part  of  this  period  he  was 
editor  of  the  Universalist  Trumpet  and  Magazine,  which  position  he 
held  with  great  ability  for  thirty  years.  He  early*  adopted  Mr. 
Ballou's  theological  opinions,  and  was  an  able  and  zealous  expounder 
and  advocate  of  them  in  his  paper.  Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.D.,  is 
worthy  of  especial  mention  in  this  period,  having  e.xerted  a  very 
extensive  influence  as  a  preacher,  an  editor,  and  the  author  of  a 
Universalist  Commentary  on  the  Nezu  Testament.  He  commenced 
preaching  among  them  in  Maine  in  1820,  came  to  Maiden,  Mass., 
in  1828,  where  he  was  pastor  of  a  church  ten  years.  He  was  editor 
of  the  Christian  Freeman  from  1839  ""^'^  1^62,  when  it  was  united 
with  the  Trumpet.  Mr.  Cobb  was  very  prominent  in  the  anti- 
slavery  and  temperance  reforms. 

Revolutionized  by   Unitarianism. 

Under  the  influence  of  these  men  and  a  few  others  Universalism 
was  soon  molded  into  a  new  form,  although  still  retaining  the 
leading  idea  of  the  final  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men.  These 
changes  were  not  wholly  the  result  of  individual  influence,  but  were 
largely  the  drift  of  the  time— a  reaction  from  the  extreme  Calvinistic 
theology  which  then  prevailed.  This  defection  was  every-where 
spreading  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  period,  and  reached  its  decisive 
development  from  18 10  to  1830,  the  early  Universalists  being 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  it.  Having  broken  away  from  orthodoxy 
at  one  point  it  was  easy  to  make  other  changes.  Mr.  Murray  seems 
to  have  noticed  this  tendency  before  he  died.     In  the  sketch  of  the 

*  See  sermon  by  Mr.  Whittemore,  preached  in  Cambridge,  May,  1822. 


512  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES.      ' 

previous  period  Mr.  Murray's  apprehensions  of  changes  about  to  take 
place  among  his  followers  was  noticed.  Mrs.  Murray,  in  her  con- 
tinuation of  her  husband's  autobiography,  speaking  of  the  conven- 
tion in  1785,  says,  "  But  alas  !  in  no  long  time  a  root  of  bitterness 
sprang  up  which  destroyed  his  pleasure  in  the  association."  Mr. 
Demarest,*  in  his  Centennial  edition  of  the  Life  0/ Murray,  says-. 

The  "  root  of  bitterness  "  to  which  Mrs.  Murray  refers  was  probably  the  widen- 
ing divergence  of  the  views  of  his  brethren  from  those  of  Mr.  Murray.  Not  only 
did  these  relate  to  expositions,  but  also  to  fundamental  doctrines.  Some  had 
already,  even  before  Mr.  Ballou's  day,  adopted  the  sentiment  that  the  painful  con- 
sequences of  sin  are  confined  to  this  life.  OtTiers,  retaining  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  rejected  the  theory  of  vicarious  atonement,  while  the  general  tendency  of 
thought  among  Universalists  was  in  the  direction  of  Unitarian  views  of  the  divine 
nature.  These  various  sentimetits,  conflicting  with  Mr.  Murray's  own  cherished 
ideas  of  Gospel  truth,  caused  him  much  uneasiness. 

Rev.  Hosea  Ballon  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  earliest  pro- 
moters of  the  Unitarian  sentiment  of  New  England.  Other  early 
Universalist  ministers  had  entertained  similar  views,  but  they  were 
for  the  most  part  cautious  and  hesitating  in  their  avowals  until  they 
came  under  the  bold  and  inspiring  leadership  of  Ballou.  Mr. 
Whittemore  says  that  "  he  was  not  shy  of  his  Unitarian  opinions. 
Soon  after  his  removal  to  Boston  he  assailed  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  with  much  power.  He  published  clear  and  correct  articles 
on  the  subject  of  the  atonement  and  on  the  general  character  of 
rational  and  liberal  Christianity.  The  Unitarians  were  fearful  they 
should  be  considered  Universalists,"  f  and  the  younger  Ware  came 
out  with  a  disclaiiner  in  letters  to  Dr.  McLeod,  of  New  York. 
Meanwhile  the  transition  to  Unitarianism  was  rapid.  Rev.  Paul 
Dean,  of  Boston,  preached  before  the  General  Convention  of 
Universalists  in  1825,  and  in  his  discourse  he  distinctly  avowed 
Trinitarian  opinions.  Mr.  Whittemore  says,  "  This,  we  believe,  was 
the  last  time  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  ever  preached  before 
the  Convention."  if     Again  Mr.  Whittemore  says: 

From  the  early  years  of  Mr.  Ballou's  ministry  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  was  a 
firm,  consistent,  faithful  defender  of  the  strict  unity  of  God  and  of  the  sonship  and 
subordination  of  Christ  to  the  Father.  Never  did  he  waver  in  this  matter.  On 
every  proper  occasion,  in  public  and  in  private,  he  declared,  without  any  reserve, 
his  Unitarian  views.  § 

In  1834  he  published  an  extended  article  against  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  and  in  his   life-time  the   whole  denomination  became 


*  Life  0/  Murray,  1870.     P.  338.  t  Life  of  Ballou.     Vol.  II,  p.  go. 

X  Ibid.     Vol.  II,  p.  30.  §  Ibid.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  170. 


RADICAL  DIVERGENCES.  313 

anti-Trinitarian,  discarding  the  doctrines  of  a  personal  devil,  a  sub- 
stitututioiial  atonement,  depravity,  the  special  efficacy  of  divine 
grace,  regeneration,  etc.,  as  held  by  Murray.     But  there  were  also 

Other  Radical  Changes, 

touching  the  doctrine  of  a  future  judgment  and  punishment  after 
death.  *  Murray  and  Winchester  both  agreed  in  a  future  general 
judgment.  We  have  noticed  that  Murray  believed  that  the  wicked 
would  suffer  the  natural  consequences  of  sin  and  unbelief  in  the 
period  between  death  and  the  judgment,  and  then  be  saved,  and 
that  Winchester  held  that  they  would  be  punished  for  a  long  period 
after  the  day  of  judgment  and  then  gathered  into  heaven.  Mr. 
Ballou  rejected  the  doctrine  of  a  future  general  judgment,  contend- 
ing that  it  takes  place  in  the  present  life,  and  that  all  punishment 
for  sin  is  in  this  life.  Originally  he  had  been  a  Restorationist.  The 
history  of  the  change  in  his  mind  will  be  given  in  his  own  words, 
in  a  letter  which  appears  in  Whittemore's  History  of  Modern 
Universalism : 

When  I  wrote  my  Notes  on  the  Parables  (1804)  and  my  Treatise  on  the 
Atonement  (1805)  I  had  traveled  in  iny  mind  away  from  penal  sufferings  so 
entirely  that  I  was  satisfied  that  if  any  suffered  in  the  future  state  it  would  be 
because  they  would  be  sinful  in  that  state.  But  I  cannot  say  that  I  was  fully  sat- 
isfied that  the  Bible  taught  no  puni<:hment  in  the  future  world  until  I  obtained  this 
satisfaction  by  attending  to  the  suliject  with  Brother  Edward  Turner,  of  Charles- 
town.  For  the  purpose  of  satisfying  ourselves  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the 
Scriptures  on  this  question  we  agreed  to  do  the  best  we  could,  he  in  favor  of  future 
punishment  (Restorationism).  and  I  the  contrary.  Our  investigations  were  pub- 
li  hed  in  a  periodical  called  the  Gospel  Visitant.  While  attending  to  this  corre- 
spondence I  became  entirely  satisfied  that  the  Scriptures  begin  and  end  the  history 
of  sin  in  flesh  and  blood,  and  that  beyond  this  mortal  existence  the  Bible  teaches 
no  other  sentient  state  but  that  which  is  called  by  the  blessed  names  of  life  and 
immortality. 

This  discussion  occurred  in  the  years  1817  and  iSiS.f  From 
this  time  Mr.  Ballou  was  fully  committed  to  the  doctnne  of  no 
punishment  after   death,  boldly  avowing  it  in  a  controversy  with 

♦  Rev  E  G  Brooks,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  Universalist  Quarterly,  April.  1871. 
savs  "  Up  to  about  18.4-15  the  doctrine  of  future  punishment  can  hardly  be  sa.d  to  have  been 
Ques'tioned  among  us.  Held  on  various  grounds  as  to  its  philosophy,  the  idea  that  the  pamful 
cons'-quences  of  sin  extend  beyond  the  grave  was  almost  undisputed.  Some  of  the  "P'n'O"^  of 
Father  Ballou  logically  issued  in  the  doctrine  of  the  immediate  fehc.ty  of  all  at  death  ;  but 
the  Bible  was  thought  to  teach  future  punishmenc.  and  in  deference  to  Us  authority  he  accepted 
t  As  might  have  been  expected,  however,  the  Logical  c  nsequences  of  h.s  fundamental  postu- 
ates  tou'h^ng  the  subject  began  in  time  to  assert  themselves-at  first,  mtermgat.vey.  then  tnore 
poJtive"y.  Fr..m  1814  to  .8.7  the  question  gradually  pushed  .tself  mto  d.scuss.on. 
t  Life  0/  Ballou.  Vol.  II,  pp.  28,  29- 
33 


814  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Rev.  Timothy  Merritt  in  1818,  in   his  pulpit  discourses  and  in  his 
writings  for  the  press. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  there  should  have  been  a  commotion 
in  some  quarters,  and  even  opposition  to  this  new  doctrine,  for 
Restorationism  in  some  form  seems  to  have  been  heretofore  held  by 
many,  and  probably  by  the  majority  of  the  Universalists  of  that 
period.  The  conflict  became  very  spirited,  enlisting  a  great  amount 
of  feeling,  especially  among  the  Restorationists,  who  looked  with 
jealousy  upon  the  growing  influence  of  Mr.  Ballou  and  his  doctrine 
of  no  punishment  after  death.  But  so  dexterous  and  effective,  and 
withal  so  conciliatory  was  Mr.  Ballou  in  the  defense  of  his  views, 
that  he  seemed  to  come  out  of  every  contest  with  a  stronger  hold 
upon  the  denomination.  The  opposing  wing  continued  to  agitate 
and  struggle,  and  finally  conspired;*  and  twice  during  a  period  of 
less  than  nine  years  their  efforts  culminated  in  attempts  to  produce 
a  schism  in  the  Universalist  body. 

We  have  not  space  for  the  details  of  these  movements.  In  1830 
a  new  champion  of  Restorationism  appeared.  Rev.  Adin  Ballou,  of 
Mendon,  Mass.,  who  had  been  about  seven  years  connected  with  the 
denomination,  having  been  originally  a  Baptist.  In  August,  183 1, 
a  convention  of  Universalist  ministers  assembled  in  Mendon,  Mass., 
and  organized  themselves  as  the  "  Massachusetts  Association  of 
Universal  Restorationists."  Great  efforts  were  put  forth  to  make 
this  new  body  successful.  The  conflict  was  sharp  at  first,  but  it 
gradually  declined,  and  Mr.  Whittemore  saysf  it  "died  of  itself." 
Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb  confirms  the  statement  of  Mr.  Whittemore. 
He  says, :{:"  They  operated  in  a  narrow  sphere  a  little  while,  and  in 
a  few  years  were  only  to  be  found  on  record  among  the  things  that 
were.''  Such  was  the  end  of  the  last  organized  effort  to  advance 
the  doctrine  of  Restorationism  in  the  Universalist  body.  Its  de- 
decease  has  generally  been  regarded  as  a  triumph  of  Rev.  Hosea 
Ballou  and  his  party.  The  doctrine  of  Restoration  was  retained  in 
some  form  by  a  considerable  number,  but  its  believers  were  not 
numerous,  nor  were  they  very  active  in  disseminating  their  views 
until  a  few  years  later,  when,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  review  of  the 
next  period,  it  triumphed  in  the  whole  denomination. 

Several  things  may  here  be  noticed  :  I.  The  Universalism  of  the 
period  agreed  with  the  opinions  of  Murray  and  Winchester  only  on 
one  point  ;  namely,  the  final  salvation  of  all  men.  2.  The  doc- 
trines   of   Murray  and  Winchester  in    regard  to    the    existence  of 

*  See  Li/e  of  Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.D.,  p.  107. 

t  Lt/e  0/ Ballou.    By  Whittemore.    Vol.  Ill,  p.  321.  J  Li/e 0/ Rev.  S.  Cobb,  D.D.,  p.  iii. 


THE  CHRISTIANS.  613 

a  personal  devil,  a  local  hell,  the  Trinity,  a  substitutional  atone- 
ment, the  efficacy  of  divine  grace  through  faith  in  Christ,  regenera- 
tion and  sanctification  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  a  future  general 
judgment,  were  all  discarded,  between  1817  and  1850,  by  Ballou  and 
his  followers,  and  Unitarian  views  were  adopted  in  place  of  nearly 
all  of  them.  3.  Even  the  Restorationists  of  this  period  discarded 
Mr.  Winchester's  views  of  a  general  judgment  ;  nor  did  they  teach 
regeneration  and  other  evangelical  doctrines  as  he  did.  Mr.  VVhitte- 
more*  admitted  that  neither  party  held  the  above-mentioned  views 
as  Murray  and  Winchester  did.  He  also  says  that  "  Mr.  Ballou  was 
instrumental  in  changing  almost  entirely  the  faith  of  the  whole 
denomination."  f 


Section  5.— The  Cliristians. 

This  denomination  had  a  threefold  origin — Methodist,  Baptist, 
and  Presbyterian  ;  being  formed  by  the  combination  of  three  original 
stems  which  simultaneously  arose  in  different  sections  of  the  coun- 
try remote  from  each  other,  without  any  preconcerted  action  or 
even  knowledge  of  each  other's  movements.  The  central,  actuating 
principle  in  each  case  was  a  revolt  from  creeds  and  ecclesiastical 
authority. 

The  first  movement  was  made  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia 
by  Rev.  James  O'Kelley  and  several  other  preachers  of  the  Meth- 
oflist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  O'Kelley  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  General  Conference  in  1792,  and  had  made  a  strenuous 
effort  to  effect  a  modification  of  the  power  of  the  Bishops  in  the 
appointment  of  the  preachers  to  their  pastoral  charges,  but  was 
unsuccessful.  The  next  morning  after  his  motion  was  lost,  he  and  a 
few  of  his  friends  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Conference,  declaring 
that  they  could  no  longer  remain  with  them.  After  several  unsuc- 
cessful personal  interviews  with  committees  of  the  Conference,  Mr. 
O'Kelley  left  the  seat  of  the  Conference  for  his  home.  About  the 
same  time  it  was  ascertained  that  Mr.  O'Kelley  had  become  heter- 
odox in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  would  have  soon 
been  brought  to  trial  had  no  rupture  on  questions  of  polity  oc- 
curred.:}: But  the  withdrawal  was  final  and  irrevocable;  a  grief  to 
many,  on  account  of  his  hitherto  valuable  labors.  The  final  sepa- 
ration from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  took  place  at  Manakim 


*See  Trumpet,  September  17,  183'.  +  ^'/'  0/ Ballou.    By  Whittemore.    Vol.  II.  p.  88. 

tSee  A  Short  History  of  the  Methodists  in  the  United  States.     By  Rev.  Jesse  Lee.     Bal- 
timore, 1810.     Pp.  179,  180. 


816  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Town,  N.  C,  December  25,  1793.  The  seceding  party  at  first  took 
the  name  of  "  Republican  Methodists,"  but  subsequently  concluded 
to  be  known  as  Christians  only,  acknowledging  no  headship  but 
Christ  and  no  creed  or  discipline  but  the  Bible. 

The  second  movement  originated  in  Hartland,  Vt.,  with  Dr. 
Abner  Jones,  a  member  of  the  regular  Baptist  Church.  During  the 
last  few  years  of  the  last  century  he  is  said  to  have  "had  a  peculiar 
travail  of  mind  in  regard  to  sectarian  names  and  human  creeds." 
He  commenced  to  propagate. his  sentiments  with  zeal  and,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1800,  he  had  gathered  a  church  of  twenty-five  members  in 
Lyndon,  Vt.  In  1802  he  gathered  another  in  Bradford,  Vt.,  and,  in 
March,  1803,  another  in  Piermont,  N.  H.  Soon  after  Rev.  Elias 
Smith,  a  Baptist  minister  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and,  through  his 
influence,  his  church,  also  adopted  the  same  views.  Several  other 
preachers  from  the  Regular  Baptist  and  the  Free-Will  Baptist 
churches  soon  rallied  under  this  standard,  and  labored  with  great 
zeal  and  success,  extending  the  influence  of  their  views  through 
many  parts  of  New  England,  into  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  Michigan,  the  Canadas,  and  New  Brunswick. 

The  third  movement  had  its  origin  among  the  Presbyterians  in 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  during  the  years  1800  and  1801.  In  the 
midst  of  a  very  extraordinary  revival  of  religion  which  then  pre- 
vailed, some  of  the  leading  promoters  of  the  work  broke  loose  from 
the  Calvinistic  creed  and  preached  the  doctrine  of  free  salvation. 
Some  of  the  presbyteries  felt  that  the  Church  was  in  jeopardy,  and 
finally  the  Synod  of  Kentucky  interposed  its  authority  to  prevent 
the  spread  of  "Arminianism."  Rev.  Barton  VV.  Stone,  of  Kentucky, 
a  learned  and  eloquent  minister,  and  four  others,  withdrew  from  the 
Synod  and  were  soon  followed  by  a  considerable  number  of  com- 
municants and  a  large  portion  of  the  converts  in  the  revival.  At 
first  they  organized  themselves  under  the  name  of  "  the  Springfield 
Presbytery,"  but  in  1803  they  abandoned  that  name  and  agreed  to 
be  known  as  "Christians"  only. 

Thus,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  unbeknown  to  each  other, 
these  three  branches  arose  in  remote  sections  of  the  country.  After 
the  lapse  of  several  years  they  obtained  some  knowledge  of  each 
other,  and  upon  opening  a  correspondence  they  were  mutually  sur- 
prised to  find  that  all  had  embraced  nearly  the  same  principles,  and 
were  carrying  forward  a  similar  work.  These  three  bodies  thereupon 
united  in  one  denomination,  under  the  name  of  "  Christians,"  on 
the  following  platform :  "  That  the  name  Christian  is  the  only  name 
of  distinction  which  we  take,  and  by  which  we  as  a  denomination 


THE  PROGRESSIVE  FRIENDS.  817 

desire  to  be  known,  and  the  Bible  is  our  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice." 

This  is  a  decidedly  no-creed  sect,  every  man  interpreting  the 
Bible  for  himself,  and  therefore  a  difference  of  theological  views  is 
no  bar  to  fellowship.  They  are  understood,  however,  as  discarding 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  although  there  are  some  exceptions  to 
this  among  them.  Discarding  the  deity  of  Christ  and  the  distinct 
personality  and  deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  are  nevertheless  not 
Socinians  or  Humanitarians,  but  Arians,  accepting  Jesus  Christ  as 
"the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  existing  with  the  Father  before  all 
worlds." 

The  "Christians"  hold  a  general  convention  every  four  years, 
and  annual  conferences  composed  of  lay  and  clerical  delegates. 
But  neither  of  these  bodies  can  pass  any  laws  binding  the  churches. 
The  first  General  Convention  was  held  October  7,  18 19.  This 
denomination  had  a  very  rapid  growth  up  to  1844,  when  Rev. 
David  Millard,'*  a  prominent  minister  among  them,  estimated  their 
numbers  as  follows : 

Preachers 1,500   Churches 1,500 

Licentiates 500   Communicants 325,000 

At  this  time,  however,  "  Millerism  "  took  a  powerful  hold  upon 
them,  and  they  suffered  more  seriously  from  its  ravages  than  any 
other  religious  body.  They  have  never  recovered  from  that  delete- 
rious influence. 


Section  4.— Tlie  Hicksite  or  ProgressiYe  Friends. 

This  body  of  religionists  had  its  origin  in  a  Socinian  tendency; 
a  part  of  a  general  drift  in  the  American  churches  early  in  this  cent- 
ury out  of  which  the  Unitarian  schism  sprung,  and  by  which  the 
Universalist  churches  were  permeated  and  leavened.  Among  the 
Friends  this  movement  was  under  the  strong  leadership  of  Elias 
Hicks,  a  man  of  great  acuteness  and  energy  of  intellect,  and  of  ele- 
vated personal  character.  Imbibing  Socinian  views  of  the  Trinity 
and  the  Atonement,  he  began  to  preach  them,  but  cautiously  at  first, 
and  with  little  sympathy  from  his  brethren.  Gradually  he  attracted 
attention,  and  won  adherents,  until  he  gained  a  large  number  of  fol- 
lowers. Unable  to  carry  the  body  of  the  Friends  at  large  over  to 
his  opinions,  in  1827  he  seceded  from  the  denomination  and  formed 
a  distinct  and  independent  body,  bearing  at  first  the  name  Hicks- 

*  Author  of  Travels  in  Egypt,  Arabia  and  the  Holy  Land. 


818  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ites,  but  subsequently,  the  designation  of  Progressive  Friends.  In 
this  secession  were  members  from  the  Yearly  Meetings  of  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  New  England. 
At  the  time  of  the  separation  the  old  body,  or  the  "  Orthodox 
Friends,"  were  in  the  western  States  the  more  numerous,  but  on 
the  Atlantic  sea-board  the  followers  of  Hicks  were  the  larger 
portion. 

—         ■    ^    ^ 

Section  5.— The  Hew  JertLsalem  Chiircli. 

In  the  previous  period  the  earlier  seed-sowing  of  Swedenborg's 
ideas  in  America  was  briefly  stated.  "  In  the  year  1814  Mr.  Samuel 
Worce.ster  met  with  some  of  the  writings  of  Svvedenborg  in  Ded- 
ham,  Mass. — books  that  had  been  distributed  by  Mr.  Hill.  He  soon 
became  convinced  of  their  truth,  and  was  very  active  in  seeking  out 
and  gathering  together  those  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity  who  had 
any  acquaintance  with  them.  The  first  meetings  were  held  in  18 17, 
and  the  Society  in  Boston  was  organized  as  a  church  August  15, 
18 18,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Thomas  Worcester,  brother  of 
Samuel."* 

In  18 1 8  the  Swedenborgians  in  the  United  States  were  organ- 
ized into  a  General  Convention,  which  meets  annually.  The 
American  Quarterly  Register  ^  gives  the  statistics  gathered  at  their 
eleventh  annual  meeting  in  Boston,  in  August,  1829:  Ordained 
ministers,  9;  priests  and  teaching  ministers,  6;  licentiates,  14; 
total,  29. 

Receivers  of  the  doctrine  were  found  in  5  towns  in  Maine,  in  3 
in  New  Hampshire,  in  24  in  Massachusetts,  in  2  in  Rhode  Island, 
in  I  in  Connecticut,  in  14  in  New  York,  in  2  in  New  Jersey,  in 
22  in  Pennsylvania,  in  22  in  Ohio,  in  17  in  other  States. 


Section  C— Millerism. 

The  peculiar  views  of  Christ's  second  advent,  known  by  the 
above  caption,  were  imbibed  by  Mr.  William  Miller  about  i8i8,but 
were  not  promulgated  by  him  until  the  year  i83i,when  he  set  them 
forth  in  a  series  of  articles  in  the  Vermont  Telegraph.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  published  a  synopsis  of  his  views  in  a  pamphlet,  and 
soon  after  commenced   to  deliver  lectures  upon  the  subject.     In 

•Communication  to  the  author  by  S.  R.  Worcester,  M.D.,  of  Salem,  Mass. 
t  February,  1830,  p.  188. 


MILLERISM.  319 

1836  a  volume  of  his  lectures  was  published  and  widely  circulated. 
In  1838  Rev.  Josiah  Litch,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  adopted  Mr.  Miller's  views,  and  published 
a  pamphlet,  entitled  The  Midnight  Cry,  proclaiming  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  about  A.  D.  1843.  He  also  went  forth  to  preach 
and  lecture  on  the  subject.  In  1839  Mr.  Miller  visited  Massachu- 
setts and  itinerated  widely  in  other  States  for  many  years,  even  till 
his  death  in  1849.  At  Exeter,  N.  H.,  he  met  Rev.  J.  V.  Hines,  of 
the  Christian  Connection,  Boston,  who  received  his  doctrines  and 
invited  Mr.  Miller  to  the  latter  city.  Marlborough  Chapel  was 
occupied  for  some  time  for  lectures.  A  revised  edition  of  his  lect- 
ures was  published  by  Mr.  Muzzey,  5,000  copies  selling  in  a  short 
time.  Mr.  Hines  began  to  publish  The  Signs  of  the  Times  March 
20,  1840,  issuing  semi-monthly  and  widely  circulating.  Rev.  Charles 
Fitch,*  pastor  of  the  Marlborough  Chapel  Church,  accepted  the 
new  doctrines  and  went  forth  to  advocate  them.  In  October,  1840, 
a  conference  of  Second  Advent  believers  was  held  in  Chardon 
Street  Chapel,  Boston.  Other  conferencesf  followed  in  1841-1842. 
In  the  spring  of  1842  Messrs.  Miller  and  Hines  unfurled  the  banner 
of  Second  Adventism  in  Apollo  Hall,  Broadway,  New  York  city. 
Numerous  camp-meetings  were  held,  and  meetings  under  immense 
tents.  Revival  services  lasting  days  and  weeks  accompanied  the 
lectures,  followed  by  powerful  religious  awakenings  and  much  ab- 
normal excitement.  Books,  tracts,  etc.,  were  profusely  scattered. 
As  the  supposed  end  of  the  world  drew  near  the  excitement  in 
certain  classes  of  minds  became  intense. 

Some  neglected  their  business;  they  had  property  enougli  to  support  them  till 
the  final  conflagration,  and  why  should  they  accumulate  more?  Some,  who  were 
poor,  quartered  themselves  upon  those  who  were  rich  ;  some  gave  away  their  prop- 
erty to  those  who  wished  to  use  it.  There  were  some,  however,  who  were  more 
considerate;  they  continued  to  work  at  their  calling,  built  houses  and  substantial 
fences,  and  conducted  themselves  in  all  respects  as  they  would  if  the  world  was  to 
continue  many  years,  and  assigned  as  a  reason  for  so  doing  that  the  command  of 
Christ  was,  "Occupy  till  I  come." 

*  A  few  other  early  and  prominent  advocates  of  Mr.  Millers  views  should  be  mentioned. 
Professor  N.  M.  Whiting,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  an  able  lingiiist,  who  embraced  them  in  1841. 
and  became  the  editor  of  the  Midnight  Cry;  Mr.  N.  Southard,  known  as  editor  of  the  Vout/i's 
Cabinet,  who  adopted  these  views  in  1841,  and  succeed-d  Mr.  Whiting  as  editor  of  the  Midnight 
Cry.  and  Rev.  George  Storrs,  formerly  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but  subsequently  pastor  of  an  independent  Methodist  Church  in 
Albany,  who  went  over  to  Adventism  in  1842. 

+  This  Conference  became  a  permanent  body,  holding  annual  sessions  until  1858,  when  it 
resolved  itself  into  the  American  Evangelical  Advent  Conference,  and  at  the  same  time  organ- 
ized the  American  Millennium  Association,  which  purchased  the  publishing  interests  of  Rev.  J. 
v.  Hines. 


820  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Many  valuable  essays  in  opposition  to  the  views  of  Mr.  Miller 
were  published  by  Professors  Moses  Stuart,  D.D.,  Enoch  Pond, 
D.D.,  Rev.  John  Dowling  and  others,  but  with  little  avail.  The 
deluded  ones  were  in  no  condition  to  be  aided  by  argument;  dis- 
sent and  objections  they  construed  as  persecution.  The  day  was 
fixed  (April  23,  1843,)  f^r  the  world  to  end,  but  it  passed  quietly  by 
with  no  remarkable  phenomena.  When  a  confession  of  a  mistake 
was  looked  for  the  pride  of  opinion  for  a  time  held  them  back,  but, 
forced  at  length  to  a  partial  acknowledgment,  they  admitted  a  slight 
mistake,  and  said  the  event  would  take  place  "  in  the  end  rather 
than  the  beginning  of  the  Jewish  year,  which  would  be  March  22, 
1844."     An  intelligent  observer  said  : 

The  specified  day  came,  as  calm  and  bright  a  harbinger  of  spring  as  ever 
shone  upon  the  earth.     The  Son  of  man  did  not  appear  in  the  clouds  of  heaven. 

The  lecturers  kept  on  lecturing,  and  the  publication  of  their 
books  and  periodicals  did  not  cease.  They  fixed  upon  September 
of  that  year  as  the  crisis,  and  when  September  passed,  they  con- 
cluded that  1847  must  be  the  time,  because  chronologers  varied 
in  their  system  of  dates.  Finally  the  excitement  ended.  Some 
returned  to  their  vocations,  some  to  the  churches,  some  became 
infidels,  and  others  passed  over  into  the  belief  of  materialism,  anni- 
hilationism,  etc. 

A  Radical  Departure. 

A  radical  departure  occurred  in  the  infancy  of  the  movement,  in- 
augurated by  Rev.  Geo.  Storrs,  formerly  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  While  he  was  preaching  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  as  early  as  1842 
he  published  a  pamphlet  setting  forth  the  doctrine  of  the  final  anni- 
hilation of  the  wicked.  Subsequently  he  embraced  the  doctrine  of 
the  pre-millennial  advent  of  Christ  as  held  by  Mr.  Miller,  and  sought 
affiliation  with  him.  He  was  received,  and  improved  his  position 
by  disseminating  his  annihilation  opinions  throughout  almost  the 
entire  body  of  Adventists.  He  published  a  monthly  serial  in  Phil- 
adelphia, and  also  in  New  York  city  for  a  number  of  years,  devoted 
to  the  advocacy  of  his  peculiar  opinions,  among  which  the  follow- 
ing are  the  most  prominent : 

I.  A  denial  of  the  existence  of  the  human  soul  as  a  distinct 
entity.  2.  A  denial  of  conscious  existence  between  death  and  the 
resurrection.  3.  That  the  wicked  will  be  annihilated  after  general 
judgment.  4.  And  at  some  period  Mr.  Storrs  was  accredited  with 
the  disbelief  of  the  resurrection  of  the  wicked. 

The  "Materialistic  Adventists"  are  sometimes  divided  into  two 
classes  :  the  "Christian  Adventists"  and  "Seventh-Day  Adventists." 


RESULTS  OF  SKEPTICAL   THOUGHT.  S21 


CHAPTER  VII. 


SKEPTICISM,   SOCIALISM,    ETC 


Sec.  I.  Radical  Doubt.      |  Sec.  2.  Socialism. 


Section  J.— Radical  DoulDt. 

IT  has  been  stated  in  these  pages  that  the  great  revival  of  1799- 
1803  broke  the  sway  of  French  infidehty  so  prevalent  during 
the  twenty  years  previous,  and  ushered  in  a  new  era  of  spiritual  life 
and  religious  faith.  But  skeptical  habits  were  so  deeply  fastened 
upon  many  individuals  and  some  communities  that  a  considerable 
time  elapsed  before  they  were  thrown  off.  Virginia,  Kentucky  and 
some  portions  of  New  York  suffered  the  longest.  Bishop:;Meade, 
who  was  consecrated  to  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry  in  1818 
at  Williamsburg,  Va.,  the  seat  of  William  and  Mary  College  of 
which  Bishop  Madison  was  then  president,  has  represented  the 
moral  and  religious  condition  of  eastern  Virginia  at  that  time  as 
most  deplorable. 

On  mv  way  to  the  old  church  the  Bishop  and  myself  met  a  number  of  students 
with  gun  on  their  shoulders  and  dogs  at  their  sides,  attracted  by  ^^e  frosty  morn- 
".  which  was  favorable  to  the  chase  ;  and  at  the  same  fme  one  of  the  cU.zen 
wf;  filling  his  ice-house.  On  arriving  at  the  church  we  found  .t  ma  wretched 
TndU  in'wTh  broken  windows  and  a  gloomy,  comfortless  aspect.  The  congre- 
eation  consisted  of  two  ladies  and  fifteen  gentlemen,  nearly  all  of  whom  were 
felatives  or  acquaintances.  ...  The  religious  condition  of  the  college  and  o  the 
ntce  may  be  inferred.  I  was  infor.ned.  that  not  long  before  this  two  questions 
we  e  ^s  usseH.  a  literary  society  of  the  college.  First.  Whether  there  be  a 
God  P  Secondly.  Whether  The  Christian  religion  had  been  mjunous  or  heneficia 
to  Lldnd  >  It^fidelity  was  then  rife  in  the  State,  and  the  Col  ege  of  \V  .U.am  and 
Ma^was  rega  ded  asihe  hot-bed  of  French  politics  and  rehg.on.  can  truly  say 
^  \  en  nTL  some  time  after,  in  every  educated  young  man  m  V.rgm.a  whon. 
1  met  I  expected  to  find  a  skeptic,  if  not  an  avowed  unbeliever.* 

In  1802  Rev.c^eth  Payson.  D.D.,  of  Rindge,  N.  H.,  published  a 
volume  entitled  Proofs  of  the  Existau^_and_Dangcrous  Tendency  of 

-^^^j;^^;;-^;;;;^^^  By  BLsh.,p  WilUan.  .Meade.  D.D. 

PhiSphia.     .857.     J.B.LippincoU&Co.     Vol.  I.  pp.  ^,  30. 


822  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Modern  ''Illuminism"  To  render  their  opposition  to  Christianity 
the  more  effective  the  French  and  German  infidels  had  formed 
secret  societies,  the  members  of  which  were  called  "  the  Illuminati." 
It  was  believed  that  such  societies  existed  in  this  country,  aiming  at 
the  overthrow  of  the  Church  and  civil  government.  This  volume 
was  intended  as  a  warning. 

It  was  not  until  some  years  after  the  century  opened  that  the 
moral  darkness  and  infidelity  that  long  prevailed  in  western  New 

York  were  dissipated.     J E ,  agent  for  the  Holland  Land 

Company,  exerted  a  very  pernicious  and  disastrous  influence.  He 
disregarded  the  Sabbath,  and  was  opposed  to  all  religious  institu- 
tions. The  whole  surrounding  region  was  long  noted  for  its  irre- 
ligion.  It  was  a  common  remark  that  the  Sabbath  had  not  found 
its  way  across  the  Genesee  River.  An  infidel  club  was  early  formed, 
and  by  them  a  circulating  library,  containing  the  works  of  Voltaire, 
Volney,  Hume  and  Paine,  was  established.*  Early  missionaries 
along  Lake  Erie  and  as  far  west  as  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  1808  and 
1810,  reported:  "Infidelity  abounds  to  an  alarming  degree,  and  in 
various  shapes."  f  "  Here  Satan  keeps  his  strongholds."  "  Infidel- 
ity here  walks  in  brazen  front."  X 

It  has  been  before  noticed  that  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  a 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  were  reported  to  be  in- 
fidels. §  The  services  of  a  chaplain  in  the  Legislature  were  dis- 
pensed with — a  measure  significant  of  the  kind  of  sentiment  in  the 
ascendency,  and  the  Transylvania  University,  founded  by  the  Pres- 
byterians, passed  under  the  control  of  skeptics.  Not  one  of  its 
trustees,  at  one  time  early  in  this  century,  was  a  religious  man,  but 
all  were  skeptical  about  religion.  ||  Rev.  Dr/llolley,  a  gentleman 
of  superior  classical  attainments,  but  an  extreme  Socinian,  was 
elected  to  the  presidency  in  1817.  His  sermons  were  described  as 
but  "little  better  than  eloquent  deism,  with  the  gilding  of  Christian 
phraseology.  Public  opinion  began  to  be  freely  expressed.  It  found 
new  provocation  in  the  publication  of  the  'Transylvania  theses,'  or 
Latin  exercises  of  the  students,  which  showed  only  too  plainly  that 
the  rationalistic  views  of  the  president  were  bearing  fruit  in  the 
minds  of  his  pupils.  .  .  .  His  lessons  in  morals  may  be  judged  from 
his  address  to  the  students :  '  Young  gentlemen,  whatever  you  find 
within  you,  cherish  it,  for  it  is  a  part  of  your  nature;  restrain  it 
not.'  "  1 

*  History  0/  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.      By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D. 

Philadelphia.     Vol.  II,  p.  109,  +///"</.     Vol.  II,  p.  no.  X  Ibid.    Vol.  II,  p.  144. 

§  Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  421.  I  Ibid.    Vol.  II,  p.  300.  K  Ibid.    Vol.  II,  p.  305. 


DOUBTERS.  523 

"Three  Doubting  Thomases." 

The  lives  of  some  of  the  apostles  of  doubt  in  the  previous  century 
were  protracted  into  the  nineteenth  century.  Thomas  Jefferson, 
Thomas  Cooper  and  Thomas  Paine  have  been  described  as  "  born 
democrats  and  social  revolutionists.  Their  opposition  to  the  Church 
was  largely  the  result  of  their  iconoclastic  natures.  The  first  was 
the  political,  the  second  the  scientific,  and  the  third  the  social  rep- 
resentative of  the  contemporary  Anti-Christian  movement.  The 
first  was  influential  by  reason  of  his  political  station  as  President 
of  the  Republic;  the  second  by  reason  of  his  office  as  educator; 
the  third  in  consequence  of  his  early  and  ardent  advocacy  of  the 
cause  of  American  independence.  On  one  occasion  Mr.  Jefferson 
sent  a  government  vessel  to  France  to  convey  Mr.  Paine  to  this 
country  as  the  nation's  guest."* 

The  skeptical  influence  of  these  three  men  was  felt  during  the  / 
first  quarter  of  this  century.  Mr.  Jefferson  died  in  1826,  after 
having  occupied  the  most  prominent  positions  in  the  nation  for 
about  fifty  years.  Early  in  life  a  politician  and  an  unbeliever  of  the 
French  school,  his  religious  opinions  were  subsequently  modified 
under  the  influence  of  Rev.  Joseph  Priestley,  with  whom  he  became 
intimate  after  the  removal  of  the  latter  to  America.  In  later  years 
Mr.  Jefferson  was  much  like  Mr.  Priestley,  a  humanitarian  of  the 
more  radical  Socinian  type,  his  sympathies  never  becoming  enlisted 
with  the  historic  religion,  f  Mr.  Cooper  died  in  1840,  in  South 
Carolina.  Born  in  England,  he  early  became  a  devoted  student  of 
natural  science  and  law.  Entering  into+  the  political  agitations  of 
the  period,  we  have  noticed  him  as  a  member  of  the  English  demo- 
cratic societies.  He  was  sent  as  their  representative  to  "  the  affiliated 
clubs"  of  France,  and  took  part  with  the  Girondists,  but,  appre- 
hending their  downfall,  he  escaped  to  England,  where  he  was  cen- 
sured for  his  course  by  Mr.  Burke  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He 
followed  his  friend  Priestley  to  America  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania 
as  a  lawyer.  Uniting  with  the  democrats  of  that  day  he  vigorously 
opposed  the  administration  of  President  Adams.  For  a  violent 
attack  upon  Mr.  Adams  in  a  Pennsylvania  newspaper,  in    1799,  he 

♦  Paper  on  American  Infidelity,  read  before  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  New  York  city,  Ortob*r. 
,875.   by  Rev.  W.   F.  Warren.  D.D..  LL.D..  President  of  Boston  University.      Harper  Broth- 

^''Vfn'^'s^.sTil.A  of  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  by  Henry  S.  Randall.  LL.D..  was  published 
(New  York  Derby  &  Jackson.  3  vols..  8vo.),  affording  a  fuller  view  of  his  private  character  than 
Inv  other  work  It  is  especially  full  of  details  in  regard  to  his  habits,  conversations,  etc..  m  h.s 
Ltir  vea  s  g  Ig  an  exhibit  of  his  maturest  thoughts.  It  is  evident  that  h.s  religious  opin.otis 
unden  S'a'confiderable  change.  X  See  pp.  3.9.  3-  of  this  volun^e. 


S24  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

was  convicted  of  libel,  fined,  and  imprisoned  six  months.  He  sub- 
sequently held  positions  as  land  commissioner  and  judge,  but  was 
removed  from  the  latter  position  for  arbitrary  conduct.  He  then 
successively  occupied  professorships  in  several  leading  colleges.* 
He  has  been  described  as  "a  vigorous  pamphleteer  in  various 
political  contests  and  an  admirable  conversationalist.  In  philosophy 
he  was  a  materialist,  and  in  religion  a  free-thinker."  In  these  insti- 
tutions he  exerted  a  large  skeptical  influence  over  numerous  classes 
of  young  men. 

The  last  of  the  trio  was  the  most  notorious  of  them  all.  Mr. 
Paine  came  to  the  United  States  in  1774,  where  he  took  a  lively 
interest  in  the  Revolution.  He  went  to  England  in  1787,  and  soon 
after  to  France,  where  his  Age  of  Reason  was  published  in  1794- 
1795,  In  1802  he  returned  to  America,  where  he  died  in  1809.  In 
venturing  to  discuss  the  question  of  revealed  religion  he  attempted 
to  navigate  a  sea  in  which  he  showed  gross  ignorance  of  the  Bible. 
In  this  last  period  of  his  life  he  exhibited  the  ripe  and  loathsome 
fruitage  of  a  long  life  of  corrupt  seed-sowing,  running  down  to  the 
lowest  depths  of  moral  degradation  f  and  dying  a  horrid  death.  % 

*  See  p.  320. 

+  Laborious  attempts  have  been  made  to  vindicate  Mr.  Paine's  character,  by  Robert  G.  Inger- 
soll,  O.  B.  Frothinghara,  and  others.  The  latter  said:  "There  was  a  soul  of  faith  in  him  ;  and 
in  these  days  he  would  take  rank  with  our  beloved  Theodore  Parker."  "  AU  the  gravest  charges 
against  him  have  been  utterly  disproved,  and  have  fallen  to  the  ground.  We  have  left  the 
.memory  of  a  man  full  of  zeal  for  God  and  for  humanity."  Lecture  in  Horticultural  Hall, 
Boston,  January,  1870,  upon  the  "  Beliefs  of  Unbelievers."  But  Hon.  Gouverneur  Morris,  who 
personally  knew  him  well,  wrote  from  Sainport,  France,  June  25,  179,3:  "At  present,  I  am  told, 
he  is  besotted  from  morning  to  night.  He  is  so  completely  down  that  he  would  be  punished  if 
he  were  not  despised."     Letter  to  Hon.  Robert  Morris. 

In  another  letter  from  Sainport  to  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  March  6,  1794,  he  said  of  Paine: 
"  In  the  best  of  times  he  had  a  larger  share  of  every  other  sense  than  common  sense ;  and  1  tely 
the  intemperate  use  of  ardent  spirits  has,  I  am  told,  considerably  impaired  the  small  stock  which 
he  originally  possessed." 

Life  of  Gouverneur  Morris.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  46,  etc. 

A  writer  in  a  leading  secular  paper  described  the  later  period  of  his  life: 

"  He  was  a  sight  to  behold  ;  a  confirmed  drunkard,  a  notorious  liar,  a  profane  wretch,  so 
drunk,  so  profane,  so  filthy,  that  no  decent  person  could  remain  with  him  ;  and,  as  he  had  aban- 
doned Madame  Bonneville  (with  whom  he  eloped  from  Paris),  with  kicks  and  curses,  he  had  no 
companion  but  an  old  black  woman,  who  was  as  drunk  and  as  filthy  as  himself,  and  the  casual 
visitor  would  find  Paine  and  the  negress  dead  drunk  upon  the  floor." 

"  In  1804  he  returned  to  New  York  city.  But  he  was  so  filthy  that  no  one  would  keep  him, 
and,  with  tears,  to  an  old  Welshman,  Paine  cried  out.  '  No  one  will  take  me  in.'  This  Welshman 
had  compassion  on  the  miserable  old  man  ;  dragged  him  out  of  a  low  tavern,  put  him  in  a  tub  of 
hot  water,  and  scraped  this  prophet  of  infidelity  until  the  dirt  peeled  off  of  him.  But  Paine 
soon  became  too  much  for  the  Welshman,  and  he  had  to  turn  him  off.  He  approached  the  close 
of  his  life  one  of  the  dirtiest,  most  drunken,  brutal,  profane,  indecent,  impure,  blasphemous 
mortals  that  any  age  endured — houseless,  penniless,  friendless." 

X  See  the  Life  0/  Rev.  Stephen  Grille! t.,  an  honored  minister  among  the  Friends,  and  Lives 
0/ the  Roman  Catholic  Bishops.      Vol.  I,  pp.  379-385. 


BLASPHEMY.  828 

Blind  Palmer. 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Paine  another  champion  of  his  type  of 
infidelity  arose  who  gained  some  notoriety  in  the  State  of  New 
York  and  in  some  other  parts  of  the  country.     He  was  familiarly 
called  "Blind  Palmer."     A  writer  says  of  him: 

He  collected  together  a  number  who  were  willing  to  hear  and  follow  his 
instructions  in  the  county  of  Orange,  N.  Y.,  and  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
They  espoused  the  cause  and  drank  of  its  consequences.  They  organized  them- 
selves in  opposition  to  the  Christian  religion,  attempted  to  destroy  the  Bible  and  its 
influence.  One  of  their  first  acts  of  folly  and  deeds  of  darkness  was  to  commit 
the  sacred  volume  to  the  flames.  The  object  of  their  association  seemed  to  be 
to  blaspheme  against  the  God  of  heaven  ;  to  show  their  contempt  for  his  law,  his 
religion,  and  his  examples ;  as  also  to  defile  the  pure  altars  of  the  Most  High  with 
mockery  and  ridicule.  They  called  their  association  a  "  Liberal  Meeting,"  and  at 
one  of  their  cabals  at  Nevvburg  administered,  as  I  was  informed  by  those  present, 
the  ordinance  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  to  cats  and  dogs.  .  .  .  Those 
who  belonged  to  that  club  soon  became  vagabonds,  and  most  of  them  were 
followed  by  the  immediate  judgments  of  God. 

At  the  meeting  to  which  I  have  alluded  they  burned  the  Bible,  baptized  a  cat, 
partook  of  the  sacrament  and  administered  it  to  a  dog.  One  of  them  who  par- 
took of  the  sacrament  on  his  way  home  exclaimed,  "My  bowels  are  on  fire  ;  die  I 
must;"  and  die  he  did  that  same  night.  Dr.  H.,  one  of  the  same  company,  was 
found  a  lifeles.s  lump  of  clay  in  his  bed  the  next  morning.  D.  D.,  their  printer, 
fell  in  a  fit  within  three  days  after  and  died.  Three  others  were  drowned  within  a 
few  days,  or  a  short  period  at  most.  D.  M.,  another,  and  a  well-educated  man, 
was  drowned  that  same  season.  His  remains  were  found  fast  in  the  ice  ;  the 
fowls  of  the  air  had  picked  his  bones  above,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  watery 
elements  had  picked  his  bones  below  the  ice.  He  and  the  last  five  mentioned 
were  in  my  employment.  On  seeing  the  fate  of  his  contemporaries  he  expressed 
fearful  apprehensions  of  his  own  approaching  end.  He  said  he  had  been  dis- 
obedient to  his  parents,  had  not  followed  their  directions,  nor  answered  the  ends 
for  which  they  had  educated  him.  They  had  designed  him  for  the  Gospel  ministry, 
and  had  expended  much  on  his  education  for  that  vocation.  B.  A.  was  a  well- 
educated  lawyer,  and  attended  the  meeting  to  which  I  have  alluded.  He  came  to 
his  death  by  starvation.  C.  C.  was  also  educated  for  the  bar,  a  man  of  mind 
superior  to  many,  and  inferior  to  few  of  his  time.  He  by  want,  hunger  and  filth, 
was  thrown  into  a  fever  of  which  he  died,  a- martyr  to  his  own  folly.  S.  C.  hung 
himself.  J.  B.  went  to  the  State  prison  for  perjury.  J.  M.  State  prison  for  house- 
l>reaking.  J.  G.  State  prison  for  stealing  a  horse.  J.  L.  was  whipped  and  ban- 
i.shed  for  stealing  grain.  J.  H.  whipped  and  banished  for  stealing  a  watch. 
D.  D.  was  hired  to  shoot  a  man  for  ten  dollars  and  was  hung.  G.  C.  State 
prison  for  stealing  a  horse.  The  fate  of  C.  G.  I  have  before  stated.  J.  M. 
State  prison  for  forgery.  S.  flogged  and  banished  for  stealing  a  horse.  J.  N. 
and  his  son  State  prison  for  stealing  cattle.  .  .  .  H.  S.  absconded  from  the 
State  for  taking  a  false  oath.  S.  B.  sent  to  State  prison  on  conviction  for 
manslaughter,  and  since  his  discharge  has  taken  a  false  oath,  to  my  knowledge. 
He  knocked  down  James  McKinney,  a  man  eighty  years  of  age,  for  asking  a 
blessing  at  the  table,  and  beat  him  until  his  life  was  in  danger.     He  was  among 


S26  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  earliest  and  most  active  advocates  of  Blind  Palmer.  S.  came  to  his  death  by 
taking  laudanum.  M.,  a  school-teacher,  and  of  the  same  club,  was  sent  to  the 
State  prison  for  embezzlement.  J.  M..  a  brewer,  took  a  false  oath.  It  was  proved 
to  be  false  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  court.  D.  H.  W.  took  a  false  oath,  though 
supported  by  several  of  his  party.  I  could  give  fifteen  more  who  in  the  same  case 
swore  falsely.  ...  R.  J.,  a  printer,  was  hung  for  shooting  a  woman.  F.,  an 
advocate  of  the  same  doctrines,  attempted  suicide  by  cutting  his  own  throat,  etc.  * 

This  most  appalling  picture  has  been  introduced  here  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  the  gross  character  of  much  of  the  infideHty  of 
this  period.  But  the  more  filthy  and  disgusting  details  of  wanton 
lasciviousness,  promiscuously  practiced,  irrespective  of  the  relations 
of  parent  and  child,  among  different  members  of  the  same  family 
belonging  to  this  pestiferous  class,  and  the  unblushing  impudence 
with  which  they  were  vindicated  by  argument,  are  too  loathsome  to 
be  reproduced  here.  Of  the  career  of  "  Blind  Palmer"  most  people 
of  this  country  in  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  this  century  have  prob- 
ably heard  something.  His  profane  and  demoralizing  harangues,  ut- 
tered in  all  places  where  he  could  collect  the  giddy  rabble  to  hear  him, 
excited  the  attention  of  an  intelligent  and  virtuous  magistracy,  who, 
by  a  salutary  provision,  restrained  his  operations  in  New  York  city 
and  very  much  curtailed  his  influence.  From  that  period  his  noto- 
riety began  to  wane  and  his  partisans  went  into  obscurity. 

From  1800  to  1825  the  influence  of  infidelity  gradually  declined 
before  the  aggress-ve  and  continually  augmenting  power  of  Chris- 
tianity. But  two  new  advocates  of  doubt  in  its  rankest  forms  soon 
after  appeared  before  the  American  public. 

Fanny  Wright 

was  born  in  Scotland,  in  1796,  and  died  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  1853. 
Left  an  orphan  when  very  young,  she  was  indoctrinated  by  her 
guardian  with  the  ideas  of  the  French  materialists.  When  but 
twenty-five  years  of  age  she  published  a  defense  of  the  Epicurean 
philosophy.  In  1825  she  purchased  2,000  acres  of  land  in  Ten- 
ne.ssee  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  community  for  the  benefit 
of  emancipated  slaves.  The  e.xperiment  soon  failed,  and  she  entered 
the  field  as  a  public  lecturer  in  the  Eastern  States,  attacking  negro 
slavery  and  various  social  institutions,  and  establishing  "  Fanny 
Wright  Societies." 


*S&?(Practical  Infidelity  Portrayed.  By  Abner  Cunning;ham.  1836.  D.  Cooledge,  New 
Vork  cityr-jTLessing,  Boston  ;  and  N.  Kite,  Philadelphia.  Pp.  46-49.  The  above  statement  is 
confirmed  by  six  affidavits  taken  before  justices  of  the  peace,  and  by  the  recommendations  of 
distinguished  persons. 


SOCIALISM.  527 

Robert  Owen. 

"  In  1824  the  great  English  socialist,  Robert  Owen,  landed  upon 
our  shores  to  proclaim  his  *  New  Moral  Order,*  and  to  practically 
initiate  the  reconstruction  of  human  society.  In  October  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  '  Family '  of  nine  hundred  souls, 
on  a  fruitful  domain  of  30,000  acres  on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash. 
On  the  ensuing  Fourth  of  July,  being  the  semi-centennial  of  the 
Declaration  of  National  Independence,  he  issued  a  pompous  mani- 
festo entitled  '  Declaration  of  Mental  Independence.*  This  was 
the  commencement  of  a  socialistic  fever,  amounting  at  times  and  in 
places  to  a  genuine  mania,  which  for  twenty  years,  in  one  form  or 
another,  inflamed  the  public  mind.  Its  first  phase  was  most  out- 
spokenly anti-religious,  its  last  most  obnoxiously  immoral." 

Mr.  Owen  was  the  coadjutor  and  oftentimes  the  traveling  com- 
panion of  Miss  Wright,  both  proclaiming  the  most  disorganizing 
anti-social  theories.  They  freely  denounced  generally  accepted  prin- 
ciples of  morality  and  social  order,  the  institutions  of  marriage  and 
the  Sabbath,  the  truth  of  divine  revelation,  the  existence  and  gov- 
ernment of  God,  and  an  atheistical  philosophy,  a  "  universally 
leveling  and  libertine  civil  policy,"  was  recommended.  They  claimed 
that  existing  governments  were  oppressive  and  averse  to  the 
natural  rights  of  man;  that  the  institutions  of  religion,  and  the 
restraints  imposed  by  them,  were  founded  in  falsehood,  and 
employed  to  restrict  the  free  indulgence  of  those  passions  and 
inclinations  with  which  we  are  constitutionally  formed  for  happi- 
ness.    A  high  authority,  familiar  with  the  facts,  said : 

The  actors  in  these  scenes  were  tolerated,  flattered,  and  even  encouraged  by 
the  acclamations  of  many.  The  name  of  Fanny  Wright  became  identified  with 
the  politics  of  the  day.  Societies  were  organized  for  the  express  purpose  of  prop- 
agating her  opinions.  Their  tendency  was  soon  witnessed  in  all  the  circles  brought 
under  their  influence.  Licentious  sentiments  and  dissolute  habits  were  encouraged 
rather  than  restrained.  The  basest  sensuality  found  apologists  among  her 
admirers  and  impunity  in  her  creed.  Benevolent  enterprises  were  brought  under 
the  unchastened  ban  of  the  coarse  ribaldry  of  the  party.  Every  effort  at  reform, 
the  temperance  movement  not  excepted,  was  made  a  subject  of  their  incessant 
vituperation,  and  all  engaged  in  works  of  mercy  were  brought  to  feel  the  keenest 
strokes  of  their  sarcastic  sallies.  .  .  .  They  were  peculiarly  adroit  in  exciting  a 
spirit  of  malignant  hostility  against  men  and  institutions  whose  influence  they  had 
most  reason  to  dread.  By  a  false  classification  of  terms  they  continued  to  stigma- 
tize orthodoxy  by  the  odious  epithet  of  sectarianism,  and  religion  by  that  of  bigotr)'. 
In  their  vocabulary  every  priest  was  a  pope  and  every  rule  of  moral  discipline  an 
inquisition.  With  such  names,  terrible  to  the  ignorant  and  the  thoughtless,  they 
were  enabled  to  array  a  fearful  amount  of  feeling  against  the  best  men  and  the 
most  wholesome  moral   institutions  of   the   country.     Nor  were  they  diffident  in 


828  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

their  pretensions.  The  exclusiveness  which  marked  all  their  measures  most  evi- 
dently betrayed  their  designs  and  served  to  show  that  compromise  was  no  part  of 
their  political  or  religious  creed.  Theirs  was  an  open  war  of  extermination  against 
every  vestige  of  Christianity  and  moral  order.  To  carry  out  this  object  they  could 
not  trust  the  co-operation  of  any  half-way  men,  and  therefore  made  repeated 
efforts  to  thrust  upon  the  people,  by  the  aid  of  the  rabble  they  managed  to  con- 
trol, rules  exclusively  of  their  own  stamp.  And  such  was  the  audacity  with  which 
they  clamored  for  whatever  they  chose  to  favor,  and  pounced  like  so  many  harpies 
upon  the  obnoxious  objects  of  their  hate,  that  men  of  decent  habits  and  correct 
principles  shrunk  from  conflicting  with  them,  until  the  remark  became  general 
that  there  was  so  much  infidelity  in  the  public  councils  of  the  country  that  nothing 
favorable  to  the  cause  of  morality  or  religion  could  be  carried.* 

Abner  Kneeland. 

In  the  year  1829  the  ranks  of  infidelity  were  re-enforced  by  the 
accession  of  Abner  Kneeland.  Mr.  Kneeland  made  his  first  appear- 
ance in  public  life  as  a  school-teacher  in  Vermont.  In  a  revival 
among  the  Baptists,  in  1801,  he  professed  to  experience  religion, 
joined  the  church  and  soon  entered  their  ministry.  Having  been 
highly  esteemed  as  a  teacher  great  hopes  were  entertained  of  him 
as  a  minister.  After  preaching  a  short  time,  however,  he  became 
involved  in  some  difficulties  with  Calvinism,  adopted  Mr.  Elhanan 
Winchester's  views  of  restorationism,  joined  the  Universalists,  and 
was  ordained  in  1805.  Here  he  professed  to  be  fully  satisfied,  but 
he  subsequently  abandoned  restorationism,  and  accepted  Mr.  Bal- 
lou's  doctrine  of  the  immediate  entrance  of  all  men  into  a  state  of 
happiness  at  death.  In  181 1  he  removed  to  Charlestown,  Mass., 
and  became  pastor  of  an  infant  Universalist  church.  *'  With  charac- 
teristic instability  he  remained  there  only  two  or  three  years,  when 
he  removed  to  Salem,  married  a  widow  of  some  property,  went  into 
secular  business,  grew  doubtful  about  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
attacked  the  Christian  religion,  which  Mr.  Ballou  defended  against 
him,  failed  in  his  mercantile  pursuits  and  abandoned  them.  Soon 
after  this  he  professed  to  have  his  confidence  in  Christianity  re- 
stored, and  removed  to  Central  New  York  in  the  character  of  a 
clergyman,  where  he  remained  a  short  time.  Thence  he  went  to 
Philadelphia  and  became  pastor  of  the  first  Universalist  Society 
there.  Perhaps  he  really  thought,  on  the  whole,  that  he  was  a 
believer;  yet  his  infidel  propensities  still  controlled  him,  and 
although  a  professed  Christian  pastor  his  labors  had  the  effect  to 
unsettle  the  faith  of  his  hearers.  His  usefulness  at  Philadelphia 
being  at  an  end,  he  removed  to  New  York  and  took  charge  of  a 

*  Methodist  Quarterly,  1837.     Pp.  97,  98. 


THE  CHURCH.   SLAVERY,   AND  INFIDELITY.  829 

society.  Thenceforth  his  course  was  downward,  downward."  *  A 
strife  arose  in  his  Society  in  New  York,  producing  a  division, 
and  he  was  left  in  a  minority  which  obtained  a  hall  where  he  held 
service  for  a  short  time.  At  this  time  he  came  in  contact  with 
Fanny  Wrfght,  and  in  September,  1829,  in  an  article  published  in 
the  Free  Inquirer,  he  renounced  all  faith  in  Christianity,  in  immor- 
tality and  in  the  Divine  existence.  In  company  with  Fanny 
Wright  he  went  to  Boston,  in  1830,  to  enlighten  the  descendants  of 
the  Puritans  with  his  new  views.  He  established  the  Investigator 
in  1830,  a  paper  which  from  the  beginning  has  been  devoted  to  the 
advocacy  of  pure  atheism.  In  this  paper  he  assailed  Christianity, 
all  revealed  religion,  and  advocated  the  wildest  and  most  demoral- 
izing notions.  Early  in  the  year  1834  he  was  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury  of  Suffolk  County,  Mass.,  for  blasphemy  and  obscenity,  of 
which  it  was  alleged  he  had  been  guilty  in  the  columns  of  the 
Investigator.  He  was  finally  convicted,  and  sent  to  prison  for  three 
months,  during  which  time  his  old  friend  Ballou,  out  of  pity,  visited 
him.t  although  he  strongly  disapproved  of  Kneeland's  course.  In 
March,  1839,  ^^  ^^^^  Boston  for  Iowa,  where  he  died  not  long  after. 
In  the  year  1836  it  was  estimated:}:  that  there  were  between 
50,000  and  100,000  infidels  in  the  United  States  who  associated 
with  some  kind  of  an  organization  or  club,  besides  many  who  sus- 
tained no  such  relation. 

The  Antislavery  "  Comeouters." 

A  very  considerable  contribution  to  infidelity  was  realized  from 
the  action  of  the  extreme  wing  of  the  antislavery  agitators  between 
1836  and  i845.§  It  was  at  a  time  when  many  statesmen,  clergy- 
men and  churches  were  succumbing  to  the  evil  influence  of  slavery. 
Both  the  political  parties  and  many  churches  opposed  "abolition  " 
with  a  decided  spirit,  and  bowed  obsequiously  to  the  slave  power. 
This  bitter  opposition  to  antislavery  movements  gave  birth  to  the 
"  Comeouters,"  who  were  led  by  the  Liberator,  published  in  Boston 
and  edited  by  Mr.  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  They  opposed  the 
American  Church,  as  the  bulwark  of  slavery,  and  set  themselves  to 
work  to  overthrow  the  Church  and  the  clergy.  The  Sabbath  was 
freely  denounced,  and  the  Bible  also,  because  pro-slavery  apologists 
quoted  from  it  in  support  of  the  accursed  institution.     Reason  and 

*  Life  of  Rev   Hosea  Ballou.     By   Rev.   Thomas  Whittemore.     Boston.     James  M.  Usher. 

1855      Vol.  Ill,  pp.  273,  274.  +  ^'/'  "f  f^"^-  """"  ^^"'"'-     ^'^'^  "'•  P-  '*^- 

:See  paper  read  before  the  Society  of  Christian  Research,  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  by  Erastus 
QqH^q^  §  See  Chapter  IV.,  Section  2  of  this  period. 

34 


530  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

conscience  were  declared  to  be  above  the  Scriptures.  The  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  was  also  assailed  and  denounced.  These 
views  were  freely  introduced  into  the  anti-slavery  conventions  and 
published  in  the  Liberator.  These  men  were  exceedingly  active, 
and  contributed  not  a  little  to  turn  many  minds  away  from  their 
faith  in  revelation. 

Naturalism  and  Materialism. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  socialistic  agitation  came  a  "  grand 
incursion  of  foreign  naturalism  and  materialism,  organized  and 
officered  for  the  most  part  by  German  and  British  apostles  of  what 
is  called  phrenology.  First  promulgated  in  the  United  States, 
from  1821  to  1832,  by  a  Dr.  Caldwell,  an  American  pupil  of  Gall, 
then  re-enforced  by  the  presence  and  lectures  of  Spurzheim,  further 
expounded  and  advocated  from  1838  to  1843  by  the  noted  George 
Combe,  this  new  evangel  of  natural  law  and  man's  self-perfectibility 
won  many  adherents  among  crude  and  curious  and  half-educated 
men.  These,  aspiring  to  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  public 
teachers,  speedily  spread  themselves  all  over  the  country  as  itiner- 
ant lecturers,  offering  to  expound  the  new  science,  to  demonstrate 
it  by  describing  with  blindfolded  eyes,  from  a  mere  manipulation  of 
their  '  bumps,'  the  noted  characters  of  the  locality,  and  finally  to 
examine  and  advise  all  candidates  for  eminence  or  happiness  at 
twenty-five  cents  a  head.  These  precious  enlighteners  of  the  people 
gradually  gave  place,  first  to  traveling  mesmerizers,  and  then  to  the 
mediums  and  apostles  of  spirit-rapping  and  spirit-trances.  As  often 
before,  the  reaction  from  materialism  and  its  unbelief  carried  unbal- 
lasted minds  clean  over  to  necromantic  superstition."  * 


Section  J^.— Socialism. 

In  the  preceding  section,  in  the  sketch  of  Mr.  Robert  Owen,  the 
socialistic  movement  under  his  leadership  was  mentioned.  But  it 
is  necessary  to  go  back  a  step  further  in  order  to  find  the  beginning. 
As  early  in  this  century  as  1803,  George  Rapp  came  from  Wurtem- 
berg  to  America  to  find  a  refuge  for  his  followers  who  had  accepted 
his  doctrines  concerning  the  speedy  second  advent  of  Christ.  He 
purchased  5,000  acres  in  Butler  County,  Pa.,  and  commenced  there 
a    settlement  which  he  named   Harmony.     Two   ship-loads  of  his 

•  Rev.  W,  F.  Warren,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  in  Evangelical  Alliance  volume.     Harper  &  Brothers. 
1874,     P.  251. 


AMERICAN  SOCIALISM.  531 

disciples  came  the  following  year,  and  in  1805  they  were  duly 
organized  as  a  Christian  community,  claiming  to  follow  the  model 
of  the  Pentecostal  Church.  In  1814  they  moved  to  the  banks  of  the 
Wabash,  in  Indiana,  where  they  built  their  second  village  home,  and 
called  it  New  Harmony.  Dissatisfied  with  this  place,  they  returned 
to  Beaver  County,  Pa.,  where  they  still  exist.  Subsequently  Rapp 
sent  an  agent  to  England  to  sell  his  Wabash  estate,  which  was 
purchased  in  1824  by  Robert  Owen,  who  had  already  achieved  a 
reputation  as  a  socialist  and  a  reformer. 

American  socialisms,  Mr.  Noyes  says,  were  non-religious.  They 
began  their  existence,  however,  in  America,  with  possessions 
received  directly  from  a  Christian  community.  Their  leader 
denounced  the  Bible  all  through  the  country,  proclaimed  his  radical 
theories,  and  urged  his  hearers  to  join  him  in  his  wild  e.xperiment. 
Considerable  excitement  attended  Mr.  Owen's  lectures  in  most  of 
the  cities  which  he  visited,  "  which  had  a  course  somewhat  like 
that  of  a  religious  revival  or  a  political  campaign."  The  movement 
seems  to  have  culminated  in  1826,  and  about  that  time  eleven  com- 
munistic bodies  existed,  not  all  Owenite  communities,  but  growing 
out  of  the  general  excitement  that  attended  Mr.  Owen's  labors. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  these  bodies: 

Blue  Spring  Community,  Indiana  ;  no  particulars,  except  that  it  lasted  but  a 
short  time. Co-operative  Society,  Pennsylvania  (Alleghany  County)  ;  no  par- 
ticulars.  Coxsackie  Community,  New  York;  capital  "  small;"  "very  much  in 

debt,  "  duration  between  one  and  two  years. Forestvilie  Community.  Indiana; 

over  60  members,  325  acres  of  land,  duration  more  than  a  year. Franklm  Com- 
munity, New  York  ;  no  particulars. Haverstraw  Community,  New  York  ;  about 

80  members,  120  acres,  debt  $12,000,  duration  five  months. Kendall  Community, 

Ohio;  200  members,  200  acres,  duration   about   two  years. Macluria,  Indiana  ; 

1,200  acres,  duration  about  two  years. New  Harmony,  Indiana  ;  900  members,. 

30,000  acres,  worth  $150,000.  duration  nearly  three  years. Nashoba,  Tennessee; 

15  members,  2,000  acres,  duration  about  three  years. Yellow  Spring  Com- 
munity, Ohio  ;  75  to  100  families,  duration  three  months.* 

Two  of  the  above  communities  continued  only  about  three  years^ 
two  of  them  two  years,  two  between  one  and  two  years,  three  only 
a  few  months,  and  the  other  two  but  a  short  time. 

One  of  these  efforts  deserves  a  more  extended  notice.  The  New 
Harmony  Community  was  started  in  1825.  Tidings  of  the  new 
social  experiment  spread  far  and  wide,  and  people  familiar  with  Mr. 
Owen's  views  flocked  there  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  so  that  in 
the  short  space  of  six  weeks  from  the  commencement  a  population 

♦  Htsiory  0/ American  Socialisms.  By  John  Humphrey  Noyes.  Philadelohia.  J.  b.  Li|U 
pincott  &  Co.     1870.     P.  15- 


B32  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  eight  hundred  souls  was  drawn  together.  An  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  the  enterprise  has  said  that  the  character  of  the  popula- 
tion was  "  as  good  as  it  could  be  under  the  circumstances, 
many  being  intelligent  and  benevolent  individuals."  How  stupen- 
dous the  revolution  was  that  Mr.  Owen  contemplated  will  be  best 
seen  from  the  famous  words  he  uttered  in  the  public  hall  at  New 
Harmony,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1826,  when  he  delivered  his  celebrated 

"  Declaration  of  Mental  Independence." 

He  said  : 

I  now  declare  to  you,  and  to  the  world,  that  man,  up  to  this  hour,  has  been  in 
all  parts  of  the  earth  a  slave  to  a  trinity  of  the  most  monstrous  evils  that  could 
be  combined  to  inflict  mental  and  physical  evil  upon  his  whole  race.  I  refer  to 
private  or  individual  property,  absurd  and  irrational  systems  of  religion,  and 
marriage,  founded  on  individual  property,  combined  with  some  of  these  irrational 
systems  of  religion. 

For  nearly  forty  years  have  I  been  employed,  heart  and  soul,  day  by  day,  almost 
without  ceasing,  in  preparing  the  means  and  arranging  the  circumstances  to  enable 
me  to  give  the  death-blow  to  the  tyranny  which,  lor  unnumbered  ages,  has  held 
the  human  mind  spell-bound  in  chains  of  such  mysterious  forms  that  no  mortal  has 
dared  approach  to  set  the  suffering  prisoner  free.  Nor  has  the  fullness  of  time  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  great  event  been  completed  until  within  this  hour.  Such 
has  been  the  extraordinary  course  of  events  that  the  declaration  of  political  inde- 
pendence in  1776  has  prodnced  its  counterpart,  the  Declaration  of  Mental  Inde- 
pendence, in  1826,  the  latter  just  half  a  century  from  the  former,  .  .  .  And 
here  we  are,  as  near,  perhaps,  as  we  can  be  in  the  centre  of  the  United  States, 
even,  as  it  were,  like  a  little  grain  of  mustard  seed  !  But  with  these  great  truths 
before  us,  with  the  practice  of  the  social  system  as  soon  as  it  shall  be  well  under- 
stood among  us,  our  principles  will,  I  trust,  spread  from  community  to  community, 
from  State  to  State,  from  continent  to  continent,  until  this  system  and  these  truths 
shall  overshadow  the  whole  earth,  shedding  fragrance  and  abundance,  intelligence 
and  happiness,  upon  all  the  sons  of  men. 

It  has  been  very  fittingly  said,  "  Such  were  the  antecedents  and 
promises  of  the  New  Harmony  experiment.  The  professor  appeared 
on  the  stage  with  a  splendid  reputation  for  previous  thaumatology, 
with  all  the  crucibles  and  chemicals  around  him  that  money  could 
buy,  with  an  audience  before  him  that  was  gaping  to  see  the  last 
wonder  of  science  ;  but  on  applying  the  flame  that  was  to  set  all 
ablaze  with  happiness  and  glory,  behold  !  the  material  prepared 
would  not  burn,  but  only  sputtered  and  smoked,  and  the  curtain 
had  to  comedown  upon  a  scene  of  confusion  and  disappointment.'** 

From  the  27th  of  April.  1825,  to  January,  1827,  repeated  mod- 
ifications of  the  scheme  were  made,  and  not  less  than  seven  eonstitu- 

*  History  0/ American  Socialisms.     By  J.  H.  Noyes.     P.  46. 


NEW  HARMONY.  S33 

tions  were  adopted  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  community 
and  meet  the  necessities  of  the  case.  At  the  latter  date  matters 
were  evidently  drawing  to  a  close.  Owen  was  selling  property  to 
individuals,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  town  was  resolved  into 
individual  lots.  Every  body  saw  that  it  must  go  down.  It  was 
"  like  a  great  ship  wallowing  helplessly  in  the  trough  of  a  tempest- 
uous sea,  with  nine  \\\xndrQd  passengers  and  no  captain  or  organized 
crew."  Down  it  did  go.  A  majority  of  the  population  dispersed, 
chagrined,  broken  down  in  confidence,  etc.,  and  those  who  remained 
returned  to  individualism.  Fifteen  years  after  a  visitor  at  New 
Harmony  was  "  warned  not  to  speak  of  socialism,  as  the  subject  was 
unpopular;"  and  the  speaker  added,  "an  enthusiastic  socialist 
would  soon  be  cooled  down  at  New  Harmony."  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  another  sect  subsequently  arose  there  devoted  to  "  Indi- 
vidual Sovereignty." 

An  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Owen  instinctively  moralized  over  his 
master's  failure  : 

Mr.  Owen  said  he  wanted  honesty  of  purpose,  and  he  got  dishonesty.  He 
wanted  temperance,  and  instead  he  was  continually  troubled  with  the  intemperate. 
He  wanted  industry,  and  he  found  idleness.  He  wanted  cleanliness,  and  found 
dirt.  He  wanted  carefulness,  and  found  waste.  He  wanted  to  find  desire  for 
knowledge,  but  he  found  apathy.  He  wanted  the  principles  of  the  formation  of 
character  understood,  and  he  found  them  misunderstood.  He  wanted  these  good 
qualities  combined  in  one  and  all  the  individuals  of  the  community,  but  he  could 
not  find  them,  neither  could  he  find  those  who  were  self-sacrificing  and  enduring 
enough  to  prepare  and  educate  their  children  to  possess  these  qualitiies. 

What  more  convincing  evidence  of  the  radical  error  of  Mr. 
Owen's  system,  and  the  want  of  the  potent,  conserving  and  inspiring 
influence  of  Christianity!  The  historian  of  American  Socialisms* 
comments  upon  Mr.  Owen's  failures  : 

Napoleon's  star  deserted  him  when  he  put  away  Josephine.  Owen  evidently 
lost  his  hold  on  practical  success  when  he  declared  war  against  religion.  In  his 
labors  at  New  Lanark  he  was  not  an  active  infidel.  The  Bible  was  in  his  schools. 
Religion  was  at  least  tolerated  and  respected.  He  there  married  the  daughter  of 
Mr.  Dale,  a  preacher  of  the  Independents,  who  was  his  best  friend  and  counselor 
through  the  early  years  of  his  success.  But  when  his  work  at  New  Lanark  became 
famous,  and  he  rose  to  companionship  with  dukes  and  kings,  he  outgrew  the  mod- 
esty and  practical  wisdom  of  his  early  life,  and  undertook  the  task  of  universal 
reform.  Then  it  was  that  he  fell  into  the  mistake  of  confounding  the  principles  of 
the  Bible  with  the  characters  and  pretensions  of  his  ecclesiastical  opposers.  and  so 
came  into  the  false  position  of  open  hostility  to  religion.  .  .  .  Owen  at  the 
turning-point  of  his  career  al)andoned  the  Bible,  with  all  its  magazines  ol  power,  to 

*  By  J.  H.  Noyes.  before  referred  to.     Pp.  82,  83. 


834  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

his  enemies,  and  went  off  into  a  hopeless  warfare  with  Christianity  and  with  all 
God's  past  administrations.  From  that  time  fortune  deserted  him.  The  Splendid 
success  of  New  Lanark  was  followed  by  the  terrible  defeat  at  New  Harmony. 
The  declaration  of  war  against  all  religion  was  between  them.  Such  is  our  inter- 
pretation of  his  life,  and  something  like  this  must  have  been  his  own  interpretation, 
when  he  confessed,  in  the  light  of  his  later  experience,  that  by  overlooking  spir- 
itual conditions  he  had  missed  the  most  important  of  all  the  elements  of  human 
improvement. 

Fourierism. 

All  the  Owenite  communities  came  into  being  and  died  between 
1825  and  1830.  From  1830  to  1841  no  other  Socialist  Communities 
were  organized.  From  1841  to  1853,  the  latter  year  being  the  date 
of  these  latest  organizations,  thirty-nine  Socialist  bodies  were  con- 
stituted, either  as  communities,  associations,  or  brotherhoods.  The 
former  has  been  distinguished  as  the  "Owen  Epoch"  and  the  latter 
the  "Fourier  Epoch."  The  connecting  links  between  the  two  are 
briefly  stated. 

In  the  transition  from  Owenism  to  Fourierism  and  later  Socialist  movements 
we  find  that  Josiah  Warren  fulfills  the  function  of  a  modulating  chord.  After  the 
wreck  of  Communism  at  New  Harmony,  he  went  clear  over  to  the  extreme  doctrine 
of  Individual  Sovereignty,  and  continued  working  on  that  theme  through  the  period 
of  Fourierism,  till  he  founded  the  f.imous  village  of  "Modern  Times,"  on  Long 
Island,  and  there  became  the  master  spirit  of  a  school  which  has  developed  at 
least  three  famous  movements  that  are  in  some  sense  alive  yet,  long  after  the 
communities  and  phalanxes  have  gone  to  their  graves. 

Stephen  Pearl  Andrews,  the  publishing  partner  of  Warren, 
became  an  ardent  promoter  of  "  Individual  Sovereignty  "  in  New 
York,  and  originated  a  theory  of  spiritual  and  intellectual  hierarchy 
called  "  Pantarchy,"  and  also  a  system  of  "  Universology."  He  has 
been  called  "  the  American  rival  of  Comte."  Another  representa- 
tive leader  was  Mr.  Henry  Edgar,  "the  actual  hierarch  of  Positiv- 
ism, one  of  the  ten  apostles  de  propaganda  fide  appointed  by 
Comte,"  and  a  co-worker  with  Warren  in  his  school  at  "Modern 
Times."  The  genealogy  from  Owen  to  these  later  movements  has 
been  traced  thus : 

Owen  begat  New  Harmony  ;  New  Harmony  (by  reaction)  begat  Individual 
Sovereignty;  Individual  Sovereignty  begat  "Modern  Times  ; "  "Modern  Times" 
was  the  mother  of  Free  Love,  the  Grand  Pantarchy.  and  the  American  branch  of 
French  Positivism.     Josiah  Warren  was  the  personal  link  next  to  Owen.* 

Just  before  the  Fourier  movement  was  inaugurated  in  America 
there  appeared  in  several  localities   tendencies  which  showed  that 

*  History  of  American  Socialisms,  by  J.  H.  Noyes,  p.  94. 


BROOK  FARM  AND  HOPEDALE.  S3S 

the  influence  of  Owen's  teachings  was  still  felt  in  many  mind:.. 
Among  these 

The  Brook  Farm  Association 

may  be  cited,  organized  near  Boston,  in  1841.  This  has  been  called 
"a  child  of  Unitarianism,"  suggested  originally  by  Rev.  William  E. 
Channing,  D.D.,  who  had  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  ideas  of 
Owen  and  Fourier.  According  to  Mr.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,*  •'  in 
the  year  1840  Dr.  Channing  took  counsel  with  Mr.  George  Ripley 
on  the  point  if  it  were  possible  to  bring  cultivated,  thoughtful 
people  together  and  make  a  society  that  deserved  the  name.  He 
early  talked  with  Dr.  John  Collins  Warren  on  the  same  thing,  wh  . 
admitted  the  wisdom  of  the  purpose  and  undertook  to  make  the  ex- 
periment." Social  gatherings  for  mutual  conference  followed,  in  which 
Emerson,  Margaret  Fuller,  George  Ripley,  Frederick  H.  Hedge, 
Orestes  A.  Bronson,  and  others  participated.   Mr.  Emerson  proceeds  : 

I  said  the  only  result  of  the  conversations  which  Dr.  Channing  had  was  to 
initiate  the  little  quarterly  called  The  Dial,  but  they  had  a  further  consequence  in 
the  creation  of  a  society  called  the  "Brook  Farm."  in  1841.  Many  of  these  per- 
sons who  had  compared  their  notes  around  in  the  libraries  of  each  other  upon  spec- 
ulative matters  became  impatient  of  speculation  and  wished  to  put  it  into  pracuce. 
Mr.  George  Ripley,  with  some  of  his  associates,  established  a  society,  of  which 
the  principle  was  that  the  members  should  be  stockholders,  and  that  while  some 
deposited  money  others  should  be  allowed  to  give  their  labor  in  different  kinds  as 
an  equivalent  for  money.  It  contained  very  many  and  agreeable  persons:  Mr. 
George  William  Curtis,  of  New  York,  and  his  brother,  of  English  Oxford,  were 
members  of  the  family ;  from  the  first  also  was  Theodore  Parker,  etc..  etc. 

Miss  Margaret  Fuller,  Hawthorne,  Rev.  William  H.  Channing, 
an  eminent  student  of  Socialism  in  France  and  England,  and  others 
soon  joined  the  company.  After  six  or  seven  years  the  experiment 
failed  and  the  farm  was  sold.  Such  was  the  end  of  the  first  roman- 
tic, religious,  Hterary,  socialistic,  transcendental.  Unitarian  Com- 
munity in  New  England.  It  was  not  a  Fourierite  community,  and 
yet  it  was  a  transitional  step,  and,  in  some  degree,  "a  propagative 
organ  of  Fourierism,"  through  its  periodical.  The  Harbinger,  which 
scattered  broadcast  the  seeds  of  Socialism. 

The  Hopedale  and  Northampton  Communities. 
In  April    1842   the  Hopedale  Community  commenced  operations 
in  MiIford,'Mass.',  on  the  "Jones   Farm."     This    movement    was 
another  anticipation  of  Fourierism  put  forth  by  Massachusetts.     It 

♦  See  Lecture  on  the  Brook  Farm. 


836  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

was  similar  in  many  respects  to  Brook  Farm  and,  in  its  origin, 
nearly  contemporaneous.  They  enlarged  their  possessions  to  about 
six  hundred  acres,  and  admitted  new  members  until  the  community 
numbered  300.  Their  manufactures  were  known  far  and  near,  and 
eagerly  sought  for  on  account  of  their  being  exactly  as  represented. 
Every  one  had  either  to  work  in  the  factories  or  else  till  the  soil. 
All  lights  had  to  be  extinguished  and  every  one  at  home  at  9 
o'clock.  No  dogs  were  permitted  in  the  village,  and  nobody  was 
allowed  to  smoke  in  the  street.  "As  the  Brook  Farm  was  the 
blossom  of  Unitarianism,  so  Hopedale  was  the  blossom  of  Univer- 
salism.  Rev.  Adin  Ballou,  the  founder,  was  a  relative  of  Rev. 
Hosea  Ballou,  and  thus  a  scion  of  the  royal  family  of  Universalists." 
It  was  dissolved  in  1858 — a  total  failure.  Cause — unwisdom,  and 
"  the  old  story  of  general  depravity."  "  The  timber  he  got  together 
was  not  suitable  for  building  a  community."* 

In  the  same  month  that  the  Hopedale  Community  commenced 
its  operations,  Massachusetts,  the  mother  of  systems,  reforms  and 
revolutions,  anticipated  the  advent  of  Fourierism  and  gave  birth  to 
another  community  at  Northampton,  the  home  of  Jonathan 
Edwards.  This  was  an  infidel,  or  at  least  a  Nothingarian,  organi- 
zation, and  it  lived  four  and  a  half  years.* 

Such  were  some  of  the  connecting  links  between  the  Owen  and 
the  Fourier  epochs  in  American  Socialism.  The  date  of  the  latter 
epoch  has  been  fixed  in  1842,  when  the  columns  of  the  New  York 
Tribune  were  opened  to  the  advocacy  of  Socialistic  theories.  The 
exposition  of  Fourierism  in  this  country  had  commenced  two  years 
before  with  the  publication  of  the  Social  Destiny  of  Man,  by  Albert 
Brisbane.  Parke  Godwin  also  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  American 
expositors  of  Fourierism,  publishing  his  Popular  View  of  the  Doc- 
trines of  Charles  Fourier,  in  1844.  From  March,  1842,  to  May, 
1843,  Mr.  Brisbane,  in  a  column  devoted  to  him  in  the  Tribune,  beat 
the  drum  of  Fourierism,  and  in  the  summer  of  1843  "Phalanxes 
by  the  dozen  were  on  the  march  for  the  new  world  of  wealth  and 
harmony."  Not  less  than  seventeen  of  these  associations  were 
organized  in  the  year  1843,  eleven  more  in  1844,  seven  more  in  1845, 
one  in  1846,  one  in  1847,  one  in  1848,  one  in  1849,  and  several  more 
from  1850  to  1853 — the  latest  date  of  any  Socialist  organization. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  1843,  Brisbane  started  an  independent 
Socialistic  paper  in  New  York  city,  called  the  Phalanx.  It  was 
published  as  a  monthly  about  a  year  and  a  half,  during  which  time 

*  For  a  fuller  account  of  these  communities  see  Noyes's  History  of  American  Socialisms,  pp. 
120-132,  154-160,  and  tract  by  Mr.  BalLu  in  1851,  also  a  work  on  Socialism  by  Ballou. 


FAILURE.  837 

the  subscription  list  of  The  Present,  a  magazine  which  started  nearly 
at  the  same  time  as  the  Phalanx,  edited  by  VViiham  H.  Channing, 
and  devoted  to  Socialistic  ideas,  was  transferred  to  Brisbane.  "  In 
the  course  of  a  year  after  this,  Brook  Farm  confessed  Fourierism, 
changed  its  constitution,  assumed  the  title  of  the  Brook  Farm  Pha- 
lanx, and  on  the  14th  of  June,  1845,  commenced  publishing  the 
Harbinger,  as  the  successor  of  the  Phalanx  and  the  heir  of  its  sub- 
scription list.  .  .  .  The  concentrated  genius  of  Unitarianism  and 
Transcendentalism  was  at  Brook  Farm.  It  was  the  school  that 
trained  most  of  the  writers  who  have  created  the  newspaper  and 
magazine  literature  of  the  present  time.  Their  work  on  the  Har- 
binger was  their  first  drill.  Fourierism  was  their  first  case  in  court. 
The  Harbinger  was  published  weekly  and  extended  to  seven  and  a 
half  semi-annual  volumes,  five  of  which  were  edited  and  printed  at 
Brook  Farm  and  the  last  two  and  a  half  at  New  York,  but  by 
Brook  Farm  men.  The  issues  at  Brook  Farm  extend  from  June  14. 
1845,  to  October  30,  1847,  ^^<^  ^^  New  York  from  November  6, 
1847,  to  February  10,  1849.  T^^  Phalanx  and  Harbinger  together 
cover  a  period  of  more  than  five  years."  * 

Mr.  Noyes  estimated  that  8,641  persons  were  connected  with 
the  45  communities  in  the  Owen  and  Fourier  groups,  the  number 
generally  ranging  from  lOO  to  200  in  each,  but  in  exceptional  cases 
only  15,  and  in  one  as  many  as  900.  The  amount  of  land  held,  but 
partially  cultivated,  was  reported  at  44,625  acres,  an  average  of  about 
1,000  acres  to  each  community,  not  including  the  extensive  tract 
owned  by  the  New  Harmony  and  McKean  County  settlements, 
the  former  alone  comprising  30,000  acres.  With  such  opportunities 
and  means,  involving  an  expenditure  of  several  million  dollars, 
an  ample  acreage  of  the  best  land  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
distribution  of  many  tons  of  Socialistic  literature,  45  communities 
of  8,641  persons,  under  the  varying  adjustments  of  two  epochs  of 
trial,  utterly  and  disgracefully  failed  in  their  experiments.  Europe 
nowhere  presents  such  a  list  of  magnificent  experiments,  under 
such  favorable  conditions,  for  testing  the  wild  dreams  of  Socialism 
as  is  here  given.  These  quickly  succeeding  failures  were  not  less 
conspicuous  than  the  ability  and  zeal  with  which  the  experiments 
were  inaugurated.  What  a  vindication  of  the  conventional  usages 
of  Christian  society!  

*  History  of  American  Socialisms,  by  J.  H.  Noyes,  p.  210. 


538  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MORMONISM. 


Sec.  I.    The  Earliest  Phases. 
*•     2.     Secondary  Stages. 


Sec.  3.    Organized  Mormonism. 


Section  i.— The  Earliest  Phases 

OF  Mormonism  grew  out  of  popular  superstitions  for  a  time 
quite  prevalent  among  the  more  ignorant  classes,  about  one 
hundred  years  ago.  In  the  year  1801  certain  persons  appeared  in 
some  parts  of  Vermont,  mostly  in  Rutland  County,  claiming  to  pos- 
sess "St.  John's  rod,"  by  which  roots  and  herbs  could  be  found  which 
would  cure  all  manner  of  diseases,  and  also  gold  and  silver  in  great 
abundance.  These  were  claimed  to  be  the  rods  referred  to  in  Isaiah 
under  which,  in  the  latter  day,  God  would  cause  his  people  to  pass, 
when  the  "  latter-day  glory"  would  be  revealed.  The  rods  were  also 
the  seals  with  which  one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  were  to 
be  sealed  (Rev.  7)  as  the  servants  of  God.  The  lost  tribes  of  Israel 
were  to  be  gathered  from  among  all  nations  by  means  of  these 
rods:  through  this  agency  also  vast  numbers  of  the  present  in- 
habitants of  this  country  who  were  Israelites,  but  had  lost  their 
pedigree,  would  be  able  to  trace  their  Israelitish  lineage,  and  be 
brought  into  the  New  Jerusalem  soon  to  be  built  in  this  country. 
It  was  further  claimed  that  these  rods  had  power  over  all  enchant- 
ments ;  that  much  gold  and  silver  lay  concealed  in  the  earth,  held 
under  a  spell  of  enchantment  which  these  rods,  in  the  hands  of  the 
right  person,  would  dispel,  and  that  it  would  be  moved  under  the 
ground  from  place  to  place,  and  ultimately  it  would  be  collected  in 
a  common  field,  where  "  the  latter-day  saints"  would  take  and  use  it 
in  building  the  "  Holy  City."  Some  excellent,  sincere  people  were 
hallucinated  with  the  story;  and  in  a  number  of  instances  young 
women  in  scanty  apparel  followed  the  rods  all  night  over  the  rocks 
and  snow.  The  whole  scheme  was  finally  traced  to  a  gang  of  coun- 
terfeiters, with  one  Wingate  at  the  head,  who  used  it  as  a  feint  to 


ORIGIN  OF  MORMONISM.  539 

cover  their  nefarious  operations.    He  was  arrested,  but  escaped  from 
the  hands  of  justice. 

About  1827  the  world  heard  the  first  rumors  of  "Joe  Smith" 
and  his  "Golden  Bible,"  found  "while  hunting  for  minerals"  with 
his  "  rod."  A  few  years  later  the  Mormons  commenced  building  in 
Ohio  and  sent  out  men  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  the  "  latter-day 
saints"  and  "glory,"  a  new  edition,  evidently,  of  that  proclaimed  in 
Vermont  thirty  years  before.  Gentlemen*  of  the  highest  respect- 
ability and  excellent  judicial  talent,  contemporary  with  both  dates 
and  familiar  with  all  the  localities,  carefully  traced  the  connection 
between  the  early  Vermont  delusion  and  the  riper  development  of 
Mormonism  at  that  time.  They  found  that  Smith's  mother  was 
from  Rutland  County,  Vt.,  the  scene  of  the  aforementioned  opera- 
tions, and  that  Sidney  Rigdon,  Smith's  high  priest  and  revealer,  was 
from  the  same  locality  where  Wingate's  counterfeiting  operations 
had  been  carried  on  under  the  cloak  of  "  latter-day  glory  "  theories. 


Section  ;^.— The  Secondary  Stages 

of  the  Mormon  development  were  easy  and  natural.  In  18 15  the 
Smith  family  moved  to  Palmyra,  and  a  little  later  to  Manchester, 
N.  Y.,  where  their  reputation  was  bad.     A  high  authority!  says: 

Avoiding  honest  labor,  they  employed  themselves  in  digging  for  hidden  treas- 
ures and  similar  visionary  pursuits.  They  were  intemperate  and  untruthful,  and 
were  commonly  suspected  of  sheep-stealing  and  other  offenses.  Upward  of 
sixty  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Wayne  County  testified  in  1833,  under 
oath,  that  the  Smith  family  were  of  immoral,  false,  and  fraudulent  character,  and 
that  Joseph  was  the  worst  of  them.  These  statements  are  not  in  general  contra- 
dicted by  the  Mormons.  .  .  .  The  Mormon  writers  say  that  Smith  was  very 
poorly  educated.  He  could  re^d  with  difficulty,  wrote  an  imperfect  hand,  and  had 
a  very  limited  understanding  of  the  elementary  rules  of  arithmetic.  The  revela- 
tions, proclamations,  letters,  and  other  documents  put  forth  by  him  in  the  subse- 
quent part  of  his  career  were  generally  written  by  others. 

According  to  his  own  account.  Smith  at  about  the  age  of  fifteen  years  began  to 
have  visions.  On  the  night  of  September  21,  1823.  the  Angel  Moroni  appeared  to 
him  three  times,  giving  him  much  instruction  and  informing  him  that  God  had  a 
work  for  him  to  do,  and  that  a  record  written  upon  gold  plates,  giving  an 
account  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America  and  the  dealings  of  God  with  them, 
was  deposited  in  a  particular  place  in  the  earth  (a  hill  in  Manchester.  Ontario 

*Rev.  Laban  Clark,  D.D.,  founder  of  the  Wesleyan  University.  Middletown.  Conn.,  and 
Rev.  Tobias  Spicer,  D.D.,  of  Rutland,  Vt.  From  Dr.  Clark  the  author  of  this  volume  received 
a  full  written  account  of  the  Vermont  transactions,  with  names,  dates,  etc.,  from  which  the 
above  has  been  abbreviated. 

+  Apfletoh's  Cyclopedia.     1863.     Article,  "  Mormons." 


840  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

County.  N.  Y.).  and  with  the  record  two  transparent  stones  in  silver  bows  like 
spectacles,  which  were  anciently  called  the  urim  and  thummim,  on  looking 
through  which  the  golden  plates  would  become  intelligible.  On  September  22, 
1827,  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  placed  in  Smith's  hands  the  plates  and  the  urim  and 
ihummim.  .  .  .  From  these  plates  Smith,  sitting  behind  a  blanket  hung  across 
the  room  to  keep  the  sacred  record  from  profane  eyes,  read  ofT,  with  the  aid  of  the 
stone  spectacles,  the  Book  of  Mormon,  or  Golden  Bible,  as  he  sometimes  called  it, 
to  Oliver  Cowdery,  who  wrote  it  down  as  Smith  read  it.  It  was  printed  in  1830,  in 
a  volume  of  several  hundred  pages. 

The  above  is  the  version  of  Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormons. 

From  investigations  made  soon  after  the  appearance  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  the  fact  is  believed  to  be  fully  established  that 
the  real  author  of  the  work  was  Solomon  Spalding,  a  native  of 
Ashford,  Conn.,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College.  After  preaching 
a  few  years  he  relinquished  the  ministry,  and  engaged  in  business  in 
Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.,  whence,  in  1809,  he  removed  to  Conneaut, 
Ohio.  From  Conneaut  he  removed  to  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  in  1812,  and 
thence  to  Amity,  Pa.,  in  1814,  where  he  died,  in  1816.  He  had  a 
strong  passion  for  literary  pursuits,  especially  for  writing  fictitious 
stories.  In  the  neighborhood  where  he  resided,  in  Ohio,  there  are 
numerous  mounds  and  ancient  fortifications.  Being  interested  in 
historical  antiquities  he  conceived  the  idea  of  writing  in  the  style  of 
a  story  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  mounds.  In  doing  so  he 
gave  it  the  form  of  a  translation  of  a  lost  manuscript  purporting  to 
have  been  found  in  these  mounds  and  to  have  been  written  by  one 
of  the  ancient  race. 

As  early  as  18 13  this  work  was  announced  in  the  newspapers  as 
forthcoming,  and  as  containing  a  translation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
Spalding  entitled  his  book  Manuscript  Found,  and  intended  to  pub- 
lish with  it,  by  way  of  preface  or  advertisement,  a  fictitious  account 
of  its  discovery  in  a  cave  in -Ohio.  His  widow,*  in  a  statement 
made  by  her  in  the  Boston  Journal,  May  18,  1839,  declares  that  in 
1812  he  placed  his  manuscript  in  a  printing-office  at  Pittsburg  with 
which  Sidney  Rigdon  was  connected.  Rigdon,  she  says,  copied  the 
manuscript,  and  his  possession  of  the  copy  was  known  to  all  in  the 
printing-office  and  was  often  mentioned  by  himself.  Subsequently 
the  original  manuscript  was  returned  to  the  author,  who  soon  after 
died.  His  widow  preserved  it  until  after  the  publication  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  when  she  sent  it  to  Conneaut,  where  a  public 
meeting,  composed  in  part  of  persons  who  remembered  Spalding's 
work,  had  requested  her  to  send  the  manuscript,  that  it  might  be 

*  Mrs.  Spaldin{j  was  a  very  respectable  woman,  and  subsequently  married  a  Mr.  Davidson.    In 
1839  she  was  living  in  Monson,  Mass. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON.  B41 

publicly  compared  with  the  Book  of  Mormon.  She  says  in  con- 
clusion:  .  .  .  "Thus  a  historical  romance,  with  the  addition  of  a 
few  pious  expressions  and  extracts  from  the  sacred  Scriptures,  has 
been  construed  into  a  new  Bible  and  palmed  off  upon  a  company  of 
poor,  deluded  fanatics  as  divine." 

Rigdon,  after  getting  possession  of  a  copy  of  this  manuscript,  left 
the  printing-office  and  became  a  preacher  of  doctrines  similar  to 
those  subsequently  incorporated  into  the  Book  of  Mormon.  He 
made  a  few  converts,  and  in  1829  joined  himself  with  Joseph  Smith. 
It  is  asserted  that  by  this  means  Smith  became  possessed  of  Mr. 
Spalding's  manuscript,  which  he  read  to  Cowdery  from  behind  the 
blanket,  with  such  additions  as  suited  the  views  of  Rigdon  and 
himself.  Immediately  upon  its  publication  the  Book  of  Mormon 
was  claimed  by  the  widow  of  Spalding,  and  also  by  her  brother  and 
other  friends,  as  chiefly  his  work.  * 


Section  5,— Organized  Mormonisni. 

The  first  Mormon  church  was  organized  at  Manchester,  N.  Y., 
April  6,  1830.  A  few  individuals  were  ordained,  who  professed  to 
have  power  to  heal  diseases,  to  cast  out  devils,  to  impart  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  also  to  speak  in  unknown  tongues.  In  January,  183 1, 
the  whole  body,  led  by  Smith,  who  claimed  to  be  divinely  directed, 
removed  to  Kirtland,  Ohio,  which  was  to  be  the  seat  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  Converts  multiplied  here,  and,  soon  desiring  a  wider 
field  for  the  growth  of  the  Church,  the  leaders  sought  a  new 
location,  but  did  not  remove  to  it  until  1838.  In  the  meantime 
they  set  up  stores,  mills,  and  a  bank  at  Kirtland.  Of  the  latter 
Smith  was  president  and  Rigdon  cashier.  Notes  of  doubtful 
value  flooded  the  country,  and  Smith  and  Rigdon  were  accused  of 
fraudulent  dealings,  dragged  from  their  beds  by  a  mob,  and  tarred 
and  feathered.  In  1832  Brigham  Young,  a  native  of  Vermont,  joined 
them.  By  his  talents  and  shrewdness  he  became  very  prominent, 
being  reckoned  one  of  the  twelve  apostles  on  the  establishment  of 
that  "office  in  1835.  A  costly  temple  was  erected  at  Kirtland  in 
1836,  and  the  following  year  Orson  Hyde  and  Heber  C.  Kimball 
were  sent  out  as  missionaries  to  England.  In  1838  the  bank  at 
Kirtland  failed,  and  Smith  and  Rigdon  fled  to  Missouri,  where  large 
numbers  of  Mormons  soon  collected.    Falling  into  quarrels  they  were 

*  Appleton^s  CychpedTa.     1863.     Article  "  Mormons,"  which  see  for  further  accounts.     Also 
History  0/  Mormonism.     By  Rev.  D.  P.  Kidder.  D.D. 


342  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

charged  with  numerous  mischiefs,  plundering  and  burning  habita- 
tions, secret  assassinations,  etc.  After  various  conflicts,  in  which  the 
militia  was  called  out  by^the  governor,  they  left  the  State  and  settled 
in  Carthage  County,  Illinois,  where  they  built  the  city  of  Nauvoo. 
Here  at  one  time  were  1,50b  houses  and  15,000  inhabitants. 

In  1843  Smith  claimed  to  have  received  a  revelation  from  heaven 
authorizing  polygamy.  In  attempting  to  carry  out  this  practice 
trouble  arose,  aggrieved  parties  withdrew,  and  established  a  news- 
paper for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  corruptions  of  the  institution. 
Smith  and  a  party  of  his  followers  attacked  and  destroyed  the 
office.  A  conflict  arose  with  the  county  authorities,  Smith  and  his 
brother  surrendered  and  were  cast  into  prison,  a  mob  attacked  the 
jail  and  both  of  them  were  killed.  In  1845  the  Legislature  of 
Illinois  revoked  the  charter  of  Nauvoo,  and  the  Mormons  made 
preparations  to  remove  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Early  in  the  year 
they  gathered  in  considerable  numbers  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 
Those  who  remained  in  Nauvoo  again  became  involved  in  trouble 
with  the  surrounding  people,  and  in  September,  1845,  the  city  was 
cannonaded  and  its  inhabitants  were  driven  out.  The  pioneers 
reached  Utah  July  24.  1847,  and  in  the  following  year  the  great 
body  of  the  "  Saints  "  arrived  at  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Septem- 
ber 9,  1850,  Congress  established  over  them  a  Territorial  gov- 
ernment, and  Brigham  Young  was  appointed  governor  by  President 
Fillmore. 


ROMANISM. 


843 


CHAPTER   IX. 


THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 


Sec.  I.  General  Progress. 
"     2.  Bishop  England  and  Bishop  Hughes. 
"     3.  Lay  Trustee  Contest. 
"     4.  Common  School  Contest  begun. 


Sec.  5.  Native  American  movements. 
"     6.  Councils. 
"     7.  Propaganda  Funds. 
"     8.  Statistics  for  1850. 


Section  :?.— General  Progress. 

THE  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  was  largely 
re-enforced  in  1803  by  the  acquisition  of  the  vast  Territory  of 
Louisiana,  then  comprising  the  whole  region  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  in  1820  by  the  purchase  of  Florida.  *  In  these  vast  areas 
the  Roman  Catholic  had  been  the  only  religion.  This  Church  also 
received  large  accessions  by  the  steady  tide  of  emigration  from 
Europe.  During  the  first  thirty  years  of  this  century  the  emigrants 
amounted  to  one  third  of  a  million,  or  ten  thousand  annually  ;  from 
1830  to  1840,  59,910  annually  ;  from  1840- 1845  the  number  increased 
to  86,067  annually;  and  from  1845  to  1850,  in  consequence  of  the 
potato  famine  in  Ireland  and  the  serious  political  disturbances  in 
other  European  countries,  the  number  suddenly  rose  to  256,583 
annually.  The  total  number  of  persons  in  the  United  States  in 
1850  who  were  actually  born  in  foreign  lands  was  2,244.648.  As 
estimated  by  prelates  of  the  Church,  about  three  fifths  of  all  the 
emigrants  were  originally  Roman  Catholics,  while  seven  eighths  of 
those  from  Ireland  are  estimated  to  have  been  of  that  faith. 

The  low  condition  of  the  masses  of  the  European  populations, 
the  difficulties  experienced  in  obtaining  a  comfortable  livelihood, 
their  limited  social  and  civil  privileges,  the  appalling  slaughter  at- 
tending their  frequent  wars  and  revolutions,  the  free  and  inviting 
fields  of  our  large  public  domain,  and  our  liberal  civil  institutions, 

*  In  1810  seven  years  after  Louisiana  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  her  population  was 
34,311  whites'  and  42,245  blacks.  In  1830,  ten  years  after  Florida  was  annexed,  her  population 
was  34,730,  of  whom  18,335  were  whites. 


844  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

induced  multitudes  to  come  to  our  shores  to  improve  their  com- 
dition.  The  revolutionary  fury  of  France,  a  revolt  against  civil  des- 
potism, and  the  papacy  as  its  supporter,  and,  therefore,  fiercely  di- 
rected against  the  Church,  gave  the  first  impulse  to  emigration  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century.  After  the  establishment  of  the  Federal 
Government,  guaranteeing  religious  toleration,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  began  to  show  itself  in  all  the  States  along  the  Atlantic 
coast,  from  which  it  had  before  been  excluded,  while  it  also  extended 
to  the  new  settlements  on  the  frontier. 

The  foundations  of  this  Church  in  the  Western  States  were  not 
laid  without  severe  labor.  A  zealous,  self-sacrificing  spirit,  not 
excelled  by  any  Protestant  pioneers,  was  exhibited  by  its  emissaries 
on  the  wild  and  broken  frontiers. 

In  1815  Bishop  Carroll,  the  first  Roman  Catholic  bishop  in  the 
United  States,  died,  greatly  beloved  and  honored,  especially  by 
those  who  knew  his  devotion  to  our  cause  amid  the  struggles  of  the 
Revolution.  Two  important  works  associated  with  his  episcopacy, 
the  founding  of  the  Jesuit  College  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.  in  1791, 
and  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  at  Emmettsburg,  Md.,  have  been 
already  mentioned.  Bishop  Carroll's  successor  was  the  Most  Rev. 
Leonard  Neale,  D.D.,  who  had  been  for  some  time  his  coadjutor. 
Like  Bishop  Carroll,  Bishop  Neale  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and 
also  a  member  of  the  Order  qf  the  Jesuits. 

\ 

i 

The  Jesuits  and  Other  Brotherhoods. 

"  Bishop  Carroll  was  devotedly  attached  to  this  illustrious  Order 
and  to  its  members.  He  never  lost  hope  for  its  restoration  (that  is, 
after  its  suppression  in  1773  by  the  pope),  and  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible moment  took  measures  for  this  end.  Though  suppressed 
throughout  Europe,  Russia  was  not  included  in  the  application  of 
the  decree.  The  Society  continued  its  existence  and  labors  without 
interruption  in  that  country.  As  soon  as  Bishop  Carroll  learned  this 
fact,  he  and  his  coadjutor,  Bishop  Neale,  applied  to  Father  Gruber, 
the  General,  for  permission  to  the  members  of  the  late  Society  in  the 
United  States  to  affiliate  with  the  Society  in  Russia,  and  renew  their 
vows.  Their  request  was  granted,  and  Bishop  Carroll  called  the  ex- 
Jesuits  together  in  Baltimore,  May,  10,  1805,  and  at  this  meeting 
six  members  of  the  old  Society  were  re-admitted  into  the  revived 
Society,  and  on  the  21st  of  June  Bishop  Carroll  appointed  Rev. 
Robert  Molyncux  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  in  America.  The  Society 
was  soon  augmented  by  arrivals  from  Europe,  and  Bishop  Carroll 


THE  JESUITS. 


843 


transferred  Georgetown  College  to  them,  and  restored  to  them  their 
former  missions  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania."  * 


The  Jesuits. 

In  the  year  1845  a  book  was  published  in  Leipsic,  Germany, 
entitled,  Das  Innere  der  Gesellschaft  Jesu  (The  Interior  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus),  which  excited  considerable  interest  in  different 
parts  of  Europe.  It  was  the  aim  of  the  author  to  exhibit  the 
principles,  regulations  and  operations  of  the  Jesuits  at  that  time, 
and  his  statements  were  professedly  based  upon  the  documents  of 
the  Society.  This  book  contains  a  table  prepared  from  communica- 
tions to  the  General  of  the  Order. 

The  numbers  in  all  the  provinces  of  Europe  and  America  were 
as  follows : 

In  1838. 

Priests • .   1,246 

Scholars 934 

Laymen 887 


In  1844. 

Increase  in  6  years 

1.645 

399 

1,281 

347 

1,207 

320 

Total 3,067 


4.133 


1,066 


In  the  United  States  the  Jesuits  were  comprised  in  two  prov- 
inces, Maryland  and  Missouri,  as  follows : 

Jesuits  in  the  United  States,  January  i,  1844. 


MARYLAND  PROVINCE. 


Alexandria 

Georgetown 

Fredericktown 

St.  Thomas's  Manor 

Newtown 

Si.  Inigoes 

Bohemia 

St.  Joseph 

Whitemarsh 

Worcester  (Masaachusetts). 

Philadelphia 

Goschenhappen 

Conewago 

Without  the  Province 


From  other  Provinces,  deduct. 
Total 


MISSOURI  PROVINCE. 


St.  Lotus 

St.  Charies  (Louisiana) 

St.  Michael 

St.  Stanislaus  (Missouri) 

St.  Charles 

St  Ferdinand. . ._ 

St.  Francis  Xavier 

St.  Joseph 

Independence 

St.  Francis  Borgia  (Washington) 

Sugar  Creek  (Potawatomies) 

Cincinnati 

Beyond  the  Rocky  Mountams. . 
Without  the  Province 


From  other  Provinces,  Deduct. 

Total 

Aggregate  in  United  States 


'39 
24 
"5 
231 


Summary.— Priests,  68;  Scholars,  68  ;  Laymen,  95;  total  Jesuits 
in  the  United  States,  January  i,  1844,  231. 

In  January,   1838,  there  were   163  Jesuits  in  this  country— 60 


»  Lives  o/the  deceased  Roman  Catholic  Bishops.    Vol.  I,  p.  98- 


35 


846  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

priests,  45  scholars,   58  laymen— an   increase   in   six  years  of  65 
Jesuits. 

In  September,  1803,  Bishop  Carroll  consecrated  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Cross  in  Boston;  and  in  1806  he  laid  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Cathedral  in  Baltimore.  The  Augustinians,  in  Philadelphia,  and 
the  Dominicans,  in  Ohio,  founded  flourishing  institutions,  and  witK 
the  Jesuits,  at  Georgetown,  and  the  Sulpitians,  at  Baltimore,  shared 
the  favor  and  benedictions  of  their  chief  pastor.  Bishop  Neale,. 
already  enfeebled  by  age  and  labors,  survived  Bishop  Carroll  only 
two  years.  (^ 

Daughters  of  Charity. 

The  founding  of  the  Order  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  in 
America  is  credited  to  Mrs.  Seaton,  of  New  York.  She  was  born 
of  Protestant  parents,  her  father.  Dr.  Bayley,  being  an  eminent 
physician  of  New  York  city,  holding  the  office  of  Health  Physician 
for  the  Port.  Attending  her  father  in  his  visits  to  the  Quarantine, 
at  Staten  Island,  she  became  much  impressed  with  the  suffering  con- 
dition of  the  Irish  emigrants,  in  whose  service  her  father  lost  his 
life  by  contagious  disease.  A  subsequent  visit  to  Italy  with  a 
dying  husband  and  the  kind  attentions  of  a  distinguished  Romaa 
Catholic  family  strongly  predisposed  her  to  that  faith,  and  in  March, 
1805,  she  united  with  the  Cljurch  of  St.  Peter,  in  New  York  city. 
Soon  after  she  established  a  school  for  young  ladies  in  Baltimore, 
under  the  auspices  of  Bishop  Carroll.  This  was  followed  by  the 
founding  of  the  parent  house  of  the  Order  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity,  at  Emmettsburg,  Md,  The  Order  was  soon  extended  to 
Philadelphia  and  elsewhere.  In  1834  there  were  twenty-five  branches 
in  seven  dioceses,  and  at  the  present  time  it  has  extended  itself 
throughout  the  leading  cities  and  towns  of  the  land. 

New  Dioceses. 

The  increase  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population  necessitated  the 
creation  of  new  dioceses  and  administrators.  In  1808,  New  York, 
Boston  and  Bardstown,  Ky.,were  erected  into  episcopal  sees.  Then 
followed,  in  1809,  Philadelphia;  in  1820,  Charlestovvn,  S.C;  in  1821, 
Richmond,  Va. ;  in  1823,  Cincinnati ;  in  1824.  Mobile;  in  1826,  St. 
Louis;  in  1832,  Detroit;  in  1834,  Vincennes;  in  1837,  Dubuque, 
Little  Rock,  Nashville  and  Natchez;  in  1843,  Pittsburg;  in  1844, 
Milwaukee,  Chicago  and  Hartford,  Conn.;  in  1846,  Oregon  City  ; 
in  1847,  Albany,  Buffalo,  Cleveland  and  Galveston,  Among  those 
bishops  who  attained  considerable  eminence  were  Bishops  Cheverus,. 


ITINERANT  PRIESTS,  847 

of  Boston;  O'Connor,  of  Pittsburg  ;  Fenvvick,  of  Cincinnati ;  Flaget, 
of  Bardstown,  Ky. ;  England,  of  Charleston,  S.  C. ;  and  Hughes,  of 
New  York.  In  the  earlier  days  the  dioceses  were  large,  the  labors 
of  the  bishops  were  arduous,  and  their  travels  extensive.  A  few 
facts  will  show  the  situation. 

In  1816-1818  the  diocese  of  New  York  embraced  the  whole  of  the 
States  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  with  a  Roman  Catholic  popu- 
lation of  about  seventeen  thousand.*  The  Laity  s  Directory  for  1 822 
gives  the  following  items  :  Thenumber  of  Roman  Catholic  churches 
in  the  United  States  did  not  much  exceed  one  hundred,  thirty  nine 
of  which,  or  more  than  one  third,  were  in  the  diocese  of  Baltimore. 
It  was  by  a  hard  struggle,  with  slow  and  patient  progress,  that 
Romanism  invaded  the  stronghold  of  the  Puritans.  The  diocese  of 
Boston  then  comprehended  the  whole  of  New  England,  in  which 
there  were  six  churches.  Two  of  these  were  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
one  in  Salem,  one  in  New  Bedford,  and  two  in  Maine,  leaving  four 
of  the  States  without  any  church.  The  diocese  of  New  York  com- 
prised the  whole  State  of  New  York  and  the  northern  part  of  New 
Jersey,  and  had  but  seven  churches,  with  nine  priests,  including  the 
bishop.  Two  of  the  churches  were  in  New  York  and  the  others  were 
in  Albany,  Utica,  Auburn,  Newark  and  Carthage.  Under  the 
head  of  "  Clergymen  Officiating  in  the  Diocese"  the  following  items 
are  given,  which  show  the  laborious  and  itinerant  character  of  the 
Romish  priests  of  those  days:  "Rev.  Patrick  Kelley,  Auburn, 
Rochester,  and  other  districts  in  the  western  part  of  this  State. 
Rev.  Philip  Larissy  attends  regularly  at  Staten  Island  and  different 
other  congregations  along  the  Hudson  River."  The  Philadelphia 
diocese  embraced  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  with  fifteen  churches. 
The  editor  of  the  Directory  says  that  at  that  time  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics constituted  nearly  one  fifth  of  the  population  of  Philadelphia. 
Bardstown,  Ky.,  was  at  that  time  the  head  of  a  very  large  diocese 
comprising  19  churches,  which  were  scattered  through  the  States  of 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  the  Territories  of 
Michigan,  and  the  limitless  North-west.  The  diocese  of  Louisiana 
included  the  whole  of  ancient  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  domains  of  the  Church.  The  diocese 
df  Richmond  embraced  the  entire  State  of  Virginia,  with  seven 
churches,  and  the  diocese  of  Charleston  included  North  Carolina,. 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  There  was  one  church  in  South  Car- 
olina, at  Charleston,  and  three  in  Georgia;  at  Savannah,  Augusta 
and  Locust  Grove. 

*  Extracts  from  a  note-book  kept  by  Bishop  ConoUey,  of  New  York. 


548  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  2,—BiBh.ov  England  and  Bistiop  Hnglies. 

In  the  year  1820  th(|^Roman  Catholic  Church  in  America  received 
an  important  addition  to  its  working  force  in  the  appointment  of 
Rev.  John  England,  D.D.,  to  the  see  of  Charleston.  Dr.  England  has 
been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  noted  prelates  of  the  papal  Church 
in  this  country.  Described  as  a  man  of  "  a  vigorous  and  compre- 
hensive mind,  enriched  with  varied  and  accurate  information, 
thoroughly  trained  in  priestly  duties,"  and  with  an  experience  of 
twelve  years  in  an  active  missionary  career  in  Ireland,  high  expec- 
tations were  cherished  as  to  his  work  in  America.  Familiar  with 
the  political  questions  of  the  day,  with  a  personal  presence  in  a  high 
degree  prepossessing,' a  quick  insight  into  human  character,  a  ready 
wit,  and  great  facility  in  dealing  with  questions  outside  of  the 
immediate  province  of  a  minister  of  religion,  he  was  able  to  exert  the 
most  valuable  influence  with  people  of  position  and  authority.  His 
fame  increased  with  his  years,  until  his  name  became  a  household 
word  with  Roman  Catholics  ot  all  nations,  who  regarded  him  as  an 
able  champion  of  their  cause.  By  Irishmen  he  was  regarded  with 
feelings  of  intense  pride  on  account  of  his  great  qualities  of  heart  and 
head  and  his  power  both  of  pen  and  tongue.  His  noble,  generous 
nature,  and  his  capacity  for  public  affairs  won  for  him  many  friends 
outside  of  his  church.  On  the^30th  of  December,  1820,  Dr.  En- 
gland landed  in  Charleston,  S.Q.,  and  the  following  day,  being  Sun- 
day, he  entered  upon  the  work  of  his  mission.  In  a  short  time  he 
visited  all  the  principal  places  of  his  diocese  and  inaugurated  a 
vigorous  course  of  instruction  among  his  people.  He  pursued  his 
labors  with  great  diligence  and  energy,  traveling  by  public  and 
private  conveyances,  preaching  in  churches,  private  houses,  in  the 
open  air,  and  sometimes  by  invitation  in  the  edifices  of  other  de- 
nominations. He  also  delivered  courses  of  lectures,  prepared  cate- 
chisms, established  "  Book  Societies,"  and  started  a  newspaper.  * 

Bishop  England's  diocese  extended  about  800  miles  north  and 
south  along  the  coast,  and  about  300  miles  into  the  interior. 
Through  this  territory  he  often  traveled  in  his  carriage,  driven  by  a 
negro  boy,  preaching,  instructing,  administering  the  sacraments 
with  all  the  ardor  of  his  priestly  zeal,  wherever  a  few  Roman  Cath- 
olics might  be  found.  Many  a  strange  incident  and  startling 
adventure  occurred  during  these  journeys. 

The  Amials  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  for  May,  l838,t 
contain  a  letter  from  him,  characterized  by  great  ability,  broad  and 

*  The  United  States  Catholic  Miscellany,  at  Charleston,  in  1822.  t  Vol.  X,  p.  253. 


DISCUSSIONS  ON  ROMANISM.  849 

comprehensive  views,  and  affording  a  clearer  insight  into  the  prog- 
ress and  condition  of  American  Romanism  than  any  thing  before 
published— an  able  r6sum6  of  papal  struggles  in  the  United  States. 
It  was  translated  and  republished  *  in  this  country,  giving  him  a 
national  reputation. 

Returning  from  Europe  in  1842  he  contracted  a  malignant 
disease  in  his  ministrations  to  the  sick  on  the  vessel,  and  died  soon 
after  he  landed  in  Baltimore,  universally  lamented.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  the  Roman  Catholic  population  of  his  diocese  was 
estimated  at  about  eight  thousand. 

Bishop  Hughes  became  the  most  prominent  papal  ecclesiastic 
of  this  period,  and  therefore  demands  extended  notice.  Born  in 
1798,  in  the  County  of  Tyrone,  Ireland,  when  quite  young  his 
family  moved  to  this  country  and  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Cham- 
bersburg,  Md.  Early  inclined  toward  an  ecclesiastical  life,  with 
the  approval  and  assistance  of  his  father  he  entered  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Mt.  St.  Mary's,  Emmettsburg,  Md.,  where  he  made 
such  rapid  progress  that  he  soon  became  a  teacher.  In  1825  he  was 
ordained  a  priest  and  appointed  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  St. 
Joseph's  Church,  Philadelphia,  which  position  he  filled  with  such 
zeal  and  ability  that  he  was  soon  recognized  as  the  foremost  cham- 
pion of  Roman  Catholicism  in  that  city.  In  1832  Rev.  John  Breck- 
inridge, D.D.,  then  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  leaders  of  the 
Presbyterians  in  America,  published' in  the  Philadelphia  papers  a 
challenge  to  discuss  the  question,  "  Is  the  Protestant  religion  the 
religion  of  Christ?"  Mr.  Hughes  accepted  the  challenge,  and  the 
discussion  was  continued  in  successive  letters  in  the  city  papers. 
Four  years  later  he  accepted  another  challenge  from  the  same  gen- 
tleman to  an  oral  discussion  of  the  question,  "  Is  the  Catholic 
religion,  in  any  or  all  its  principles  and  doctrines,  inimical  to  civil  or 
religious  liberty?"  In  this  discussion  Mr.  Hughes  exhibited  great 
ability,  extensive  attainments,  and  the  superior  adroitness  and  tact 
in  dealing  with  men  for  which  he  subsequently  became  distinguished. 

In  1837  Bishop  Dubois,  of  New  York,  finding  himself,  from  age 
and  infirmities,  unequal  to  the  care  of  his  large  diocese,  requested 
the  appointment  of  a  coadjutor.  Mr.  Hughes  was  at  once  desig- 
nated for  that  position  and  was  consecrated  on  the  9th  of  Januar>', 
1838.  Three  weeks  after  Bishop  Dubois  was  stricken  with  paralysis, 
and  Mr.  Hughes  was  constituted  administrator  of  the  diocese.  On 
the  death  of  Bishop  Dubois,  in  1842,  the  episcopal  dignity  devolved 

*  In  the  American  Quarterly  Register  for  1841,  occupying  fifteen  closely  printed  pages.     It 
will  amply  repay  perusal. 


SSO  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

entirely  upon  him,  and  in  1852  he  became  archbishop.  Bishop 
Hughes  was  a  man'tof  great  strength  and  decision  of  character, 
bold,  fearless,  and  independent  in  spirit,  and  a  skillful  diplomatist. 
He  exercised  great  influence  over  men,  whether  in  personal  inter- 
course or  in  public  discourses  to  the  masses.  He  controlled  mobs 
as  with  a  wand,  and  politicians  were  supple  tools  in  his  hands.  All 
his  resources  were  called  into  use  in  his  new  field.  When  he  came 
to  New  York  his  diocese  embraced  55,000  square  miles,  with  40 
priests,  20  churches  and  a  large  number  of  stations.  There  was 
much  opposition  to  Romanism  in  the  country,  and  the  road  to  suc- 
cess was  not  a  flowery  one. 


Section  5.— Tlie  Lay-Tnisteesliip  Contest. 

Some  dangers  from  within,  in  the  estimation  of  the  far-seeing 
ones,  more  perilous  than  those  from  without,  seriously  threatened 
the  Church.  These  internal  causes  of  apprehension  arose  chiefly  from 
the  system  of  lay-trusteeship  which,  in  some  of  the  cities,  had  been 
the  occasion  of  long-standing  feuds  and  of  public  scandal.  Certain  of 
the  laity  braved  and  defied  the  authority  of  their  bishops,  treated 
with  contempt  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  and  ventured  to  receive 
and  dismiss  pastors  at  their  pleasure.  Some  cases  were  carried 
into  the  civil  courts.  ^ 

This  early  system  of  trusteeship  provided  that  all  church  prop- 
erty should  be  held  by  a  board  of  three  or  more  trustees,  appointed 
by  the  people  for  whose  benefit  the  Society  existed,  of  which  no 
priest,  bishop,  or  ecclesiastic  could  be  one.  As  early  as  1830  Bishop 
England,  in  his  correspondence  with  the  Propaganda,  had  complained 
that  this  system  was  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  this  country.  The  first  Provincial 
Council,  in  1829,  instructed  the  bishops  not  to  consecrate  any  more 
churches  which  would  not  execute  a  deed  of  the  property  to  them. 
Succeeding  councils  referred  to  the  matter,  endeavoring  to  remedy 
the  difficulty;  but  it  was  not  easily  reached.  The  free  spirit  of  the 
country  was  opposed  to  it.  There  were  "desperate  struggles," 
"prolonged  schisms,"  "embarrassments  which  shortened  the  lives 
of  several  bishops,"  "excommunications  of  several  boards  of  trus- 
tees," and  "the  interdiction  of  churches."* 

It  was  necessary  that  the  bishop  who  found  himself  embarrassed 
by  such  action  should   be  prudent,  but  firm   and  determined.     In 


*  De  Courceys  History  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  p.  172. 


.    •  .LAY -TRUSTEESHIP.  831 

:some  instances,  either  through  gentleness  of  nature  or  from  weari- 
ness of  the  contest,  or  from  a  spirit  of  conciliation— in  hope  of 
healing  ugly  wounds — some  bishops  surrendered  a  portion  of  their 
authority,  while  others  of  a  stronger  and  sterner  nature  resolutely 
resisted  all  encroachments  upon  their  prerogatives  and  vanquished 
the  intriguers.  Under  the  mild  administration  of  Bishop  Dubois  a 
committee  of  trustees  waited  upon  him  and  informed  him  that 
they  could  not  conscientiously  vote  him  his  salary  unless  he  com- 
plied with  their  wishes  and  gave  them  such  clergymen  as  were 
acceptable  to  them.  The  reply  is  said  to  have  been  characteristic 
•of  that  meek  and  venerable  man,  "  Well,  gentlemen,  you  may  vote 
the  salary  or  not,  just  as  seems  good  to  you.  I  do  not  need  much. 
I  can  live  in  a  basement  or  in  a  garret;  but  whether  I  come  up  from 
a  basement  or  down  from  a  garret  I  will  still  be  your  bishop." 

When  Mr.  Hughes  became  administrator  of  the  diocese  of  New 
York  lay-trusteeship  was  rampant,  and  its  mismanagement  had 
become  disastrous  to  the  financial  interests  of  the  city  churches, 
five  out  of  the  eight  being  bankrupt ;  St.  Peter's  owing  a  debt 
•of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Bishop  Dubois  was 
past  the  age  of  dealing  successfully  with  these  increasing  diffi- 
culties; but  Bishop  Hughes  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  The 
•churches  were  all  assigned  or  sold  by  the  sheriff,  and  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Bishop  Hughes,  who  purchased  them  in  his  own 
right.  By  skillful  management  he  cleared  off  the  most  pressing 
liabilities,  visited  Europe  the  following  year,  obtained  pecuniary 
aid,  and  thus  settled  all  the  obligations  and  gained  the  full  con- 
trol of  the  edifices. 

Section  4.— The  Common  SctLOOl  Contest  Com- 
menced. 

It  was  not  long  after  Bishop  Hughes  was  elevated  to  the  See  of 
New  York  before  he  undertook  the  work  of  revolution.  He  was  a 
man  of  sufficient  courage  for  great  undertakings,  and  also  fertile  in 
•expedients.  Starting  with  the  allegation  that  the  common  schools 
were  a  "  Protestant  monopoly,"  that  the  system  was  "insidious  and 
unfair  to  Catholics,"  that  the  books  in  use  were  "  replete  with  sneers 
and  libels  against  the  Catholic  Church,"  and  that  the  teachers  by 
their  explanations  gave  new  force  to  the  calumnious  sentiments,  on 
these  grounds  he  demanded  a  division  of  the  school  fund  in  favor 
of  the  Roman  Catholics. 

In   order  to  understand  the  case  fully  it  will  be  necessary  to 


882  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

revert  to  a  few  facts  of  previous  history.  In  the  year  1805  "The 
New  York  Public  School  Society  "  was  formed  for  the  education 
of  poor  and  neglected  children  of  the  city.  It  was  largely  aided  by 
the  School  Fund  of  the  State.  As  early  as  1823  the  question  of 
distributing  a  portion  of  that  fund  to  sectarian  or  church  schools 
came  up.  The  first  case  related  to  the  Bethel  (Baptist)  Church, 
which  had  obtained  a  portion  of  the  school  fund  for  its  schools. 
The  Public  School  Society  opposed  this  action,  as  fatal  to  the  pub- 
lic school  system  and  contrary  to  the  object  of  the  school  fund, 
which  was  intended  to  promote,  not  religious,  but  civil  education. 
The  case  was  argued  before  the  Legislature,  which  turned  the 
subject  over  to  the  Board  of  the  tity  Corporation.  That  board 
appointed  a  committee  to  hear  the  parties.  Notwithstanding,  the 
Episcopalians,  the  Methodist^the  Baptists,  and  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, at  that  day,  sought  for  a  participation  in  the  school  fund,  just 
as  Archbishop  Hughes  and  his  fellow  bishops  have  since  done,  yet 
the  report  of  the  committee  convinced  every  body  of  "  the  im- 
policy and  injustice  of  such  a  division,  except  the  Catholics^  * 

In  1 83 1  the  "Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society"  obtained 
through  the  Sisters  of  Charity  a  grant  of  $1,500,  which  was  there- 
after annually  made  for  more  than  twenty  years  by  the  Corporation 
of  the  city  for  the  orphan  asylum  schools  under  their  care.  This, 
however,  did  not  satisfy  them.  In  1840  Bishop  Hughes  appeared 
upon  the  scene  and  commenced  the  agitation  of  the  common  school 
question.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  under  his  advice  and  direc- 
tion, the  Roman  Catholics  presented  to  the  Corporation  of  the 
city  a  petition,  numerously  signed,  requesting  that  seven  Catholic 
schools  be  designated  as  entitled  to  participate  in  the  common 
school  fund.  The  Corporation  determined  to  have  the  question 
discussed  before  the  full  board,  which  was  done  on  the  nights  of 
October  28  and  29.  Bishop  Hughes  was  the  champion  of  the 
Romanists  and  several  distinguished  Protestants  spoke  on  the  other 
side.  The  Corporation,  after  visiting  and  examining  all  the  schools, 
denied  the  petition.  Nothing  daunted,  the  Romanists  carried  the  case 
up  to  the  Legislature,  and  through  the  management  of  Hon.  John 
C.  Spencer,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward,  the 
Governor,  who  encouraged  and  directed  their  application,  they  came 
nigh  succeeding.  The  House  favored  the  petition,  but  the  Senate 
decided  against  it.     This  gave  a  quietus  to  the  matter  for  a  time. 

To  conciliate  the  Roman  Catholics  the  Public  School  Society 
agreed  to  strike  out  of  the  school  books  all  passages  to  which  they 

*  See  an  address  by  Hiram  Ketchum,  Esq.,  delivered  in  New  York  city,  July  22,  1853. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.  B83 

objected,   and  proposed  to  have  only  such  portions  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  read  as  "  are  translated  in  the  same  way  in  the  Protest- 
ant and  Romish  versions,"  but  these  concessions  did  not  satisfy. 
The  next  effort  was  to  have  the  school  system  of  the  State  extended 
to  the  city  of  New  York.     This  led  to  the  formation   of  "  Ward 
Schools,"  under  the  direction  of  officers  chosen  in  each  ward,  while 
those  of  the  Public  School  Society  were  allowed  to  remain  under 
its  control,  the  two  systems  operating  side  by  side.     As  might  have 
been  expected,  however,  and  as  was  probably  designed,  experience 
soon  demonstrated  that  such  a  plan  was  attended  with  many  diffi- 
culties.    This  led  the   Public   School   Society  to  propose  to   the 
Legislature  to  retire  from  the  scene,  which  was  allowed.     On  the 
22d  of  July,    1853,  it   transferred  its  schools  and  property  to  the 
Corporation  of  the  city,  to  be  managed  by  the  Board  of  Education. 
This  surrender  was   made  after    forty-eight  years  of   valuable 
service  to  poor  and  neglected   children,  and  after  a  long  resistance 
against  the  demands  of  the  Romish  hierarchy,  under  the  leadership  of 
Bishop  Hughes.     At  that  time  the  Bible  had  been  ejected  from  more 
than  eighty  of  the  public  schools  in  New  York  city.     The  Roman- 
ists had  not  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  division  of  the  school  fund 
for  the  benefit  of  their  sectarian  schools,  but  the  disbanding  of  the 
Public  School  Society  was  a  Roman  Catholic  triumph.      In  this 
contest  Bishop  Hughes  managed  with  consummate  tact,  persistence 
and  ability,  sustaining  his  cause  in  the  municipal  Council  and  in  the 
Legislature,  and  teaching  the  politicians  the  value  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  vote— a  lesson  which  they  soon  learned  to  appreciate. 


Section   5.-HatiYe    American    and    Know-Hothmg 

HoYements. 

The  year  1844  was  remarkable  for  the  "  P^P^^hJliots  -  which 
occurred  in  Philadelphia.  The  great  cry  was,  "The  B.ble  is  m 
danger;  save  it  from' the  priests."  The  immediate  cause  of  this 
movement  was  the  Roman  Catholic  requirement  that  when  thei 
Children  were  compelled  to  read  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  it 
hould  be  the  recognized  Catholic  version.  A  fierce  sP^rit  raged 
7^^  \  thP  citv  one  or  two  Catholic  churches  were  destroyed,  and 
IW.  we  e  lost      A  Protestant  Irish  association  of  Orangemen 

Native  Im^erLn  party  was  organized,  which  attracted  considerable 
attention  and  greatly  annoyed  the  Catholics. 


SS4  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

But  there  were  several  circumstances  which  conspired  to  pro- 
duce these  results.  Since  1840  Bishop  Hughes  had  been  exerting 
his  influence  againsf  ,the  Bible  in  the  schools  of  New  York.  In 
October,  1842,  a  large  number  of  Bibles  were  burned  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  Champlain,  N.  Y.,  intensely  arousing  the  popular  mind. 
On  the  2d  of  May,  1843,  Maria  Joaquina  had  been  condemned  to 
death  on  the  Island  of  Madeira  for  denying  the  dogma  of  transub- 
stantiation.  On  the  2d  of  May,  1844,  Pope  Gregory  XVI.  had 
issued  a  bull  against  Bibles  and  the  Bible  societies.  And  at  the 
same  time  John  Roug^,  in  Germany,  was  uttering  his  stern  protests 
against  the  follies  and  impostures  of  Rome.  The  atmosphere, 
therefore,  was  full  of  anti-papal  excitements.  Another  similar 
excitement,  only  more  extensive,  was  aroused  about  ten  years  later 
by  the  famous  Know-Nothing  party,  with  its  unreasonable  and 
impracticable  measures.  This  party  however,  notwithstanding  glar- 
ing defects,  attracted  to  it  many  good  men  who  did  not  fully 
approve  its  measures,  and  made  possible  some  desirable  results  in 
consequence  of  the  dismemberment  of  old  poHtical  parties  which 
it  effected.  It  arose  out  of  the  spirit  of  the  times,  for  which 
Romanists  were  in  part  responsible.  American  Romanism  was 
receiving  unprecedented  accessions  to  its  numbers  and  strength, 
from  the  quarter  of  a  million  of  emigrants  yearly  coming  to  our 
shores,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  annually  received 
from  the  several  European  propagandas;  it  was  clamoring  for  the 
exclusion  of  the  Holy  Bible  from  the  common  schools  and  the  division 
of  the  school  funds ;  and  its  attitude  was  felt  to  be  increasingly 
insolent  and  defiant. 


Section  6.— Cotincils. 

The  First  Provincial  Council  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
the  United  States  convened  in  Baltimore  October  4,  1829,  con- 
sisting of  five  prelates— Right  Rev.  Bishops  Flaget,  of  Bardstown, 
Ky.;  England,  of  Charleston,  S.  C;  Fenwick,  of  Cincinnati;  Rosati, 
of  St.  Louis,  and  Fenwick.  of  Boston  ;  four  bishops  being  unable  to 
attend.  In  their  two  weeks'  session  the  Council  enacted  thirty- 
eight  decrees,  formed  an  association  for  publishing  Roman  Catholic 
books,  favored  the  establishment  of  journals  conducted  by  editors 
of  their  faith,  recommended  the  organizing  of  parochial  schools,  and 
ordered  the  bishops  to  refuse  to  consecrate  any  churches  unless  the 
deed  of  the  property  was  duly  executed  to  them. 

The  Second  Provincial  Council  met   in   Baltimore  October  20, 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  COUNCILS.  833 

1833.  It  consisted  of  nine  bishops,  five  members  of  the  second 
order,  and  fourteen  consulting  theologians,  among  whom  was  the 
name  of  John  Hughes,  afterward  Archbishop  of  New  York,  then  a 
young  man.  This  Council  remained  in  session  one  week.  Among 
the  items  of  business  transacted  was  the  establishment  of  a  rule 
for  electing  bishops,  a  recommendation  to  the  pope  to  establish  a 
mission  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  near  the  Equator,  a  resolution 
in  favor  of  establishing  an  ecclesiastical  seminary  in  each  diocese 
conformably  to  the  rules  prescribed  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  and 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  revise  and  expurge  the  books 
intended  to  be  used  in  Catholic  schools.  At  that  time  the  number 
of  ecclesiastics  in  the  United  States  was  308 ;  of  whom  72  were 
American  born,  91  were  born  in  Ireland,  73  in  France,  13  in  Italy, 
38  were  Belgians,  Germans,  English  and  Spanish,  and  one  was  a 
Pole.  Of  the  whole  number  170  had  been  ordained  in  the  United 
States,  43  were  Jesuit  priests,  14  we're  Sulpitians,  10  Dominicans, 
12  Lazarists  and  3  Augustinians. 

On  the  1 6th  of  April,  1837,  the  Third  Provincial  Council  assem- 
bled in  Baltimore,  and  the  Fourth  met  also  at  the  same  place  on 
the  17th  of  May,  1840.  At  the  former  no  business  of  special 
interest  was  transacted  ;  in  the  latter  the  influence  of  the  Washing- 
tonian  movements,  then  attracting  great  attention,  was  seen,  the 
Fathers  of  the  Council  very  earnestly  recommending  the  formation 
of  temperance  societies  among  their  people.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant decrees  of  this  Council  related  to  the  preservation  of  church 
property,  to  avoid  the  troubles  that  existed  in  some  churches  grow- 
ing out  of  the  system  of  lay-trusteeship.  Schisms  and  excom- 
munications had  occurred  and  churches  had  been  interdicted.  This 
Council  enacted  that  the  bishops  should  take  in  their  own  names 
the  religious  property  of  their  dioceses.  Educational  institutions, 
however,  were  allowed  to  be  held  by  corporations  granted  by  the 
States. 

The  Fifth  Council  mtt  in  Baltimore  May  14,  1843.  One  of  the 
most  important  decrees  pronounced  the  penalty  of  excommunication 
ipso  facto  against  those  who  after  having  obtained  a  civil  divorce 
should  contract  a  second  marriage.  This  Council  also  expressed  its 
disapproval  of  mixed  marriages. 

The  Sixth  Provincial  Council  assembled  in  Baltimore  May  10, 

1846,  twenty-three  bishops  sharing  in  its  deliberations.     The  first 

decree  chose  the  Virgin  Mary  as  the  patroness  of  the  United  States, 

designating  her  as  "the  Blessed  Virgin,  Conceived  without  Sin." 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Council  tidings  arrived  of  the 


856  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

death  of  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  and  very  soon  after  of  the  election  of 
Pope  Pius  IX.  Great  interest  was  every-where  felt  in  the  new 
pope,  and  many  people  entertained  high  expectations  on  account 
of  a  few  generous  measures  with  which  he  commenced  his  reign. 
Public  meetings  were  held  in  the  principal  cities,  eloquent  speeches 
were  delivered,  and  congratulations  were  addressed  to  him.  Little 
was  it  expected  by  the  most  decided  Protestants  that  under  his 
administration  the  legislation  of  the  Church  would  turn  backward 
rather  than  forward,  and  that  dogmas  and  encyclical  utterances 
worthy  of  the  Middle  Ages  would  be  freely  proclaimed. 

The  Seventh  Council  met  in  Baltimore  May  6,  1849,  twenty-five 
bishops  being  in  attendance.  By  the  first  decree  the  Council  de- 
clared that  the  "devotion  of  the  clergy  and  the  faithful  of  the 
United  States  to  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary  was  universal ;  "  by  the  second,  that  they  would  "  regard  with 
lively  satisfaction  the  doctrinal  definition  of  that  mystery  by  the 
sovereign  pontiff",  if  in  the  judgment  of  his  wisdom  he  deemed  the 
definition  seasonable."  These  decrees  were  adopted  with  the  votes 
of  all  the  members  except  one,  the  Bishop  of  Richmond.  In  re- 
sponse to  the  action  of  this  Council  the  pope  divided  the  United 
States  into  six  ecclesiastical  provinces,  with  suffragan  dioceses,  thus 
inaugurating  among  the  simple  republican  institutions  of  the  United 
States  a  hierarchical  organization  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  with 
miters  and  pompous  forms. 


Section  7.— Propaganda  Funds. 

The  frequent  and  moving  appeals  of  the  Catholic  bishops  in  the 
United  States  to  their  brethren  in  Europe,  representing  the  urgent 
and  pressing  necessities  of  their  cause  here,  led  to  the  organization 
of  systematic  methods  to  help  forward  the  papal  church  by  the 
organization  of  the  great  papal  propagandas.  In  the  seventeenth 
century  the  first  institution  of  this  class  was  established  in  Rome 
for  raising  up  and  educating  young  men  for  the  priesthood.  In 
1822  the  great  Propaganda,  which  has  since  attracted  so  much  at- 
tention, was  organized  at  Lyons,  France,  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
funds  to  aid  the  missions  of  the  Church  throughout  the  world.  In 
1829  the  "Leopold"  Society  of  Austria  was  founded  for  the  specific 
purpose  of  helping  the  Papal  Church  in  the  United  States.  A  large 
portion  of  the  funds  of  the  Lyons  Propaganda  was  yearly  appro- 
priated to  this  country.  In  1828  the  amount  was  distributed  as 
follows : 


PROPAGANDA  FUNDS, 


857 


T      L     T>'  t-  Francs. 

To  the  Bishop  of  Baltimore 5,000 

"     "        "      "New  York 7.500 

"      "  Charleston 5,000 


Total 


110,000 


Francs. 
To  the  Bishop  of  Cincinnati 20,000 

"  "  •*      "   Detroit 7,500 

"  "  "      "   Bardstown 20,000 

"  "  "      *'  St.  Louis 20,000 

"  "  "  "   New  Orleans. . . .  10,000 

"  "  "      *•   Mobile 15,000 

In  1846  the  amount  of  "alms"  distributed*  by  the  Lyons  Prop- 
aganda alone  to  the  Catholics  in  the  United  States  was  660,207 
francs — equal  in  United  States  money  to  $124,567  33.  It  was 
divided  as  follows: 

Francs. 

To  the  Bishop  of  Oregon  City 54.560 

"  "         "       "   Dubuque 26,784 

"  "        "       "   Detroit 29,760 

''  *'        "       "    Cincinnati 20,590 

"  "         "       "   Philadelphia 15,872 

"  "         "       "   Pittsburg 15.872 

"  "         "       "    Richmond 17,856 

•'  "         "       "    New  York 19,840 

*'  "  Mission  of  Sisters  of  Mercy, 

New  York  City 5.400 

"  "    Bishop  of  Hartford 9,920 

"  "         "       "-Nashville 15,872 

"  "         "       "   Louisville 15.780 


Francs.- 

To  the  Bishop  of  Milwaukee 11,904 

"     "        "       "   Little  Rock 17,856 

"     "         "       "   Chicago 37,696 

"     "        '•       "   Natchez 18,000 

"     "        "      "   Texas 49,600 

"     "        "      "   New  Orleans 24,800 

"     '*         "      "   Mobile 37.728 

"     "         "       "   Charleston 39.783 

"     "    Mission  of  the  Lazarists. . . .  30,000 

"     "         "       "   Society  of  Jesus — 

Missouri 11,920 

"     "        "      "   Society  of  Jesus — 

Rocky  Mountains  44,900 

"     "        "      "   Dominicans 3,600 


"     "        "       "   Vincennes (39,680 

And  Congregation  of  Holy  Cross.  (  14,880 
To  the  Bishop  of  St.  Louis 29,760  Total 660,207 

The  following  statistics  of  the  receipts  of  the  Lyons  Association 
and  the  amount  appropriated  to  the  United  States  (see  New  En- 
glander,  1859)  will  be  interesting  to  close  students  of  religious  history  : 


Year. 


1S22 

1823 

1824 

1825 

1S26  (8  months). 

1827 

1828 

1829 

1830 

1831 

1832 

1833 

1834 

1835 

1836 

1837 


Receipts,  the  1 
Francs. 
22,915 

49.487 

82,259 

122,598 

104,888 

254.993 
267,269 
300,660 
293,083 
308,937 
309.947 
354.345 
404,727 

541.675 
729,867 
927,304 


Appropriated  to 


rnited  States. 

Francs. 

6,893 

26,000 

36.200 

51,700 

43.700 

103,500 

110,000 

121,340 

116,970 

126,470 

114,800 

98,020 

102,850 

145.670 

220,758 

189,582 


Year. 


Receipts,    the  1 
Francs. 

183S 1,343640 

1839 1,895,682 

1840 2,473,578 

184I 2,752,214 

1842 3,233.486 

1843 3.562,088 

1844 3.540,903 

1845 3.707.564 

1846 3.575.775 

1847 2,845,691 

1848 3.513. 688 

1849 3,060,516 

1850 3,082,729 


Appropriated  to 


United  States. 
Francs. 
267.559 
305.310 
649, 164 
660,991 
656,901 

795.635 
771.264 
674,868 
660,210 
409,322 
501,603 
531.601 
478,175 


Total 43,662.508        8.977,056 


*  Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac,  1848,  pp.  283,  284. 


S58 


CHRISTIANITY  -IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


Here  are  8,977,056  francs,  or  about  1,775,413  dollars,  distributed 
in  twenty-nine  years ^y  a  single  papal  propaganda  for  the  spread  of 
Romanism  in  the  Uiiited  States.  The  amount  received  from  the 
Leopold  Society  and  all  other  similar  sources  has  been  estimated  as 
high  as  one  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  in  some  years. 


Section  5.— Statistics  for  1850. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.* 


DIOCESES. 


Baltimore 

Philadelphia 

Charleston 

Richmond 

Pittsburg 

Wheeling 

Savannah 

New  York 

Boston 

Albany 

Buffalo 

Hartford 

New  Orleans 

Mobile 

Natchez 

Little  Rock 

Galveston 

Cincinnati 

Louisville 

Detroit 

Vincennes 

Cleveland  .  .• 

Saint  Louis 

Dubuc^ue  and  Saint  Paul. 

Nashville 

Chicago 

Milwaukee 

Oregon 

Monterey 


Apostolic  Vicaraies. 

New  Mexico 

Indian  Territory 


Twenty-seven  Dioceses.. 


67 


70 
63 
70 
S8 

13 

64 

9 


18 
32 

13 
76 

as 


58s 


103 

93 
16 
8 

57 
6 
12 
109 
61 
61 
53 
14 
82 


1.2 
«  3 


S.5 


65 


51s 


^n 

c 
0 

«y 

_rt 

a 

w  Ea, 

100,000 
170,000 

5,000 

7,000 
45,000 

5.000. 

5.500 
220,000 


80,000 
70,000 
20,000 
170,000 
11,000 
io,oocx 


85,000 
35,000 
85,000 
50,000. 
30,000 

8,000. 

4,000 
54.000 
65,000 


108     '   i,334.5oot 


*  From  the  Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac  for  185 1,  p.  224. 

t  The  editor  adds,  p.  225  :  "  If  we  suppose  the  Catholic  population  in  the  Dioceses  of  St.  Louis, 
Boston,  Little  Rock,  Galveston,  Oregon  Territory,  Monterey,  and  the  ApostolicVicarates  of  New 
Mexico  and  the  Indian  Territory  to  be  280,000,  the  total  number  of  Catholics  in  the  United  States 
will  be  1,614,000." 


PERIOD  III. 


FROM  1850  TO  1887 


•MORAL  PHASES.  861 


CHAPTER  I. 


MORAL   PHASES. 


Sec.  I.  Emancipation.  I     Sec.  4.  Chastity  and  Divorce. 

"      2.  Temperance.  "    5.  Crime. 

"      3.  Sabbath  Observance.        j 

THE  period  since  1850  has  sorely  tested  the  vital  power  of 
American  Christianity.  The  bold,  defiant  skepticism  of  ninety  < 
years  ago  has  given  place  to  more  subtle  forms  of  doubt,  silently  ; 
undermining  the  faith  and  confidence  of  many,  and  the  copious  ' 
introduction  also  of  large  heterogeneous  foreign  elements  into  our 
population  has  essentially  changed  the  conditions  of  the  field.  With 
these  foreign  acquisitions  came  large  installments  of  skepticism. 
Rationalism,  Communism,  Nihilism,  Agnosticism,  and  other  kindred 
phases  of  thought,  embarrassing  the  work  of  Christianity.  No 
auspicious  spiritual  indications  greeted  the  opening  of  the  period, 
but  a  religious  declension  following  the  Millerite  excitement  left 
the  churches  in  a  low  condition.  The  nation  was  full  of  excite- 
ments, often  angry  and  violent,  growing  out  of  the  antislavery 
agitation  then  rife  in  the  churches  and  in  the  State.  The  sharp 
conflicts  attending  the  Mexican  War  and  the  annexation  of  Texas 
and  California,  just  before  this  period  opened,  were  followed  by  more 
violent  contests  over  the  admission  of  California  as  a  State,  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  Kansas-Nebraska  imbroglio,  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  and  the  long  and 
terrible  civil  war,  with  its  destractions  and  severe  exactions.  The 
great  agitations  which  had  so  effectively  advanced  the  temperance 
and  Sabbath  reforms  during  the  previous  decades  subsided  after 
1856,  and  left  those  movements  under  the  overshadowing  influence 
of  engrossing  national  issues  heavily  weighing  upon  the  public 
heart. 

Nevertheless,  we    do    not   lose    sight  of   the  encouraging  fact, 
radiating  all  history,  that  Christianity  never  shuns  the  surging  cur- 
rents of  population,  nor  periods  of  popular  agitation   and   rcvolu- 
36 


S62  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tion,  but  eagerly  grasps  new  centers  of  people,  and  is  a  competent 
active  factor  in  the  sharpest  conflicts  of  intelligent  progress.  It 
has  a  special  affinity  for  the  most  virile  races  and  easily  takes  pos- 
session of  the  most  vigorous  nations. 


Section  Jf.— Emancipation. 

In  previous  pages  the  antislavery  struggle  was  viewed  almost 
entirely  in  its  moral  and  religious  bearings.  The  present  section  is 
intended  to  be  supplemental,  presenting  some  of  the  politico-relig- 
ious impediments  which  embarrassed  the  reform,  and  tracing  their 
removal  amid  the  stern  necessities  of  the  late  civil  war.  From  the 
author's  point  of  observation,  the  religious  and  political  significance 
of  that  great  contest,  and  the  deliverance  effected  by  it  are  intimately 
related  to  the  progress  of  American  Christianity. 

Long  before  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war  it  had  become  apparent 
that  we  were  two  people,  of  conflicting  interests,  of  diverse  principles, 
tastes  and  habits  ;  the  one,  aristocratic,  declaring  the  true  philos- 
ophy of  society,  in  the  language  of  a  distinguished  representative 
of  despotism.  Prince  Metternich,  of  Austria,  to  be  "  Gentlemen  in 
the  palace  and  laborers  in  the  field,  with  an  impassable  gulf  between ;  " 
the  other,  democratic,  proclaiming  "all  men  created  free  and  equal," 
and  the  avenues  of  trade,  industry,  education  and  exalted  station 
open  alike  to  all.  As  the  natural  consequence  there  came  to  be  a 
sharp  antagonism  between  the  two  sections — an  irrepressible  conflict 
of  opinions  and  interests.     Said  Mr.  Iverson,*  of  Georgia  : 

Sir,  disguise  the  fact  as  you  will,  there  is  an  enmity  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  people  which  is  deep  and  enduring.  .  .  .  Look  at  the  spectacle  exhibited 
on  this  floor.  How  is  it  ?  There  are  the  Northern  Senators  on  that  side,  here 
are  the  Southern  Senators  on  this  side.  How  much  social  intercourse  is  there 
between  us?  You  sit  on  your  side  silent  arid  gloomy.  We  sit  on  ours  with  knit 
brows  and  portentous  scowls.  Here  are  two  hostile  bodies  on  this  floor,  and  it  is 
but  a  type  of  the  feeling  which  exists  between  the  two  sections.  We  are  enemies 
as  much  as  if  we  were  two  hostile  States. 

These  radical  antagonisms  culminated  in  one  of  the  most  san- 
guinary wars  ever  witnessed,  seriously  threatening  the  life  of  the 
Republic  ;  not  a  war  of  mere  brute  force  or  geographical  divisions,  as 
in  many  other  instances,  but,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Mason,  of  Vir- 
ginia, "  A  war  of  sentiment  and  opinion,  by  one  form  of  society 
against  another  form  of  society,  neither  of  which  could  concur  in  the 

*  In  the  United  States  Senate,  December  5,  1S60. 


THE  LEGACY  OF   THE  FATHERS.  363 

requisitions  of  the  other,  and  neither  of  which  could  expand,  under 
the  same  government  without  encroaching  upon  the  other."  It  was 
the  old  conflict  of  aristocratic  privilege  and  democratic  equality. 

The  deep  significance  of  that  stern  and  deadly  civil  contest  will 
become  apparent  by  briefly  reviewing  the  origin  of  these  conflicting 
elements:  how  they  became  so  interwoven  into  the  texture  of  the 
government  as  to  be  beyond  elimination,  except  under  extraordinary 
circumstances  ;  how  they  grew  to  be  so  formidable  ;  how  the  military 
necessities  of  the  war  afforded  the  opportunity  to  eliminate  them, 
and  what  remains  to  be  done,  now  that  the  physical  struggle  has 
ended,  as  security  for  the  future.  In  thus  reviewing  the  difficulties 
from  which  the  nation  has  been  delivered,  we  cannot  fail  to  be 
impressed  with  the  terrible  darkness  of  the  departing  night,  and 
appreciate  "  the  dayspring  from  on  high  "  which  hath  "  visited  us." 

The  Source  of  the  Troubles. 

The  conflicting  elements  were  transmitted  to  us  by  our  fathers. 
The  framers  of  the  national  Constitution,  wise  and  good  men  as 
they  were,  and  transcendently  glorious  as  that  document  is,  never- 
theless bequeathed  to  their  children  a  legacy  of  trouble  ;  and  Prov- 
idence devolved  upon  the  present  generation  the  responsibility 
of  settling  it  for  themselves  and  for  posterity.  This  trouble  has 
arisen  from  defects  in  the  Constitution.  First,  the  toleration  of  slavery; 
second,  the  ambiguities'*'  which  gave  opportunity  for  the  dangerous 
dogmas  of  nullification  and  State  sovereignty  :  and,  third,  the  omission 
of  those  moral  a?id  religious  ideas  ivhich  give  binding  force  and  au- 
thority to  government. 

For  the  first  we  cannot  now  justly  blame  them,  although  it 
wrought  untold  mischief.  It  was  a  necessity  to  which  they  felt 
compelled  reluctantly  to  yield.  Nor  for  the  second,  for  it  is  impos- 
sible for  a  legislative  body  to  anticipate  the  strange  perversions  and 
new  interpretations  of  law  which  the  ingenuity  of  future  generations 
may  devise.  For  the  third,  we  think  they  were  blameworthy  ;  for  it 
seems  unpardonable  in  a  great  constitutional  compact,  intended  to 
bind  together  a  people  among  whom  the  religious  element  had  been 
so  prominent,  and  whose  history  had  been  marked  by  religious 
heroism  and  remarkable  providential  interpositions,  that  the 
Almighty  Ruler  of  the  universe  should  not  be  acknowledged  nor 
even  directly  alluded  to,  except  in  the  date  {Anno  Domini)  of  the 
instrument.     But  this  was  in  keeping  with  other  acts  of  that  con- 


*  Amendment  X  to  the  Bill  of  Rights. 


864  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

vention,  in  which,  during  the  entire  session  of  about  four  months, 
prayer  was  not  once  offered  ;  in  the  manifold  perplexities  of  their 
deliberations  never  peeking  wisdom  from  God.  This  was  chiefly 
owing  to  the  influencie  of  French  infidelity  then  tainting  many  of 
the  leading  minds  of  the  nation.  The  unreligious  mind  of  that 
time  was  misled  by  atheistical  abstractions,  discarding  moral  ideas 
and  moral  obligations  in  civil  government,  regarding  it  as  a  human 
composition,  deriving  its  authority  from  the  people  and  not  from 
God.  They  followed  the  theory  of  Rousseau,  according  to  which 
the  foundation  of  all  govei-nment  is  in  a  "  social  compact,"  and  "  the 
consent  of  the  governed  "  was  regarded  as  the  source  of  civil  obliga- 
tion. They  failed  to  see  that  such  a  government  must  necessarily 
be  weak  and  imperfect.  Founded  on  the  shifting  sands  of  human 
caprice  and  passion,  it  could  possess  only  a  fluctuating  authority,  not 
ruling  by  the  enduring  power  of  moral  obligations  which  press  upon 
the  conscience,  and  touch  "  a  throne  of  order  and  law  above  the 
range  of  mere  humanity." 

Notwithstanding  these  defects  the  government  would  have  gone 
on  well  if  the  popular  heart  had  remained  true  to  the  sentiments 
which  then  prevailed.  The  national  heart  was  wiser  than  those 
leading  minds,  bewildered  with  the  crude  notions  of  French  philos- 
ophy, deeper,  purer  and  nearer  to  God — a  prospective  safeguard  to 
preserve  the  nation  from  disaster. 

Conserving   Elements. 

The  existence  of  the  institution  of  slavery  was  then  generally 
deprecated  at  the  South  as  well  as  at  the  North,  and  the  Constitu- 
tion was  regarded  as  an  instrument  of  freedom.  No  other  construc- 
tion was  then  deemed  possible,  and  it  was  anticipated  that  under 
its  influence  the  great  evil  would  speedily  disappear.  So  long  as 
those  convictions  were  cherished,  slavery  could  not  be  actively 
aggressive,  although  its  aristocratic  tendencies  might  still  militate 
against  republican  institutions. 

So  also  in  reference  to  the  powers  of  the  individual  States. 
When  our  fathers  declared,  in  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution, 
that  the  design  of  that  document  was  "to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,"  "to  insure  domestic  tranquillity,"  and  "  provide  for  the 
common  defense,"  they  did  not  dream  that  it  would  ever  be  con- 
strued otherwise  than  as  organizing  a  consolidated  government,  very 
different  from  a  "league,"  or  a  "confederation."  The  defects  of 
the  old  confederation  were  stated  in  the  convention  which  framed 


A   CONSOLIDATED  GOVERNMENT.  365 

the  Constitution,  by  Hon.  Edmund  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  on  the 
third  day  of  the  session,  in  a  speech  in  which  he  opened  the  main 
business  of  the  Convention.  He  said,  "  The/Confederation  pro- 
duced no  security  against  foreii^n  invasion,  Congress  not  being  per- 
mitted to  prevent  a  war  nor  to  support  one  on  its  own  authority." 
"  The  Federal  Government  could  not  check  a  quarrel  between  the 
States,  nor  a  rebellion  in  any,  not  having  constitutional  power  nor 
the  means  to  interpose  according  to  the  exigency,"  and  "  the  Fed- 
eral Government  could  not  even  protect  itself  against  encroach- 
ments from  the  States."  These  were  some  of  the  defects  which  it 
was  desired  to  remedy  by  a  new  constitution,  which  would  make 
a  stronger  and  more  consolidated  government.  The  language  of 
General  Washington,  the  president  of  the  convention  which  drafted 
the  Constitution,  in  a  letter  which  accompanied  that  document 
when  it  was  sent  out  for  approval,  still  further  indicates  its  design. 
He  said,  "  It  is  obviously  impracticable  in  the  Federal  Government 
of  the  States  to  secure  all  rights  of  independent  sovereignty  to 
each,  and  yet  provide  for  the  interests  and  safety  of  all." 

The  colonies  had  had  a  sad  and  mortifying  experience  under  the 
old  confederation — they  had  seen  the  inefficiency  of  the  merely 
federative  principle  ;  internal  distractions  were  appearing  ;  a  cold  and 
lifeless  indifference  had  fallen  like  a  palsy  upon  the  sovereign  States, 
and  they  felt  the  want  of  a  vigorous  central  power  which  should 
exert  its  sway  over  all  and  for  all.  By  a  painful  experience  the 
public  heart  had  been  educated  up  to  the  point  of  seeking  a  "  more 
perfect  union,"  in  which  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  should  be 
merged  into  a  strong  general  government,  holding  sovereign  power 
over  all.  The  ambiguities  of  the  Constitution,  therefore,  which 
have  given  opportunity  for  the  modern  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States,  would  have  remained  well  enough,  if  the  national 
heart  had  remained  as  it  then  was. 

So  also  in  reference  to  the  omission  from  the  Constitution  of 
the  religious  ideas  referred  to.  The  political  convictions  of  the 
masses  had  been  shaped  by  religion.  This  was  true  not  only  in 
New  England  but  also  in  other  sections  of  the  country,  permeated 
by  the  influence  of  the  Presbyterians,  the  Lutherans,  the  Quakers, 
the  Huguenot  exiles,  the  better  class  of  papists  under  Lord  Balti- 
more, and  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  among  all  of  whom  the 
State  was  regarded  as  the  ordinance  of  God,  deriving  its  authority 
from  him.  However  organized  by  human  co-operation,  its  investiture 
was  divine,  and  it  ruled  by  the  force  of  moral  obligation.  These 
ideas,  although  not  incorporated  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 


366  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

States,  pervaded  the  public  mind,  and  therefore  would  be  safeguards 
so  long  as  they  remained. 

But  these  omii^ions  proved  to  be  sources  of  serious  trouble. 
Through  the  doors  thus  left  open  the  most  destructive  antagonisms 
entered.  They  could  never,  however,  have  performed  their  ruinous 
work  if  the  public  heart  had  remained  unperverted.  But  the  nation 
subsequently,  in  some  respects,  seriously  deteriorated,  and  an  irre- 
pressible conflict  agitated  it  from  center  to  circumference,  threaten- 
ing a  dissolution  of  the  Union.     Let  us  follow  the  history  of  the 


Downward  Tendency. 

First,  the  original  sentiments  of  the  South  in  regard  to  slavery 
deteriorated.  About  the  time  when  the  Southern  States  were  abol- 
ishing slavery,  all  at  once  the  South  found  it  to  be  profitable.  The 
invention  of  the  cotton  gin  in  1793,  and  its  introduction  soon  after, 
had  a  prodigious  effect  upon  this  institution.  Previous  to  this  dis- 
covery the  interior  of  the  Southern  States  was  languishing,  and  the 
inhabitants  were  emigrating  for  the  want  of  business  to  engage 
their  attention  and  employ  their  industry.  The  introduction  of  this 
machine  opened  to  them  new  views  and  set  the  whole  country  in 
motion.  From  the  moment  that  slavery  became  profitable  there 
was  a  demand  for  slave-labor,  a  sense  of  the  injustice  of  the  system 
weakened,  and  the  original  antislavery  policy  of  the  nation  was  very 
distasteful.  Soon  the  promotion  of  slavery  became  their  chief  con- 
cern, and  they  set  themselves  to  re-examine  the  doctrinal  basis  of 
the  institution,  instituting  searching  inquiries  into  the  true  status  of 
the  negro,  in  both  a  moral  and  a  civil  point  of  view.  The  doctrine 
of  the  fathers  of  the  government  was  discarded,  and  a  theory  was 
developed  by  which  slavery  was  defended,  first,  as  a  divine  institu- 
tion taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and,  second,  in  the  language  of 
Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun,  "the  most  solid  and  durable  foundation  on 
which  to  rear  free  and  stable  political  institutions."  Thus  was  the 
South  itself  first  demoralized. 

How  was  the  nation  demoralized?  Notwithstanding  the  vision 
of  unparalleled  prosperity  which  had  deluded  the  South,  it  was  dis- 
covered at  a  very  early  period  (Colonel  Benton  says  prior  to  the  tariff 
of  1816)  by  her  most  sagacious  statesmen,  that  the  South  was  not 
competing  with  the  North  in  the  race  of  prosperity,  and  that,  with- 
out superior  management  on  their  part,  it  must  eventually  lose  the 
balance  of  power  in  the  general  government.  What  only  a  few  at 
first  foresaw  subsequently  became  a  general  conviction,  and  led  to 


THE  BALANCE  OF  POWER.  S67 

the  devising  of  schemes  to  retain  the  controlling  power  in  the  coun- 
cils of  the  nation.  In  process  of  time  a  knot  of  energetic  men  hit 
upon  a  plan  and  entered  upon  its  vigorous  prosecution.  There  were 
two  parts  to  this  plan.  The  first  part  had  reference  to  remaining  in 
the  Union  if  possible,  the  other  to  leaving  the  Union.  If  they 
could  preserve  the  balance  of  power  they  would  remain ;  if  not, 
they  would  be  prepared  to  leave  it. 

How  was  the  balance  to  be  preserved?  By  the  extension  of 
slavery  and  the  continued  advantages  of  the  three  fifths  ratio  of 
slave  representation.  Slavery  must  be  expanded  in  the  national 
^domain,  and  in  order  to  do  it  the  borders  of  the  nation  must  be  en- 
larged on  the  south  and  west.  Out  of  this  part  of  the  plan  grew 
the  great  contests  with  slavery  on  the  admission  of  new  States  and 
the  acquisition  of  new  territory.  Grave  questions  arose  in  regard  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  Constitution  as  to  slavery  in  the  Territories,  the 
recapture  of  fugitive  slaves,  the  rights  of  masters  traveling  with 
slaves  in  the  free  States,  etc.,  the  slave  party  concentrating  their 
•energies  to  work  out  a  pro-slavery  construction  of  that  document, 
under  which  they  might  safely  carry  their  slaves  into  any  section  of 
the  Union,  and  slavery  thenceforth  be  admitted  into  all  the  Ter- 
ritories. 

All  this  they  did  not  expect  to  accomplish  at  once.  They  re- 
solved to  keep  possession  of  the  general  government  and  gradually 
work  out  this  construction.  To  do  this  they  attempted  to  unite  the 
South,  by  complaining  of  grievances  suffered  from  the  North.  By 
various  means  they  succeeded ;  by  the  subtle  seductions  of  office 
and  emoluments  in  politics;  by  sophistries,  poisoning  the  fountains 
■of  religion  with  pro-slavery  theories  and  apologies ;  by  threats  and 
blandishments,  and  by  many  other  expedients.  The  reins  of  power 
they  long  held,  and  but  too  well  succeeded  in  accomplishing  their 
object,  as  evidenced  by  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  in  1850,  the  Dred 
Scott  Decision,  etc.,  etc. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  such  a  course  was  attended  by  a 
general  deterioration  of  moral  convictions  in  regard  to  the  sanctity 
of  law,  illustrated  in  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  1820,  the  com- 
promise measures  of  1850,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  imbroglio,  the  filibustering  schemes  upon 
Cuba  and  Central  America,  etc.  It  was  a  history  of  political  remiss- 
ness and  degeneracy,  and  reached  its  culmination  in  the  civil  war, 
when  the  Chief  Magistrate,  in  a  public  message,  pleaded  the  strange 
doctrine  that  the  general  government  had  no  power  to  "  coerce  "  a 
State. 


S68  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  in  i860, 
convinced  the  South  that  the  part  of  their  plan  which  had  reference 
to  remaining  in  the  Union  by  making  slavery  the  controlling  power 
had  failed.  The  other  part  of  their  programme  was  therefore  in 
order — the  dissolution  of  the  Union  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy. '  The  demoralizing  processes  through  which 
they  had  sought  to  accomplish  the  first  part  of  their  plan  also 
helped  to  prepare  for  the  second.  The  Southern  heart  had  been 
*  fired,  and  so  much  sympathy  for  the  South  had  been  begotten  in 
the  North,  over  their  alleged  grievances,  that  many  were  ready  to 
tolerate  the  most  monstrous  dogmas. 

The  doctrine  of  the  independent  sovereignty  of  the  States  had 
been  long  promulgated.  It  grew  out  of  certain  ambiguities  of  the 
Constitution  (Amendment  X),  and  was  invented  in  the  interest  of 
slavery.  It  was  the  favorite  scheme  of  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun. 
General  Quitman,  of  Mississippi,  an  early  and  active  promoter  of  this 
dogma,  organized  a  "  State  Rights  Association"  in  his  State  in  183 1. 
Next  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  General  Quitman  was  the  leader  of  this  party 
in  the  South,  and  in  1851  he  was  toasted  in  South  Carolina  as  "  The 
First  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy."  Hon.  Mr.  Yancey 
organized  throughout  the  South  secret  lodges  of  armed  men  pledged 
to  carry  out  the  State  Rights  policy,  if  need  be,  "  through  fire  and 
blood."  Through  such  agencies  the  way  was  prepared,  States  were 
forced  into  secession,  the  South  was  arrayed  in  arms,  and  the  South- 
.,  ern  Confederacy  was  organized. 

We  do  not  censure  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  deeply  as 
the  nation  suffered  in  consequence  of  the  ambiguities  of  that  in- 
strument. But  Providence,  has  given  the  nation  an  opportunity, 
through  deep  suffering,  to  do  what  those  men  could  not  have  done, 
and  the  "dayspring"  has  arisen  out  of  the  long  night  of  slavery's 
lust  and  dominion.  The  antagonistic  elements  so  closely  interwoven 
in  society  and  protected  by  the  Constitution  have  been  eliminated. 
The  tree  of  slavery  which  bore  such  bitter  fruit  has  been  cut  down 
and  cast  into  the  fire.  Its  abolition  was  first  effected  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  next  it  was  forever  interdicted  in  the  common  Terri- 
tories of  the  Union,  and  finally  the  absolute,  unconditional  emanci- 
pation of  slavery  in  the  rebellious  States  was  proclaimed  and  rapidly 
carried  into  effect,  by  the  progress  of  our  armies  into  the  interior  of 
the  South.  Then  came  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution  abolish- 
ing it  forever,  in  ratifying  which  each  State  seemed  in  haste  to  out- 
run the  others.  Some  of  the  old  slave-holding  States  came  at  last 
to  loatiie  slavery  and  rejoiced  to  cast  it  away. 


THE  NEGRO  AFTER    THE  CIVIL    WAR.  869 

The  Strategy  of  Providence. 

By  very  profound  but  successful  strategy  Providence  wrought  in 
the  civil  war,  the  madness  of  the  Southern  leaders  furnishing  the 
opportunity,  to  rid  the  nation  of  this  complicated  evil.  Arraying 
slavery  against  the  government,  and  putting  the  Republic  on 
trial,  in  self-defense  the  government  put  slavery  on  trial.  The  main 
arteries  were  opened  and  the  monster  at  last  succumbed.  The 
dogma  of  State  Sovereignty,  the  other  antagonism  to  the  Union, 
invented  by  slavery  out  of  the  ambiguities  o|"  the  Constitution,  to 
prepare  the  way  for  disunion,  is  also  now  exploded.  With  the 
removal  of  slavery  the  other  antagonisms  which  fed  upon  it  are  rap- 
idly disappearing,  and  the  two  sections  are  coming  into  cordial 
relations. 

After  the  war  closed  the  question  of  security  for  the  future 
arose.  Strong  minds  were  bewildered  in  its  presence,  as  if  standing 
on  enchanted  ground.  Shall  the  negro,  who  has  demonstrated  his 
manhood  and  fought  his  way  up  to  citizenship,  be  invested  with  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  citizen  ?  Having  laid  aside  the  mus- 
ket he  used  so  well  for  his  own  and  for  our  defense,  shall  he  be 
permitted  to  carry  the  ballot?  The  struggle  could  not  end  until 
this  question  was  settled.  It  was  another  test  of  public  virtue  and 
of  our  progressive  Christian  civilization.  The  national  heart  did 
not  fail,  and  the  double  triumph  was  achieved — emancipation  and 
the  ballot — a  blessing  and  a  security  for  the  blessing. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  rebellion  the  South  counted 
largely  upon  aid  from  the  North.  Many  Northern  minds  had  been 
bewildered  by  "  South  side  views"  and  bowed  obsequiously  to  the 
slave-holders'  rod.  Some  Northern  Congressmen  and  editors  at  first 
echoed  the  imbecile  cry  against  "coercion."  But  the  fall  of  Sum- 
ter aroused  the  virtues  of  patriotism  and  showed  a  united  North. 
When  Congress  abolished  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
forbade  it  for  all  future  time  in  the  Territories,  some  feared  division 
and  embarrassment,  but  the  virtues  of  the  popular  heart  came  to  the 
aid  of  the  government.  So  also  when  the  Confiscation  bill  was 
passed,  when  military  arrests  were  made,  when  the  proclamation  of 
emancipation  was  issued,  and  when  colored  soldiers  were  enlisted, 
the  consequences  of  each  successive  step  were  feared,  lest  large 
masses  might  be  estranged  from  the  support  of  the  war;  but  in 
every  instance  the  moral  sentiments  of  the  people  proved  equal  to 
the  emergency,  and  the  government  was  fully  sustained.  We  were 
not  at  first  prepared  for  such  radical  measures  ;  but  "  by  tears  in  our 


S70  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

houses  and  blood  in  our  fields,"  by  successive  disasters,  painful  and 
humiliating,  God  pressed  upon  us  until  we  came  "to  apprehend 
that  for  which  we  were  apprehended."  The  discipline  of  the  war 
proved  a  tonic  to  languid  moral  natures ;  conscience  was  quickened 
and  moral  perceptions  became  clearer.  Prayers  were  many  and 
earnest,  partisan  feelings  gradually  wore  away,  faith  in  the  sanctity 
of  law  increased,  and  loyalty  to  the  government  became  less  an  im- 
pulse and  more  a  principle. 

The  Solution  Not  Complete. 

But  the  problems  are  not  fully  solved.  More  than  twenty  years 
have  passed  since  the  close  of  the  war,  and  there  are  serious  indica- 
tions that  a  formidable  part  yet  remains  to  be  wrought  out.  The 
system  of  slave  labor  disappeared  in  the  civil  war.  "  But,"  said  Hon. 
George  William  Curtis,*  "  slavery  had  not  been  the  fatal  evil  that  it 
was  if,  with  its  abolition,  its  consequences  had  at  once  disappeared. 
It  still  holds  us  in  mortmain.  Its  dead  hand  is  strong,  as  its  living 
power  was  terrible.  Emancipation  has  left  the  Republic  exposed  to 
a  new  and  extraordinary  trial  of  the  principles  and  practices  of  free 
government." 

The  solution  of  the  problem  requires  time,  but  the  elements 
involved  are  of  such  an  urgent  character  that  we  feel  we  cannot 
wait  centuries.  What  is  needed  is  both  culture  and  manhood. 
Homes,  not  huts  and  hovels,  must  be  builded  in  order  to  a 
higher  civilization.  The  question  of  education  is  getting  itself,  in 
a  multitude  of  ways,  into  public  thought  and  into  the  provisions  of 
the  State,  and  good  results  appear.  The  morning  light  of  realiza- 
tion is  slowly  breaking.  Can  the  negro  make  a  useful  citizen  is 
now  regarded  as  a  silly  question.  Prejudice  is  fast  passing  away. 
Since  the  war  he  has  made  substantial  progress  in  moral,  social  and 
material  development.  Wise  statesmanship,  generous  philanthropy, 
patien  education,  and  the  best  offices  of  an  intelligent  Christianity 
are  fundamental  needs. 


Section  ^.—Temperance. 

In  the  sketch  of  this  reform  in  the  previous  period  we  reached 
the  year  1850;  the  time  of  the  best  condition  of  temperance  senti- 
ments and  habits,  as  a  whole,  ever  known  in  the  history  of  this 
country.     Especially  was  this  true  of  the  older  States  and  the  large 


*  Concord  Centennial  Oration,  April  19,  1875. 


ENACTMENT  OF.    THE  MAINE  LAWS.  871 

cities.  It  was  comparatively  easy  then,  with  the  greatly  diminished 
consumption  of,  and  consequently  decreased  demand  for,  alcoholic 
liquors,  to  procure  the  enactment  of  the  Maine  laws — the  most  rad- 
ical form  of  prohibition — in  about  fifteen  States,  from  1850  to  1856. 
Social  life  had  greatly  changed  its  drinking  customs  since  1820,  and 
wore  new  aspects,  domestic  economy  was  improved,  materia  medica 
felt  the  influence,  the  number,  frequency,  and  fatality  of  diseases 
were  reduced,  and  the  moral  and  spiritual  forces  of  the  nation  were 
augmented.  But  reverse  movements  soon  became  apparent — 
eddies  along  the  stream  of  progress,  deflecting  many  from  the  cur- 
rent and  leaving  them  to  loiter  far  behind  the  beneficent  advances 
of  the  age. 

The  first  reverse  tendency  grew  out  of  a  disposition  to  rest  in 
having  put  upon  the  statute  books  the  most  radical  suppressive 
legislation  against  the  traffic  in  alcoholic  beverages.  The  reformers 
left  the  law  to  enforce  itself,  forgetting  the  palpable  fact  that  no 
law,  however  good  or  complete,  can  do  this.  Jollification  over  the 
achievement  of  radical  prohibition  also,  in  too  many  cases,  took  the 
place  of  the  inculcation  of  total  abstinence  principles  in  the  minds 
of  the  rising  youth,  so  that  it  was  not  long  before  a  new  generation 
came  forward  who  had  never  been  subjected  to  temperance  tutelage, 
and  many  of  whom  became  easy  victims  to  specious  drink  sophis- 
tries. It  was  the  old  story  repeated,  "  While  men  slept  the  enemy 
sowed  tares." 

Simultaneously  with  the  enactment  of  these  radical  temperance 
laws,  a  new  class  of  inhabitants  were  pouring  into  the  country  in 
large  numbers,  who  had  always  been  addicted  to  the  unrestrained 
use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  without  the  temperance  instruction  and 
reform  influences  which  had  prevaded  most  of  our  communities. 
Settling  down  in  the  large  centers  of  population,  with  ideas  and 
habits  so  antagonistic  to  the  new  liquor  laws,  becoming  a  large 
voting  element,  and  many  of  them  after  a  little  time  elevated  to 
official  and  police  positions,  the  enforcement  of  the  Maine  laws 
was  weakened,  and  often  seriously  obstructed.  Thus  the  demand 
for  intoxicants  increased,  and  with  it  the  traffic  in  such  beverages. 

Then  followed  the  civil  war,  its  distractions  and  its  demoraliza- 
tion. The  plea  was  made  that  we  must  concentrate  upon  the 
maintenance  of  the  Government;  that  no  other  questions  must  be 
allowed  to  divide  or  alienate  ;  that,  therefore,  the  prosecution  of  the 
liquor  traffic  must  be  suspended,  or  at  least  not  severely  pushed, 
because  the  General  Government  needed  the  co-operation  of  the 
whole  people.    During  the  war  the  evil  of  intemperance  increased. 


572  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  posi  bellum  period  was  a  carnival  of  rum,  dissipation,  extrava- 
gance and  crime.  The  attempt  then  to  revive  and  enforce  the 
Maine  laws  met  with  stern  resistance,  and,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  one  by  one,  in  all  the  States  in  which  they  had  been 
enacted  except  Maine,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  they  were 
repealed.  It  could  not  have  been  otherwise,  for  public  sentiment 
had  greatly  changed,  and  the  non-enforcement  of  the  laws  in  such 
large  sections  had  only  too  fully  demonstrated  their  failure.  Men 
did  not  stop  to  consider  how  much  better  the  condition  of  things 
was,  even  under  the  partially  enforced  Maine  laws,  than  under  the 
license  laws  elsewhere,  but  frantically  cried  out  against  them,  and 
rested  not  until  they  had  secured  their  repeal. 

In  the  meantime  other  tendencies  worked  in  the  same  direction. 
The  first  was  a  re-opening  and  a  re-investigation  of  the  question  of 
total  abstinence,  which  among  most  native  Americans  had  been  quite 
well  settled.  Some  British  medical  and  literary  journals  presented 
fresh  discussions  of  the  question,  which  w^ere  as  seed  sown  in  literary 
and  scientific  circles  in  America,  soon  to  spring  up  and  bear  evil  fruit. 
The  investigation  of  this  question  before  the  Liquor  Committee  of 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  in  1867,  under  such  eminent  lead- 
ership as  Ex-Governor  Andrews  and  Hon.  Linus  Child,  afforded  an 
opportunity  for  bringing  to  an  intense  and  powerful  focus  the 
reactionary  ideas  against  total  abstinence  which  had  been  widely 
generating.  The  influence  of  the  testimonies  thus  produced  and 
of  Ex-Governor  Andrews's  plea  was  hurtful  to  the  cause  of  total 
abstinence,  in  large  influential  circles,  to  a  degree  impossible  to- 
estimate.  The  second  was  the  development  and  proclamation  by 
Henry  L  Bowditch,  M.D,,  of  Boston,  Chairman  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Board  of  Health,  of  the  cosmic  theory  of  intemperance,  which 
takes  this  evil  largely  out  of  the  realm  of  reform,  and  makes  it 
dependent  almost  wholly  upon  natural  laws — an  evil  to  be  tolerated 
and  regulated,  but  not  suppressed.  This  view  was  widely  circulated 
and  sifted  into  a  large  class  of  intelligent  minds,  with  effects  very 
harmful  to  the  cause  of  temperance.  The  third  of  these  reverse 
tendencies  was  the  great  beer  invasion,  coming  in  upon  the  na- 
tion since  1850.  In  1850  the  consumption  of  beer  in  the  United 
States  was  37,316,393  gallons,  or  1.61  gallons  per  capita;  in  i860, 
102,956,441  gallons,  or  3.27  gallons  per  capita;  in  1870,  204,756,156 
gallons,  or  5.31  gallons  per  capita;  in  1880,  414,186,367  gallons,  or 
8.25  gallons  per  capita,  and  in  1886  it  was  640,746,288  gallons,  or 
1 1. 18  per  capita.  The  custom  of  drinking  beer  engrafted  upon  a 
great  many  of  our  native  population    has  proved  one  of  the  most 


TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  MOVEMENTS.  873 

demoralizing  tendencies  of  our  times.  Many,  formerly  total 
abstainers,  have  been  misled  by  specious  pleadings  for  beer  and 
have  lapsed  from  their  steadfastness,  and  numberless  youth  have 
taken  their  first  step  in  dissipation  by  using  this  seductive  beverage. 
The  effect  of  the  use  of  so  large  a  quantity  of  beer  is  very  percepti- 
ble in  most  of  our  communities — a  new  feature  in  American  society 
and  most  prolific  of  evil. 

These  three  reactions  have  been  more  perceptible  in  some  sec- 
tions of  the  country  than  in  others.  The  first  two  have  been  more 
deeply  and  fatally  felt  in  the  New  England  and  the  Middle  States 
than  in  the  South  and  the  West,  but  the  influence  of  all  of  them 
has  been  widely  disseminated. 

Rebutting  Agencies. 

While  these  reverse  tendencies  were  widely  and  powerfully  spread- 
ing their  baleful  influences,  several  rebutting  agencies  arose  which 
have  been  exerting  a  powerful  sway  in  the  department  of  reform. 
The  National  Temperance  Society  was  reorganized  upon  a  more  effi- 
cient basis.  The  Roman  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  societies  consti- 
tute one  of  the  most  hopeful  of  the  reform  agencies.  Starting  in  1870, 
they  now  comprise  over  40,ochd  enrolled  abstinence  members.  In 
1874  the  Woman's  Crusade,  soon  organized  into  the  Woman's  Chris- 
tian Temperance  Union,  came  to  the  front,  exerting  a  widening  and 
most  potential  influence.  Then  came  the  reform  clubs,  the  Mur- 
phy and  Reynolds  movements,  with  large  throngs  of  followers. 
The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  Temperance  .Society,  the  Law 
and  Order  leagues  and  the  National  Temperance  League  followed. 
Most  of  these  agencies,  now  exerting  so  great  an  influence,  have 
been  formed  since  1870,  re-inforcing  many  others  long  in  the 
field. * 

Notwithstanding  the  reaction  which  followed  the  enactment  of 
the  Maine  laws,  and  the  coming  in  of  many  other  untoward  influ- 
ences, there  have  been  great  and  strong  advances  in  many  portions 
of  the  country.  At  no  former  period  in  the  history  of  thi.^  reform 
has  the  cause  advanced  in  the  South  as  during  the  last  ten  years. 
The  same  may  also  be  said,  probably,  of  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Iowa, 
and  of  some  localities  in  the  older  States.  Some  phases  of  temper- 
ance thought  have  also  been  sharpened  and  broadened  almost  every- 
where. Public  attention  has  been  aroused  and  is  being  concentrated. 
One  half  of  the  total  area  of  the  South  is  under   prohibition  in  a 

*  For  fuller  accounts  of  the  prog^ress  of  this  reform  the  author  refers  the  reader  to  his  volume, 
The  Liquor  Problem  in  All  Ages.     Phillips  &  Hunt,  S05  Broadway,  New  Wrk  city.    18S4. 


S74  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

local  option  form ;  more  than  half  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  also  a 
dozen  counties  in  Illinois,  and  large  portions  of  some  other  States 
all  through  the  North.  Five  States— Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ver- 
mont, Iowa  and  Kansas — have  statutory  prohibition;  Kansas,  Rhode 
Island  and  Maine  have  constitutional  prohibition,  and  several  States 
have  taken  their  first  legislative  steps  toward  submitting  constitu- 
tional prohibitory  amendments  to  the  people.  Iowa  once  obtained 
constitutional  prohibition  by  30,000  majority,  but  the  courts  decided 
against  it,  not  on  its  merits,  but  on  account  of  a  clerical  oversight 
at  the  time  the  measure  passed  through  the  Legislature.  .  Ohio 
polled  323,000  votes  for  constitutional  prohibition — not  quite  the 
needed  number,  and  Texas  175,000  votes.  Laws  providing  for 
temperance  instruction  in  the  public  schools  have  been  enacted  in 
thirty-two  States  and  Territories.  Many  other  beneficent  legislative 
acts  have  been  obtained  against  the  liquor  traffic,  and  public  senti- 
ment is  fast  advancing  toward  still  more  radical  action. 

The  liquor  fraternity  also  was  never  more  fully  aroused  and  organ- 
ized for  defensive  and  aggressive  action  than  at  present.  The  large 
cities  are  their  strongholds,  and  many  politicians  bow  in  subserviency 
to  their  behests.  Into  these  seething,  festering,  fermenting  centers 
of  liquordom,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  inject  temperance  influ- 
ences which  produce  perceptibly  beneficial  effects ;  and  liquor  laws 
of  whatever  kind  are  almost  or  quite  inoperative  in  such  localities. 
The  conflict  in  these  dark  fields  seems  a  dubious  one.  But  the 
organization  and  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Total  Abstinence 
unions  is  a  source  of  hope  for  these  large  centers.  More  than  any 
other  temperance  body  can  these  reach  the  large  masses  of  the 
foreign  populations  and  win  them  to  sobriety.  This  movement  is 
the  day  spring  of  the  cities,  but  the  great  need  is  a  clarified  and 
invigorated  temperance  sentiment. 

The  centennial  of  the  Temperance  Reform  was  celebrated  quite 
extensively  throughout  the  country,  in  the  week  beginning  with 
September  20,  1885.  The  Conference  of  temperance  workers  at 
Philadelphia,  September  23  and  24,  was  an  occasion  of  great 
interest  and  profit,  when  representatives  from  more  than  twenty 
States  and  the  British  Dominion  conferred  together  upon  the  inter- 
ests of  this  great  cause,  closing  with  audiences  of  at  least  8,000 
persons  in  the  Academy  of  Music  and  in  Horticultural  Hall,  in  the 
evening  of  the  24th. 

A  discriminating  r^sum^  of  the  temperance  gains  of  the  century 
would  show  that  while  the  slums  in  the  large  cities  have  remained 
the  strongholds  of  the  drink  traffic  nevertheless  there  are  large  areas 


THE  NEW   YORK  SABBATH  COMMITTEE. 


S7S 


of  the  country  that  have  been  largely  redeemed  *  from  the  evil,  and 
large  circles  of  society  in  which  the  drinking  custom  and  ideas  of 
sixty  years  ago  are  now  thoroughly  and  permanently  reformed. 


Section  5.— SablDatli  ObserYance. 

This  period  opened  after  the  great  Sabbath  reform  movement, 
conducted  so  ably  and  effectively  by  Rev.  Justin  Edwards,  D.D.,  as 
the  General  Agent  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Sabbath  Union, 
organized  in  1842,  and  described  in  the  chapter  on  Reforms  in  the 
sketches  of  the  previous  period.  The  year  1850  marks  the  time  of 
the  best  general  observance  of  the  Sabbath  known  for  the  last  one 
hundred  years  in  this  country.  About  that  time,  however,  a  very- 
large  new  element  was  introduced  into  the  American  population, 
destined  to  seriously  modify  our  habits  and  life.  The  great  European 
emigration  came  in  rapidly-swelling  waves,  bringing  with  it  Sab- 
bath ideas  and  habits  radically  different  from  ours.  A  decline  in 
Sabbath  observance  soon  became  apparent.  To  resist  these  reverse 
tendencies,  in  1854  the  New  York  Sabbath  Committee  was  organ- 
ized, whose  labors  are  worthy  of  more  extended  notice  than  we  can 
devote  to  them. 

At  the  date  of  which  we  speak  more  than  one  half  of  the  popula- 
tion of  New  York  city  were  either  foreign-born  or  their  immediate 
offspring,  with  European  ideas  of  the  Sabbath.  Few  of  the  cities 
of  Ireland  had  a  larger  Irish  population,  and  few  cities  of  Germany 
a  larger  German  population,  than  New  York  city,  and  it  was  partic- 
ularly the  Germans  who  took  the  lead  in  Sabbath  profanation,  trans- 
planting to  our  shores  not  merely  the  German  Sabbath,  but  many 
of  the  most  irreligious  and  atheistic  ideas  of  that  people.     In  the 


*  Consumption  of  Alcoholic  Liquors  in  the  United  States. 

Malt  Liql-ors. 

DiSTiLLBD  Spirits. 

Wi.vE,'  Foreign  and 
American. 

Total  Gallons. 

Gallons  per 
Capita. 

Total  Gallons. 

Gallons  per 
Capita. 

Total  Gallons. 

Gallons  per 
Capita. 

1810 

5,411,058 

23,3'o,843 
36,563,009 
101,346,669 
204,756,156 
414,220,165 
642,967,720 

0.71 

i!i6 
1. 61 
3-27 
5-33 
8.25 
II. 18 

31.725,417           4.39 

1,553,088 

0.2I 

1827 

1830....  

77,196,120- 
43,060,884 

51,833,473 
89,968,651 
79,895.708 
63,526,684 
72,261,614 

6.02 

2.54 
2.21 
2.86 
2.05 
1.26 
1.24 

2,893,689 
4,873,096 

6,3>5,87i 
11,069,141 
12,225,067 
28,329,541 
22,067,220 

0.22 
0.27 

1850 

0.26 

i860 

0.35 

1870 

0.31 

1880  

0.36 

1886 

0.33 

'  From  the  Puritan  Recorder. 

'  About  three  fourths  American  wine. 


*  From  the  American  Cyclopedia  of  1830. 


876  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

new  soil  of  our  country  these  evils  are  reaching  an  enormity  of 
development  that  may  yet  astonish  the  old  European  communities. 
Released  from  the  legal  necessity  of  a  theoretical  religious  educa- 
tion, and  living  under  a  government  which  nowhere  recognizes  God 
in  its  constitution,  perusing  newspapers  in  their  own  language  which 
blasphemously  discard  not  only  the  Sabbath,  but  the  Bible  and  the 
existence  of  God,  the  growth  of  evil  is  most  alarming.  Sunday 
with  them  is  a  day  to  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry.  The  American 
people  are  too  largely  yielding  to  this  influence.  Instead  of  assim- 
ilating the  foreign  elements  to  our  customs  we  have  been  assim- 
ilated by  them.  This  seed  has  been  widely  scattered  in  the  land, 
and  an  evil  harvest  is  ripening. 

At  one  time,  reviewing  the  work  of  the  Sabbath  Committee, 
Rev.  Dr.  Gardner  Spring  said  :  "  They  have  not  labored  in  vain. 
They  have  suppressed  the  vociferous  cries  of  the  Sunday  newsboys 
...  in  defiance  of  the  most  violent  ribaldry  and  abuse.  They  have 
suppressed  the  Sunday  pageant  of  the  Fire  Department,  so  that  it 
has  fallen  into  disuse  under  the  weight  of  its  own  folly.  They  have 
rectified  the  abuses  of  the  Sabbath  in  Central  Park.  They  have 
suppressed  the  Sunday  liquor  traffic  to  a  certain  extent  .  .  .  and 
driven  it  into  corners.  They  have  suppressed  the  Sunday  theaters 
and  beer-gardens,  the  Sunday  concerts,  etc.  They  have  carried  the 
reform  into  our  canals,  our  steam-boats,  our  flouring  and  salt  estab- 
lishments and  our  fisheries." 

Since  that  time,  however,  the  wave  has  receded,  and  Sunday 
newspapers,  excursions,  family  visiting,  riding,  etc.,  etc.,  have 
increased ;  but,  after  all,  Sabbath  desecration  is  the  exception  rather 
than  the  general  practice.  Few,  relatively,  of  the  railroad  trains  run. 
Nearly  all  of  the  engines  lie  still.  Business  is  almost  entirely  hushed. 
But  few  stores,  libraries  and  museums  are  opened.  With  almost  no 
attempts  by  legal  prosecutions  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the  day, 
its  very  general  vohuttary  observance  becomingly  and  sacredly  by 
such  large  masses  of  people  is  clear  evidence  of  a  large  amount  of 
elevated  moral  sentiment  which  dominates  the  land,  speaking  more 
loudly  of  real  virtue  than  the  constrained  observance  secured  by 
rigorous  civil  penalties  under  the  regimen  of  the  Puritan  fathers. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  theoretical  changes  have  been  working 
in  many  minds,  the  views  of  good  men  of  the  highest  rank,  morally 
and  religiously,  having  undergone  some  modifications.  The  Puritan 
Sabbath  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  an  extreme  toward  the  Tal- 
mudical  Sabbath  of  the  Pharisees,  encumbered  with  vestments  not 
Scriptural  nor  even   Mosaic,  and  far  removed  from  the  spirit  and 


ESSENTIAL   SANCTITY  OF   THE  SABBATH.  QU 

character  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  The  tendency  now  is  toward  a 
Christian  ideal  of  the  siacred  day.  Many,  however,  have  gone  to 
the  extreme  of  laxity. 

Late   Inquiries. 

The  recent  history  of  public  sentiment  presents  two  facts:  that 
Christian  usages  in  respect  to  Sabbath  observance  have  undergone 
changes  in  the  direction  of  larger  liberty,  and  that  this  larger  liberty 
has  been  indulged  in  without  a  definite  revision  of  principles.  The 
growing  Sunday  laxity  can  hardly  be  claimed  to  be  an  adjustment 
of  practice  to  new  convictions.  The  evil  omen  is  that,  to  a  large 
extent,  it  must  be  admitted,  there  has  been  a  su.spension  of  con- 
science. There  has  been,  however,  in  some  directions  a  revival 
of  Christian  inquiry,*  as  to  whether  the  Lord's  day  ought  to  be 
made  more  largely  a  day  for  physical  recuperation  ;  whether  in 
modern  society,  with  machinery,  steam  locomotion,  street  railroads, 
printing-presses,  etc.,  etc.,  there  have  not  been  revolutionary  changes 
in  the  condition  of  labor  which  require  new  Sabbath  adjustments; 
whether  modern  society  should  be  subjected  to  Mosaic  prohibitions 
regardless  of  the  changes  in  our  civilization,  any  more  than  to  other 
Mosaic  penalties.  These  and  other  inquiries  are  coming  to  be  in- 
telligently and  conscientiously  investigated,  under  the  conviction 
that  men  should  act  from  intelligent  opinions,  not  from  impulse 
stretching  Christian  liberty  in  the  dark.  The  result  cannot  be 
doubted.  A  Christian  Lord's  day,  neither  the  secular  Sunday  nor 
the  Mosaic  Sabbath,  with  an  essential  sacredness,  will,  we  trust, 
not  fail  to  be  recognized  and  widely  observed. 

Each  age  requires  for  its  peculiar  necessities  a  restatement  of 
familiar  truths  and  principles,  which  are  continually  assailed  from 
new  quarters  and  by  new  arguments.  The  Christian  Church  is 
adjusting  lines  of  discussion  which  will  meet  those  demands,  and  is 
freshly  presenting  and  arguing  fundamental  principles,  which  we 
doubt  not  will  effectually  vindicate  the  eternal  sanctity  of  the  Sab- 
bath. It  is  demonstrating  that  the  essential  sanctity  of  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  belongs  to  the  Christian  Sunday ;  that  the  evidences  for 
the  necessity  of  a  day  of  rest  are  inwrought  in  man's  physical, 
intellectual  and  religious  nature,  and  that  the  laws  requiring  Sab- 
bath observance  are  compatible  with  perfect  personal  freedom,  "the 
law  of  rest  of  all  being  necessary  to  the  liberty  of  rest  of  each." 

♦Rev.  Austin  Phelps,  D.D.,  in  the  Congregationalist,  in  1885,  had  valuable  articles  on  this 
topic,  particularly  in  the  number  for  December  24,  1885. 
37 


378  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  ^.— Cliastity  and  Divorce. 

In  considering  these  topics  in  relation  to  moral  progress,  it  will 
be  difficult  to  appreciate  the  present  situation  without  first  taking  a 
brief  survey  of  earlier  times.  Social  and  domestic  relations  suffered 
severely  in  this  country  from  the  French  infidelity  so  prevalent,  dur- 
ing about  thirty  years  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the  opening  of 
the  present  century.  The  grossest  licentiousness  prevailed  in  large 
sections  of  the  country,  and  unchastity,  in  slightly  milder  forms,  in 
the  better  communities.  Shocking  examples  can  now  be  cited,  from 
reliable  records,  of  indiscriminate  sexual  relations  between  parents 
and  children,  continuing  for  years  without  civil  interference,  not  in 
festering  centers  of  population,  but  in  the  sparser  communities. 
Regularly  drawn  and  duly  attested  affidavits  verify  this  declaration. 
Data  now  exist  showing  that  rural  towns  in  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut of  more  than  average  thrift,  rank  and  intelligence,  favored 
with  the  ministrations  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  and  faithful 
divines,  were  not  exempt  from  this  evil ;  that  enforced  marriages 
were  frequent  in  the  middle  and  the  higher  circles;  and  that  the 
churches,  more  frequently  than  in  our  days,  were  under  the  neces- 
sity of  administering  discipline  for  offenses  against  chastity. 

In  large  sections  of  the  land  newly  settled,  and  either  without 
churches,  ministers  and  magistrates,  or  only  scantily  supplied  with 
them,  there  was  little  or  no  civil  or  ecclesiastical  recognition  of 
matrimony,  and  men  and  women  assumed  and  dissolved  family 
relations  without  marriage  forms.  These  cases  were  very  numerous, 
and  some  of  our  most  eminent  civilians  were  the  fruits  of  the  low 
habits  prevailing  at-  that  time.  In  the  older  portions  of  the  land 
"runaways"  from  matrimonial  relations  were  frequent.  The  strin- 
gency of  the  divorce  laws  gave  little  hope  of  relief  from  unhappy 
unions,  and  the  comparative  seclusion  of  local  communities,  then 
not  penetrated  by  railroads  and  telegraphs,  and  unvisited  by  ubiqui- 
tous reporters,  gave  abundant  opportunity  for  concealment  and  re- 
marriage, even  though  removed  but  a  short  distance  from  a  former 
residence.  All  through  the  first  third  of  this  century  the  news- 
papers contained  numerous  advertisements  of  runaway  wives,  and 
down  to  a  little  past  the  middle  of  the  century  reports  of  elope- 
ments were  very  common.  These  were  the  escapes  from  unhappy 
matrimonial  relations  before  the  larger  civil  provisions  for  divorce 
were  granted. 

The  radical  socialistic  theories  of  Robert  Owen  and  Fanny  Wright, 
promulgated  widely  for  many  years  all  over  the  land,  seriously  im- 


MARRIAGES  AND  DIVORCES.  379 

paired  the  sanctity  of  the  family  relation.  More  recently,  chiefly 
within  the  last  thirty  years,  legal  restrictions  upon  divorce  have 
been  removed,  and  the  sundering  of  family  ties  has  become  so  fre- 
quent as  to  occasion  much  deep  concern.  In  1785  it  was  an  occa- 
sion for  serious  animadversion  by  Governor  Trumbull  that  there 
had  been  439  divorces  in  Connecticut  in  a  century,  and  that  all  but 
fifty  had  occurred  in  fifty  years.  Twenty  years  later  President 
Dwight  lamented  that  there  was  one  divorce  in  every  one  hundred 
marriages  annually.  Down  to  1843  only  two  causes  for  divorce  were 
recognized  in  Connecticut  courts.  That  year  two  more  were  added. 
In  1849  th^y  were  increased  to  nine,  and  other  States  followed  the 
example.  Since  that  time  divorces  have  multiplied  in  all  the  States, 
and  elopements  and  runaways  have  decreased.  The  ratio  of  divorces 
in  New  England  in  recent  years  has  been  said  to  exceed  those  of 
France  pro  rata.  Another  painful  fact  is  the  relative  decrease  of 
the  number  of  marriages.  In  Massachusetts,  in  nineteen  years,  the 
ratio  was  one  divorce  to  36  marriages ;  in  the  three  years  following, 
one  to  23  marriages.* 

Several  grave  considerations  demand  attention : 

1.  In  the  most  liberal  view  of  the  matter  the  increase  of  divorces 
during  the  past  thirty  years  is  an  ominous  symptom,  and  can  but 
awaken  concern  for  the  permanence  of  social  order  and  the  stability 
of  public  virtue. 

2.  In  comparing  the  number  of  marriages  with  the  number  of 
divorces  the  financial  condition  of  the  country  should  not  be  over- 
looked, for  it  has  been  noticed  that  in  times  of  financial  embarass- 
ment,  like  that  following  1873,  the  number  of  marriages  has  been 
diminished,  while  the  number  of  divorces  has  not  been  reduced. 
Also  reference  should  be  had  to  whether  additional  facilities  for 
obtaining  divorces  have  been  granted  in  any  given  years. 

3.  Loose  legislation  in  regard  to  the  matrimonial  relation  evinces 
a  modification  of  the  moral  standard  and  a  change  in  the  type  of 
morals. 

4.  The  mere  fact  of  the  increase  of  divorces  does  not  imply  an 
increase  of  wickedness,  if  the  causes  for  which  the  divorces  are 
granted  do  not  imply  immorality. 

5.  Considered  in  respect  to  the  question  of  the  progress  of 
morals,  the  runaways  from  matrimony  and  the  illegal  assumptions 

♦  For  fuller  exhibits  see  Problem  0/  Religious  Progress  by  the  author  of  this  volume.     Phil- 
lips &  Hunt.     New  York  city.     1881.     P.  20^218.     h\%o  Report  of  the  Bureau  0/ Statistics  0/ 
Labor  in  Massachusetts.     By  Col.  Carroll  D.  Wright.    1880.    Pp.  199-2 -^S-     Also  Monday  Lect- 
bv  Rev    S.  W.   Dike,  of  Royalston,  Vt.,  in  Tremont  Temple.      Published  in  full  in  the 
Boston  Traveller,  January  25,  1881. 


580  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  marriage  relations,  both  of  which  classes  of  cases  were  very 
numerous  less  than  a  century  ago,  should  be  counted  against  the 
divorce  cases  of  our  times.  Elopements  and  runaways  are  now  very 
few  as  compared  with  even  twenty-five  years  ago. 

6.  Laws  in  regard  to  marriage  have  been  purified  and  improved. 
How  much  honor  and  influence  are  accorded  to  woman,  and  how 
greatly  has  the  sacredness  and  sweetness  of  home-life  been  devel- 
oped throughout  Christendom ! 


Section  5.— Crime. 

The  want  of  sufficient  exact  data  makes  definite  comparisons  of 
the  present  with  the  past  impossible.  The  public  statistics  of  pre- 
vious periods  are  scattering  and  imperfect,  and  many  of  those  of  the 
present  time  are  not  sufficiently  discriminating  to  form  a  definite 
basis  of  calculation.  Collateral  parts,  so  necessary  to  an  intelligent 
judgment,  are  wholly  omitted  from  statistics  of  criminal  jurispru- 
dence, though  much  improvement  is  now  being  made  in  collecting 
such  data.  Since  the  civil  war  flagrant  crimes  have  been  shock- 
ingly frequent,  and  the  large  cities  have  become  centers  of  crime, 
where  it  multiplies  and  often  claims  impunity.  Nor  in  large  cities 
only;  rural  communities  have  also  furnished  cases  of  daring  atrocity. 

Crimes  against  life  and  property  have  seemed  to  move  in  waves. 
The  newspapers  have  freely  discoursed  of  the  "Reign  of  Violence," 
"The  Era  of  Blood,"  "The  Carnival  of  Crime,"  and  sounded  notes 
of  alarm.  Astounding  cases  of  defalcation,  forgery  and  other 
offenses  against  trust  and  honor,  involving  in  crime  men  of  highest 
respectability,  of  lofty  religious  profession,  conspicuous  in  Christian 
and  charitable  labors,  and  pillars  of  churches,  have  been  the  most 
painful  and  staggering  to  public  confidence  of  all  recent  develop- 
ments. While  setting  their  hands  to  deeds  for  which  they  now  lie 
in  penitentiaries  they  were  "  repeating  every  Sabbath  the  prayers 
of  the  Church,  singing  songs  hallowed  by  the  voices  of  martyrs, 
giving  freely  of  stolen  money  to  Christian  benevolences,  and  seem- 
ingly delighting  in  deeds  of  charity  more  than  in  hoarding  gold, 
so  tortuous,  serpentine  and  idiotic,  under  the  wiles  of  evil,  have  con- 
sciences become."  The  effect  of  these  oft-repeated  defalcations  has 
been  fearfully  cumulative.  Sermons,  homilies,  scathing  editorials, 
public  and  social  indignations  have  multiplied,  inculcating  virtue, 
protesting  against  venality,  and  warning  of  the  consequences  of  dis- 
honesty.    Then  straightway  one  supposed  to  be  incorruptible  takes 


APPARENT  INCREASE  IN  CRIME.  38  1 

a  hand  in  the  unequal  game  and  surprises  the  public  with  a  fresh 
example  of  perfidy  and  ruin. 

No  theory  fully  accounts  for  the  increase  of  crime.  Sometimes 
it  is  said  to  be  owing  to  the  recent  infusion  of  a  large  immoral  for- 
eign population  into  the  country;  but  the  next  moment  we  hear  of 
some  horrid  atrocity  by  a  native  American  of  education  and  good 
social  standing.  Then  we  talk  of  the  cities  as  the  peculiar  abodes  of 
crime;  but  the  next  day  a  quiet  rural  district  furnishes  a  case  which 
for  savagery  matches  any  thing  perpetrated  in  the  vilest  haunts  of 
the  large  centers.  It  is  impossible  to  go  to  the  deepest  root  of 
homicidal  crime,  for  it  "involves  some  of  the  most  occult  and  dif- 
ficult problems  of  mental  and  moral  psychology."  Malignant  ulcers, 
horrid  deformities,  and  infectious  distempers  have  always  afflicted 
the  highest  civilizations,  and  probably  will  continue  to  do  so. 

After  such  emphatic  declarations  of  these  palpable  facts  of  evil 
it  will  not  be  charged  that  we  unduly  eulogize  our  times.  It  is 
due  that  a  broad  and  discriminating  analysis  of  these  unfavorable 
aspects  of  present  society  be  made  in  the  light  of  previous  times. 
The  scope  of  this  volume  calls  for  this  treatment  of  the  case,  while 
it  also  compels  a  curtailment  of  the  space  devoted  to  it.  If  intelli- 
gently done  it  will  appear  that  the  indications  are  not  altogether 
doleful,  but  reasonably  hopeful ;  that  some  of  the  dark  symptoms 
are  temporary  reactions  under  transient  causes  ;  that  others  are  eddy- 
ing movements  in  the  stream  of  progress  ;  others,  first,  and  probably 
transient,  outputtings  of  new  and  immature  stages  of  civilization,  and 
that,  whatever  shadows  here  and  there  may  darken  the  picture,  its 
average  light  and  beauty  are  vastly  greater  than  in  former  days. 

Alleviating  Facts. 

There  are  many  weighty  considerations  which  shed  an  alleviating 
light  upon  the  situation.  First  of  all,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  a  large 
part  of  what  many  regard  as  an  increase  of  crime  is  apparent  rather 
than  real.  It  is  not  simply  that  more  crimes  are  committed,  but 
more  are  reported.  "  We  read  about  defalcations  and  rascalities, 
but  we  forget  that  we  skim  the  whole  creation  every  morning  and 
put  the  results  in  our  coffee.  Years  ago  a  crime  had  to  be  of  un- 
usual proportions  to  make  its  way  into  an  adjoining  State.  Only 
the  giant  crimes  could  cross  the  continent.  But  now  we  see  and 
know  every  thing."  * 

"The  ubiquitous  reporter,"  says  the  editor  of  the  Boston  Journal  (July  ii, 
1879),  "is  responsible  for  the  gloomy  showini;^.  His  note-hook  and  pencil  are 
*Rev.  Bisiiop  C.  H.  Fowler,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


882  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STA  TES. 

every-where,  and  the  telegraph  is  the  ready  agent  for  transmitting  news  to  all 
parts  of  the  world.  The  scope  of  the  press  has  vastly  broadened  of  late  years,  and 
its  facilities  for  collecting  news  are  immensely  multiplied.  We  have  had  the 
curiosity  to  look  back  over  some  early  files  of  i\\t  Journal,  in  order  to  show  by 
comparison  the  change  which  has  taken  place.  Selecting  an  issue  of  the  paper  at 
random,  in  July,  1850,  we  find  that  out  of  thirty-two  columns  contained  in  the  paper 
precisely  one  third  of  a  column  is  taken  up  with  telegraph  news,  and  two  thirds  of 
a  column  with  local  news,  half  of  the  latter  space  being  devoted  to  an  account  of 
tenement-house  life  on  Fort  Hill.  Of  actual  news,  gathered  by  reporters  and  by 
telegraph,  the  paper  contained  hardly  more  than  half  a  column.  The  Journal  oi 
that  day  was  not  less  enterprising  than  its  contemporaries  ;  but  journalistic  ideas 
and  ideals  were  altogether  different.  The  newspaper  reader  then  was  content  with 
the  narrow  horizon  which  his  paper  supplied  him.  and  troubled  himself  very  little 
about  matters  which  went  on  at  a  distance.  The  newspaper  editor  presented  news 
as  it  happened  to  come,  and  when  it  came,  and  was  not  given  to  making  special 
exertions  for  procuring  it.  How  different  this  is  from  the  journalism  of  to-day, 
with  its  net-work  of  agencies,  embracing  the  most  insignificant  places  and  the 
most  remote  quarters  of  the  world  ;  with  its  complex  facilities  and  mighty  rivalries ; 
with  its  special  correspondent  here,  there,  and  every-where — scouring  the  desert  of 
Central  Asia,  exploring  Africa,  watching  the  military  movements  in  Zululand,  and 
even  going  out  in  quest  of  a  way  to  the  North  Pole — we  hardly  need  say.  The 
editor  of  thirty  years  ago  would  have  stood  aghast  at  the  expenditures  for  news 
collecting  necessary  to  a  journal  of  to-day.  But  we  may  note  in  passing  that  in 
the  scanty  space  devoted  to  news  in  the  issue  of  July,  1850,  to  which  we  refer,  we 
find  mention  of  nine  crimes." 

What  proportion  of  crime  is  apparent  and  what  is  actual  cannot 
be  satisfactorily  answered.  Our  bureaus  of  statistics  are  preparing 
materials  which  may  at  some  time  assist  us.  Unquestionably,  more 
crimes  are  now  committed  than  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago.  But 
during  this  period  great  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  number 
and  composition  of  our  population. 

It  must  be  evident  to  all  that  as  society  develops  life  becomes 
more  ititense,  and  the  liability  to  break  down  under  overstrain  in- 
creases in  persons  naturally  frail  or  ill-balanced  ;  but  such  failures 
do  not  indicate  a  general  deterioration  of  morals.  An  overwrought 
civilization  must  exhibit  painful  features;  a  high  nervous  tension 
easily  slips  into  derangement,  aberration,  or  enfeebled  self-control, 
and  makes  men  easy  victims  of  temptation  and  passion  to  which  in 
a  healthy  normal  condition  they  would  not  succumb.  An  English 
writer  recently  said:  "Any  period  of  great  mental  activity  will  be 
prolific  of  crime.  The  Greeks  were  sad  knaves.  •  .  .  The  knavery 
of  the  Italian  republics  was  enormous — hidden  from  us,  however,  to 
some  extent  by  their  astounding  ruffianism.  Macchiavelli,  Guic- 
ciardini,  and  a  host  of  other  writers  show  how  deeply  the  depravity 
of  actual  life  had  corroded  all  moral  principles." 


INDICATIONS  OF  IMPROVEMENT.  883 

Another  effect  of  advanced  civilization  is  that  the  higher  the 
taste  is  cultivated  the  fewer  pictures  do  we  see  which  challenge 
admiration.  A  nearer  inspection  of  the  Fenelons,  Madame  Guyons, 
Augustines,  etc.,  presents  to  us  points  of  criticism  which  did  not 
arrest  attention  in  their  age. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  decline  of  morals  in  New  En- 
gland. But  where  is  New  England?  Large  sections  of  the  West 
are  essentially  New  England,  but  New  England  without  the  hood- 
lums. Not  far  from  600,000  people,  born  in  New  England,  are  now 
in  the  portions  of  the  United  States  outside  of  New  England  ;  and, 
in  their  stead.  New  England  has  taken  in  800,000  foreign-born 
people,  who  have  come  from  different  conditions  of  civilization  and 
culture — enough  to  change  the  moral  and  social  aspects  of  New 
England  villages  and  cities. 

Periods  of  financial  straits,  depressing  business,  exposing  large 
masses  of  unemployed  men  to  fatal  allurements,  account  for  the 
more  alarming  waves  of  crime.  Sensational  accounts  of  vice  spread 
upon  the  pages  of  newspapers,  leniency  in  judicial  sentences,  fla- 
grant abuse  of  the  pardoning  power,  eulogies  upon  the  "smartness" 
of  criminals,  maudlin  sentimentalism  interfering  with  the  execution 
of  penalties,  etc.,  etc.,  have  diminished  restraints  upon  crime  and 
perverted  the  popular  moral  sense.  The  addition  of  fourteen  mill- 
ions of  foreigners,  besides  their  offspring,  since  1845,  ^  number 
equal  to  more  than  one  half  of  the  total  increase  of  the  population 
in  this  period,  has  been  a  severe  strain  upon  public  morals.  Their 
different  type  of  moral  culture,  their  drinking  customs,  their  holi- 
day Sabbath  habits,  the  infidelity  of  many,  and  the  socialistic  ideas 
of  others,  have  caused  communities  where  they  have  largely  con- 
gregated to  wear  aspects  very  different  from  former  times.  The 
official  census  of  the  United  States  in  1870  showed  that  while  the 
foreign-born  population  of  New  England  were  twenty  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  they  furnished  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  crime. 

Nevertheless  it  is  idle  to  say  that  the  greatest  crimes  are  com- 
mitted by  foreign-born  criminals.  We  must  confess  that  sons  of 
our  own  nursing  are  among  -the  most  flagrant  offenders,  that  mael- 
stroms of  vice  on  our  shores  speedily  engulf  newly-arrived  emi- 
grants, that  we  have  allowed  too  many  of  the  offspring  of  poor 
Europeans  to  become  waifs,  familiar  only  with  brutal  indulgences, 
and  that  young  men  from  our  rural  districts  too  easily  become  vic- 
tims of  city  seductions  and  rapidly  descend  the  terrible  gradations 
of  crime.  It  is  also  noticeable  and  encouraging  that  large  portions 
of  our  foreign  population  have    improved    greatly  in   morals  and 


S84  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

intelligence  since  they  came  among  us,  purchasing  houses  and 
lands,  making  deposits  in  savings  banks,  and  promoting  the  educa- 
tion of  their  offspring,  so  that  American  Romanism  exhibits  a 
higher  moral  type  than  European  Romanism. 

A  misconception  often  leads  to  hasty  and  improper  conclusions. 
Statistics  of  crime  are  often  accepted  without  considering  the  prog- 
ress of  criminal  legislation,  which  is  constantly  increasing  the 
number  of  crimes  cognizable  by  law.  Such  figures  show  an  appar- 
ent increase  of  crime,  though  much  of  it  is  affected  by  legislation. 
"Civilization  has  raised  many  things  formerly  considered  perhaps  as 
immoral,  and  as  offenses  against  moral  law,  into  well-defined  crimes, 
and  subject  to  punishment  as  such.  The  result  is  we  are  constantly 
increasing  the  work  of  criminal  courts  by  giving  prosecuting  officers 
new  fields  to  canvass  and  by  adding  to  the  list  of  offenses  defined 
as  crimes.  The  number  of  sentences  is  thus  increased  compara- 
tively.''^ The  number  of  offenses  designated  as  crimes  by  the 
criminal  code  of  Massachusetts  largely  exceeds  that  of  other  States; 
for  instance,  the  statutes  of  Massachusetts  comprehended  in  i860 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  offenses  punishable  as  crimes,  while  the 
code  of  Virginia  for  the  same  year  recognized  but  one  hundred  and 
eight,  or  fifty  less.  The  same  is  true,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  of 
nearly  if  not  quite  all  the  other  States."  f 

No  class  of  inquiries  requires  more  careful  and  intelligent  dis- 
crimination than  those  which  pertain  to  the  progress  of  morals.  At 
best  such  inquiries  are  beset  with  great  difficulties,  for  to  judge  our 
times  is  much  like  judging  ourselves.  Future  judges  may  modify 
our  best  conclusions.  So  many  diverse  elements,  currents,  ebbs 
and  flows  enter  into  the  life  of  any  people,  and  especially  of  a 
young  nation  like  ours — an  asylum  for  all  nations  and  with  condi- 
tions at  times  stimulating,  intense,  and  revolutionary  in  the  realm 
of  ideas  and  customs — that  there  is  liability  to  err  in  our  conclu- 
sions. First  appearances,  fancies^  and  prepossessions  should  not 
supplant  definite  bases  of  facts.  Currents  of  evil  there  are,  some 
new,  some  manifestly  increasing,  some  alarming ;  nevertheless  we 
believe  that  a  broad  survey  of  all  the  conditions  of  American 
society  indicate  a  substantial  improvement  in  the  average  moral 
purity  of  the  people. 

*  Eleventh  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  State  of  MassachusetU.     Jan- 
uary, 1880.     P.  193.  t  Ibid.,  p.  178. 


ROMAN  CATHOLICISM.  683 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 


Sec.  I.  General  Progress. 

2.  The  System  of  Church  Tenure. 

3.  The  Common  School  Contest. 
"      4.  Religious  Orders. 


Sec.  5.  Benevolent  Institutions. 
6.  Educational  Institutions. 
"      7.  Growth. 


D 


Section  i.— General   Progress. 

URING  the  last  forty  years  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
^  the  United  States  received  large  accessions  by  foreign  emi- 
gration, far  exceeding  any  other  time  in  its  history.  The  stream  of 
Emigration,  which  had  slowly  advanced  during  the  previous  j 
decades,  after  1845  was  suddenly  swollen  to  enormous  proportions. 
From  1845  to  1855  two  and  a  third  times  as  many  emigrants  / 
landed  on  our  shores  as  in  the  previous  fifty-five  years,  and  from  I 
1845  to  1887  nearly  ten  times  as  many  as  from  1790  to  1845. 
Nearly  thirteen  million  emigrants  infused  into  our  population 
since  1845  is  about  one  third  of  our  total  increase  since  that  date. 
The  offspring  of  these  new  comers  of  the  first  generation,  partak- 
incT  largely  of  the  ideas,  prejudices  and  customs  of  their  parents, 
would  amount  to  from  one  half  to  three  fourths  as  many  more. 
Three  fifths  of  these  foreign-born  accessions,  it  has  been  estimated, 
come  from  Roman  Catholic  stock.  Such  a  large  contribution  to 
the  strength  of  that  Church  has  emboldened  its  priesthood  an  I  led 
to  aggressive  movements  upon  some  American  institutions. 

Encouraged  by  the  augmentation  of  numbers  and  the  flattery 
of  political  demagogues,  the  papal  leaders  ventured  upon  a  fuller 
development  of  the  peculiarities  of  their  system  than  had  ever 
before  been  made  in  this  country.  Roman  Catholic  "festivals"' 
have  become  more  numerous  and  prominent,  public  processions,  in 
some  instances  led  by  the  priesthood,  have  appeared  on  the  streets, 
and  pictures,  rosaries,  crucifi.xes,  images,  relics  of  apochryphal 
saints,  etc.,  have  been  obtruded  upon  public  attention.     The  cere- 


886  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mony  of  "baptizing  bells"  was  publicly  performed  in  the  city  of 
New  York  and  "indulgences"  were  openly  offered  for  sale.  In  the 
chastisement  of  offenders  and  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  others  in 
subjection,  recourse  has  been  had  to  the  whip,  to  excommunications, 
with  their  terrific  accompaniments,  and  a  refusal  of  the  rites  of 
burial  to  the  dead — a  great  advance  toward  that  type  of  Roman 
Catholicism  long  prevalent  in  Europe.  The  activity  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  other  orders,  in  bringing  forth  their  peculiarities  has  at  times 
awakened  serious  apprehensions  in  many  minds  lest  European 
Romanism  should  be  fully  and  permanently  established  among  us. 
Hence  the  Know-Nothing  party  of  1853-1855,  and  the  legislative 
enactments  bearing  against  foreigners  in  some  States — movements 
which  sprang  out  of  the  jealousy  naturally  engendered  by  the  bold, 
defiant,  and  revolutionary  conduct  of  Roman  Catholics.  Most  of 
these  legal  enactments  were,  however,  subsequently  repealed  after 
the  popular  frenzy  subsided. 

Plenary  Councils. 

On  the  loth  of  May,  1852,  the  first  Plenary  or  National  Council 
assembled  in  Baltimore,  consisting  of  6  archbishops,  23  bishops,  40 
theologians,  and  18  other  ecclesiastics.  This  Council  laid  down 
rules  for  ecclesiastical  property,  declaring  that  the  administration 
of  boards  of  trustees  should  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  bish- 
ops of  the  diocese.  It  condemned  secret  societies,  especially  Free 
Masonry.  It  dwelt  upon  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Church  in  the 
United  States  and  stimulated  the  faithful  to  meet  its  wants.  It 
also  condemned  the  system  of  public  schools,  where  children  of  all 
denominations  are  admitted  and  religious  teaching  is  excluded. 

The  second  Plenary  Council  was  held  in  Baltimore  in  1866 — a 
very  imposing  spectacle,  comprising  44  mitered  prelates,  2  mitered 
abbots,  and  i  procurator.  Of  these  16  were  Americans,  9  Irish,  12 
French,  2  Flemish,  3  Spanish,  2  Swiss,  i  Austrian,  and  2  German. 
Of  the  16  American  prelates  one  half  were  of  Irish  parentage  and 
nearly  all  of  Irish  descent.  Archbishop  Spaulding  presided.  The 
session  of  this  Council  was  regarded  as  a  great  occasion,  and  unu- 
sual pains  were  taken  to  produce  a  deep  impression.  There  were 
pompous  processions  with  gorgeous  trappings,  extraordinary  cere- 
monies, and  many  other  things  which  to  the  simplicity  of  the 
American  mind  seemed  puerile  relics  of  the  fast  decaying  hierarch- 
ical folly  of  the  Old  World.  This  Council  gave  special  attention  to 
the  importance  of  providing  for  the  education  and  religious  culture 


ARCHBISHOP   HUGHES.  887 

of  the  emancipated  negroes.  Parochial  schools,  recommended  in 
the  previous  Council,  were  commanded  wherever  possible.  The 
last  decree  of  the  Council  recommended  the  erection  of  fifteen  new 
episcopal  dioceses. 

The  third  Plenary  Council*  was  held  in  Baltimore,  November  9 
to  December  7,  1884,' the  Rev.  James  Gibbons.  D.D.,  Archbishop 
of  Baltimore,  presiding,  and  was  composed  of  14  archbishops,  60 
bishops,  5  visiting  bishops  from  Canada  and  Japan,  7  abbots,  i  pre- 
fect apostolic,  II  monsignors,  18  vicars  general,  23  superiors  of 
religious  orders,  12  rectors  of  seminaries,  and  90  theologians.  Of 
the  foregoing  15  were  Jesuits.  Of  the  74  prelates  24  were  born  in 
the  United  States,  19  in  Ireland,  9  in  Germany,  7  in  France,  4  in 
British  America,  4  in  Belgium,  3  in  Spain,  i  in  Switzerland,  i  in  Scot- 
land, and  2  unknown.  The  Pastoral  Address  of  the  Council  treated 
upon  the  education  of  the  clergy,  pastoral  rights.  Christian  education, 
the  Christian  home,  marriage,  literature  for  the  people,  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  Catholic  press,  the  Lord's  day,  forbidden  societies. 
Catholic  societies,  home  and  foreign  missions,  and  temperance.  The 
utterances  upon  the  Sabbath  and  temperance  were  very  emphatic. 
The  Council  attracted  wide  attention,  and  many  of  its  declarations 
were  pronouncedly  anti-Protestant. 

The  death  of  Archbishop  Hughes,  the  most  prominent  Roman 
Catholic  prelate  of  this  period,  occurred  on  Sunday  evening,  Jan- 
uary 3,  1864,  after  a  short  illness.  The  announcement  created  a 
profound  sensation  in  New  York,  where  he  had  been  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  public  life.  No  other  ecclesiastic  had  done  so  much  for 
the  upbuilding  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  except,  perhaps. 
Bishop  Carroll.  Distinguished  by  marked  ability,  he  wielded  the 
power  of  a  VVolsey,  and,  wherever  known,  produced  the  impression 
of  an  experienced  and  sagacious  man  of  affairs,  a  worker  of  great 
perseverance  and  energy,  and  a  prelate  of  undoubted  ambition. 
His  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  the  most  prosperous  period 
of  Roman  Catholicism  in  the  United  States.  Although  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore  outranked  him  in  the  hierarchy,  yet  he  was  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  Church  and  its  acknowledged  champion 
before  the  public.  His  administrative  abilities  were  unequaled. 
For  this  reason  he  was  selected  by  the  national  Government  for  an 
important  semi-official  mission  to  Europe  in  the  early  period  of  the 
late  civil  war.  His  great  influence  over  the  New  York  mob  in  1863 
has  been  a  topic  of   frequent   favorable  comment.     In  a  state  of 

*  See  Memorial  Volume  0/  the  Third  Plenary  Council.     Baltimore   Publishing  Company. 
1885.   Pastoral  Letter,  pp.  10-30. 


888  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STAIRS. 

great  feebleness  from  serious  physical   infirmities  he  addressed  and 
quieted  the  enraged  masses — the  last  public  act  of  his  life. 

During  the  last  thirty-five  years  the  Roman  Catholic  dioceses 
have  considerably  increased.  At  the  close  of  1850  they  numbered 
26,  and  6  archdioceses.  At  the  close  of  1886  there  were  12  arch- 
dioceses, 61  dioceses,  9  vicarates  apostolic,  and  i  cardinal.  March 
15,  1875,  Archbishop  John  McCloskey,  of  New  York  city,  was  created 
"Cardinal  Priest,"  under  the  title  o{  Sancta  Maria  supra  Mincrvam, 
holding  this  office  until  his  death,  October  10,  1885.  In  the  Con- 
sistory at  Rome,  June  7,  1886,  Pope  Leo  XIII.  created  Archbishop 
Gibbons,  of  Baltimore,  cardinal. 

Defalcations. 

Two  great  instances  of  pecuniary  defalcations  by  Roman  Catho- 
lic officials  in  high  position  have  attracted  much  attention  in  recent 
years — that  of  Bishop  Purcell,  of  Cincinnati,  amounting  to  three 
or  four  million  dollars,  financially  wrecking  many  persons,  and  the 
other  at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  in  1S83,  by  the  Augustinian  Fathers. 
About  thirty  years  ago  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  gave  the  priests  of  Law- 
rence permission  to  borrow  money  of  parishioners  to  erect  eccle- 
siastical edifices.  A  form  of  a  bank  was  instituted,  administered 
by  the  priests.  By  high  living,  the  erection  of  extravagant  edifices, 
incompetent  financial  management,  and  over-indulgence  on  the 
part  of  too-confiding  parishioners,  it  became  hopelessly  insolvent, 
occasioning  serious  losses  and  much  scandal.  "A  Church  Debt 
Society"  is  now  undertaking  to  make  up  the  losses. 

Dogma  of  Immaculate  Conception. 

On  the  8th  of  December,  1854,  a  new  dogma,  the  Immaculate 
Conception — that  the  Virgin  Mary  was  conceived  and  born  without 
inherited  depravity — was  added  to  the  Roman  Catholic  creed. 
Through  many  centuries  an  open  question,  Aquinas,  Bernard,  the 
Dominicans,  and  others,  steadily  resisted  all  attempts  to  commit 
the  Church  in  its  favor.  Ever  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Jesuits, 
after  the  resuscitation  of  their  Order,  in  18 14,  they  championed  its 
adoption.  Proceeding  cautiously,  sending  circulars  to  all  the  bish- 
ops, and  obtaining  the  assent  of  a  large  majority  of  them,  the 
Pope  publicly  announced  the  dogma,  much  to  the  surprise  of  the 
Christian  public.  The  action  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  Provincial 
Councils*  at   Baltimore  has  been   elsewhere  noticed,   the   former 

*  Held  in  1846  and  1849. 


PAPAL  INFALIBILITY.  589 

adopting  the  *'  Blessed  Virgin,  conceived  without  sin,  as  the  special 
patroness  of  the  United  States,"  and  the  latter,  with  only  one  dis- 
senting vote,  recommending  the  pope  to  declare  the  dogma  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  The  Roman  Catholic  cleigy  of  the 
United  States  have  ever  been  the  devoted  advocates  of  this  doctrine, 
and  Mr.  De  Courcey  cites  a  long  list  of  instances  of  its  recognition 
by  the  early  founders  of  Romanism  in  this  country,  which  is  both 
curious  and  instructive.  The  ship  which  bore  Columbus  to  the  New 
World  was  the  St.  Mary  of  the  Conception  ;  the  second  island  which 
he  discovered  was  called  "  La  Conception:"  the  first  chapel  built  by 
Champlain  in  Quebec  was  dedicated  "  La  Conception;"  in  1635  the 
Jesuits  dedicated  to  the  Immaculate  Conception  their  adventurous 
Huron  Mission  ;  Father  Le  Jeune  relates  that  the  next  year  they 
consecrated  the  country  in  a  special  manner  to  "  Mary,  conceived 
without  sin;"  and  in  1673  the  River  Mississippi  was  baptized  with 
the  name  "  Conception  "  by  its  discoverer,  James  Marquette. 

Infallibility  of  the  Pope. 

The  Ecumenical  Council  was  held  in  Rome,  1868-9.  On  the 
13th  of  September,  1868,  a  most  remarkable  document  proceeded 
from  the  Pope,  addressed  "  to  all  Protestants  and  other  non-Catho- 
lics." as  "  those  who,  while  they  know  the  same  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Redeemer,  and  glory  in  the  name  of  Christian,  yet  do  not  profess 
the  true  faith  of  Christ,  nor  hold  to,  nor  follow  the  communion  of 
the  Catholic  Church."  He  exhorted  them  "  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  of  this  Council,"  to  "satisfy  the  longings  of  their 
own  hearts,  and  free  themselves  from  that  state  in  which  they  can- 
not be  assured  of  their  own  salvation;"  to  "continually  offer  fervent 
prayers  to  the  God  of  mercy  that  he  would  throw  down  the  wall 
of  separation,  scatter  the  darkness  of  error,  and  lead  them  back 
into  the  bosom  of  the  Holy  Mother,  the  Church,  in  whicii  their 
fithers  found  the  healthful  waters  of  life,  in  which  alone  the  whole 
teaciiing  of  Jesus  Christ  is  preserved  and  handed  down,  and  the 
mysteries  of  heavenly  grace  dispensed."  "  We  address  these  letters 
to  all  Christians  separated  from  us,  and  we  again  and  again  exhort 
and  conjure  them  speedily  to  return  unto  the  one  fold  of  Christ." 

A  few  individuals  and  some  religious  bodies  replied  to  this  let- 
ter, among  whom  may  be  cited,  as  of  particular  appropriateness  and 
value  to  American  citizens,  the  action  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  in  the  United  States.  They  declared  their  unhesitating 
belief  in  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  doctrines  of  the  first  six  Gen- 


S90  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

eral  Councils,  denying  that  they  were  schismatics,  declining  to 
accept  his  invitation,  because  they  held  principles  which  the  Council 
of  Trent  had  pronounced  accursed  ;  among  which  were — that  the 
Word  of  God  is  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice  ;  the 
right  of  private  judgment ;  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers;  a 
denial  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  apostleship,  etc.  They  closed  their 
address  with  the  following  noble  and  appropriate  words : 

While  loyalty  to  Christ,  obedience  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  consistent  respect 
for  the  early  councils  of  the  Church,  and  the  firm  belief  that  "  pure  religion  is  the 
only  foundation  of  all  human  society,"  compel  us  to  withdraw  from  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  Cliurch  of  Rome,  we,  nevertheless,  desire  to  live  in  charity  with  all 
men.  We  love  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.  We  cordially 
recognize  as  Christian  brethren  all  who  worship,  trust,  and  serve  him  as  their 
God  and  Saviour  according  to  the  inspired  Word.  And  we  hope  to  be  united  in 
heaven  with  all  who  unite  with  u%  on  earth  in  saying,  "Unto  Him  who  loved  us 
and  washed  us  from  our  sins  with  his  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests 
unto  God,  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

On  the  8th  of  December,  1868,  the  Ecumenical  Council  assem- 
bled, all  reporters  being  excluded  and  its  members  pledged  to 
secrecy.  What  was  transacted  has  not  yet  been  fully  disclosed. 
There  have  been  strange  whisperings  that  eminent  jurists  in  Rome 
at  that  time  critically  studied  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  to 
ascertain  what  opportunities  the  field  afforded  for  the  Church. 
Whether  the  ostensible  and  avowed  object  of  the  Council  was  the 
real  one  has  been  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

On  the  nth  of  July,  1869.  in  the  Council  at  Rome,  the  vote 
was  taken  on  the  celebrated  dogma  of  papal  infallibility.  We  are 
principally  concerned  in  these  pages  with  the  action  of  the  prelates 
from  the  United  States.  The  vote  was  taken  in  two  forms,  condi- 
tionally and  unconditionally.  Eighty-eight  prelates  voted  uncon- 
ditionally against  it,  of  whom  four  were  from  the  United  States  ; 
namely,  the  archbishop  of  St.  Louis,  and  the  bishops  of  Pittsburg, 
Little  Rock,  and  Rochester.  Sixty-two  voted  conditionally  against 
it,  of  whom  four  were  from  the  United  States  ;  namely,  the  arch- 
bishop of  New  York  and  the  bishops  of  Oregon  City,  Monterey, 
and  Savannah.  Seventy  bishops  were  absent,  of  whom  three  were 
from  the  United  States;  namely,  the  bishops  of  Cincinnati,  Cleve- 
land, and  Bardstown,  Ky.  Of  the  fifty-seven  bishops  in  the  United 
States  forty-six,  or  more  than  four  fifths,  voted  for  the  dogma  of 
infallibility.*     Others  have  since  assented  to  it. 

*The  following  recent  utterance  of  Bishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  is  a  direct,  logical 
sequence  of  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility.  "  We  maintain  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  intol- 
erant— that  is,  that  she  uses  every  means  in  her  power  to  root  out  heresy.     But  her  intolerance 


ACQUISITIONS  OF  ROMANISM.  391 

Public  Funds. 

It  has  not  escaped  frequent  notice  by  the  press  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  officials  in  New  York  city  have  secured  for  that  Church 
"  the  lion's  share  "  of  such  public  funds  as  have  been  paid  out  as 
benevolent  appropriations.*  From  1861  to  1869,  inclusive,  $897,039 
were  given  to  the  Roman  Catholic  institutions,  while  all  other  insti- 
tutions, Protestant,  Jewish,  etc.,  received  $284,491   33. 

In  The  Christian  Advocate,  January  i,  1880,  Dexter  A.  Hawkins, 
Esq.,  gave  a  later  view  of  the  amount  of  public  money  and  public 
property  bestowed  upon  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  New  York 
city.  He  says  it  obtained  from  the  city  donations  of  real  estate  to 
the   amount  of  $3, 500,000, f  and  in  eleven  years,  1869  to  1879,  i^ 

is  the  result  of  her  infallibility.  She  alone  has  the  right  to  be  intolerant  because  she  alone  has 
the  truth.  The  Church  tolerates  heretics  where  she  is  obliged  to  do  so,  but  she  hates  them  with 
a  deadly  hatred  and  uses  all  her  powers  to  annihilate  them.  If  ever  the  Catholics  should  become 
a  considerable  majority,  which  in  time  will  surely  be  the  case,  then  will  religious  freedom  in  the 
Republic  of  the  United  States  come  to  an  end.  Our  enemies  know  how  she  treated  heretics  in 
the  Middle  Ages  and  how  she  treats  them  to-day  where  she  has  the  power.  We  no  more  think 
of  denying  these  historic  facts  than  we  do  of  blaming  the  Holy  God  and  the  princes  of  the 
Church  for  what  they  have  thought  fit  to  do  " 

*  The  following  table,  incomplete,  taken  from  the  New  York  TimeSy  will  serve  as  a  specimen 
of  these  appropriations: 


St.  Patrick's  Cathedral $32,928  84 

Home  of  the  Good  Shepherd 95,ooo  00 

Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum 57,080  71 

The  Institution  of  Mercy 35, 000  00 

Society  for  the  Protection  of  Roman 

Catholic  Children 30,000  00 

Immaculate  Conception  School 10,000  00 

Hospital  of  Sisters  of  St.  Francis. . .   10,000  00 

House  of  Mercy 55-oco  00 

House  of  Mercy,  Bloomingdale 20,00000 

Parish  School  of  St  Lawrence  Church  10,000  00 

Sisters  of  Mercy,  St   Dominic 10, 106  20 

Society  for  the  Reformation  of  Juve- 
nile Delinquents 58,000  66 

Sisters  of  Mercy 28,893  0° 

School  of  St.  Nicholas,  Order  of  St. 

Dominic 11,80000 

St.  Nicholas's  School 10,000  00 

+  He  specifies  the  following  real  estate  given  by  the  city  of  New  York  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church: 

"  The  Cathedral  Block  and  the  block  in  the  rear,  which  has  a  small  brick  chapel  on  it,  were 
obtained  from  the  city  as  follows:  i.  The  Church  got  possession  of  a  lease  from  the  city  at  a  nom- 
inal annual  rent.  2.  When  forfeited  for  non-payment  of  this  rent  the  city  waived  the  forfeitures, 
and  on  payment  by  the  Church  of  $83  32  converted  the  lease  into  a  fee.  3.  This  lot,  eight 
hundred  feet  long,  running  from  Fifth  t'>  Fourth  .•X. venue,  had  no  frontage  on  Fifty-first  Street, 
but  was  cut  off  from  that  street  by  a  strip  ten  inches  wide  on  Fifth  Avenue,  and  five  feet  six 
inches  wide  on  Fourth  Avenue.  The  city  made  an  even  exchange  with  the  Church  of  this  free- 
hold strip  for  a  much  smaller  leasehold  strip  on  the  block  above.  This  gave  the  Church  the 
whole  block — now,  by  the  extension  of  Madison  Avenue  through  it,  two  blocks — and  then  the  city 


St.  Bridget's  School 33-540  00 

St.  Joseph's  Church,  Asylum,  Or- 
phan Asylum,  Parish  School,  Pa- 
rochial School,  Male  and  Female  70,712  64 

St.  Teresa's  School '^S-ITP  00 

St.  Lawrence  Church 15,151  3t 

St.  Mary's  School 25,000  00 

St.  Gabriel's  School 16,830  00 

St.  Andrew's  Church 7,008  98 

Church  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion      S,ooo  00 

School  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  10,000  00 
Free  School  of  St  V'incent  de  Paul.  25,00000 
St.    Vincent    Hospital    and    Roman 

Catholic  Orphan  Asylum 33. 000  00 


Total $730,782  34 


S92  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

received  from  the  public  treasury  $5,827,471  19 — an  average  annual 
donation  of  $529,770  10.  In  1887  the  statement  appeared  that  the 
disbursements  from  the  State  treasury  of  New  York  to  Roman 
Catholic  institutions  during  the  past  twelve  years  aggregated 
$8,952,528  48 — an  average  of  nearly  $7C)0,cxx>  annually. 

When  the  United  States  census  was  taken  in  1870  the  vicar 
general  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  New  York  city  declined 
to  give  to  the  officials  a  schedule  of  the  property  of  that  Church  in 
the  city,  notwithstanding  other  denominations  had  promptly  given 
such  reports.  He  would  neither  give  the  items  nor  the  aggregate.* 
To  save  time  and  avoid  legal  entanglement  an  officer  was  appointed 
by  census  officials  to  inquire  in  regard  to  the  property  and  appraise 
the  value,  which  was  found  to  amount  to  about  sixty  million  dollars — 
considerably  mote  than  that  of  any  other  religious  body.  This 
property,  it  was  concluded,  could  not  have  been  acquired  from  so 
poor  a  membership  in  the  usual  way  of  gifts,  bequests,  etc..  but 
had  been  obtained  largely  by  grants  from  the  State  and  city  gov- 
ernments. Thus,  though  theoretically  there  is  no  State  Church,  by 
the  votes  and  influence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population  this 
Church  has  managed  to  get  the  lion's  share  of  public  donations— a 
bribe  for  its  political  influence. 

Political  Action. 

The  case  of  Rev.  Dr.  McGlynn  is  just  now  receiving  much 
attention,  the  old  Ultramontane  question.  All  persons  acquainted 
with  New  York  politics  and  the  familiar  relations  long  existing 
between  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  in  New  York  and  Tammany 
Hall  understand  the  true  inwardness  of  the  archbishop's  opposition 
to  Dr.  McGlynn.  The  George  Labor  movement,  with  which  Dr. 
McGlynn  was  identified,  was  the  most  formidable  threat  ever  made 
against  Tammany's  control  over  the  votes  of  the  majority  of  work- 
paid  the  Church  $24,000  for  said  extension  of  the  avenue,  and  also  gave  it  $8,928  84  to  pay  an 
assessment,  thus  making  substantially  a  donation  of  these  two  blocks— worth  now,  without 
buildings,  at  1  ast  $1,500  000 — an  i  a  gift  in  money  of  $32,928  84. 

•'  The  city  also  gave  the  Church  the  block  above  this,  from  Fifth  to  Fourth  Avenue,  now 
two  blocks,  by  two  leases  for  ninety-nine  years  at  $1  a  year  rent  each.  Thee  two  blocks,  with- 
out buildings,  are  worth  now  at  least  another  $1,500,000.  The  city  for  $1  a  year  gave  to  the 
archbishop  for  the  '  Sisters  of  Mercy'  half  a  block  of  land  on  Madison  Avenue,  between  Eighty- 
first  and  Eighty-Second  Streets.  This,  without  buildings,  is  worth  now  at  least  $200,000.  The 
city  for  $1  a  year  gave  fc^r  the  '  Sisters  of  Charity  '  a  whole  block  of  land  on  Lexington  Avenue, 
between  Sixty -eighth  and  Sixty-ninth  Streets.  This,  without  buildings,  is  worth  now  at  least 
$300,000. 

"  Total,  /ive  and  a  luilf  blocks  0/  land  in  the  best  part  0/  the  city,  worth  $3,500,000." 

*  See  speech  made  by  Mr.  Cowley  before  the   National  Club,   London.     Also  editorial 

in  The  Methodist  (New  York  city),  January  25,  1873. 


ROMANISM  IN  AMERICAN  POLITICS.  393 

ingmen,  and  particularly  the  Irish  Catholic  workingmen  of  New 
York,  and  Tammany  had  in  turn  appropriated  large  sums  of  money 
to  the  institutions  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.* 

The  actual  and  direct  interference  in  politics  of  bishops,  vicars 
general,  and  priests  in  their  ecclesiastical  capacity  and  because  of 
their  influence,  is  one  of  the  facts  of  the  times  which  is  destined  to 
receive  more  serious  attention.  In  regard  to  such  action  we  have 
a  recent  testimony  from  right  out  of  the  bosom  of  Rome.  Dr. 
McGlynn  says: 

Recent  instances  of  this,  not  a  few,  could  be  mentioned.  It  must  suffice  here 
merely  to  refer  to  the  letters  and  messages  of  the  late  Vicar  General  Quinn,  of 
New  York,  sent  to  clergymen  to  secure  their  influence  as  churchmen  to  defeat 
constitutional  amendments  which,  even  afier  their  adoption,  have  been  practically 
overridden  and  overruled  in  the  interest  of  Catholic  institutions,  and  to  secure 
the  election  to  the  Legislature  of  such  men  as  Mr.  J.  W.  Husted,  because  he  was 
willing  to  favor  "generous  appropriations;  "  the  instance  referred  to  in  this  article 
of  the  clerical  alliance  with  the  Tweed  ring ;  the  letter  of  Monsignor  Preston  to 
Joseph  O'Donoghue  in  the  late  Mayoralty  canvass;  the  denunciation  of  one  of 
the  candidates  and  his  party  from  Catholic  altars  ;  the  secret  prohibition  to  a 
priest,  who  went  not  as  a  priest,  but  as  a  citizen,  to  keep  his  engagement  to  speak 
at  a  political  meeting,  the  chief  demerit  of  which  speech  was  clearly  in  the  fact 
that  the  movement  it  was  intended  to  help  was  likely  to  bring  disaster  upon 
the  Taminany  ally  of  the  ecclesiastical  machine;  the  abuse  of  the  confes- 
sional in  forbidding  men  unrler  penalty  of  refusal  of  absolution  to  attend  the 
iTieetings  of  one  political  party;  and  last,  and  worst  of  all,  the  effort  of  an  arch- 
bishop in  the  late  election  to  defeat  at  the  polls,  by  the  abuse  of  his  ecclesiastical 
position,  the  call  for  a  constitutional  convention  which,  as  the  result  proved,  was 
demanded  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  all  those  who  voted  on  the  question — 
an  effort  in  full  keeping  with  the  action  of  the  same  archbishop,  when  Bishop  of 
Newark,  in  sending  to  the  Catholic  pastors  of  New  Jersey  a  secret  confidential 
letter,  telling  them  to  "  instruct "  their  people  how  they  "  must  "  vote  upon  certain 
proposed  constitutional  amendments,  giving  minute  details  as  to  the  striking  out 
of  certain  clauses,  and  suggesting  th.il  lor  greater  surety  it  might  be  better  that 
the  Catholic  voters  should  strike  out  all  the  clauses.  The  heinousness  of  this 
action  will  be  better  understood  when  it  is  mentioned  that  the  object  of  the  pro- 
posed amendments  was  to  protect  the  public  treasury,  and  to  prevent  the  people 
of  counties  and  towns  from  being  oppressed  and  robbed  by  railroad  and  other 
corporations.! 

Here  are  presented  two  leading  features  of  an  Established 
Church — ecclesiastical  institutions  supported  by  the  city,  and  poli- 
tics controlled  by  ecclesiastical  influence.  It  only  remains  to  add 
two  more;    namely,  the  mantle    of   civil  authority  and  protection 

•  We  cannot  enter  very  much  into  this  case  for  want  of  space  and  because  it  is  too  soon  to 
judge  what  will  come  out  of  it.  For  a  full  statement  of  the  history  of  the  case  the  reader  is 
referred  to  The  Independent  (New  York),  Aug:ust  4,  1887. 

t  IVorth  American  Revieu\  Auf^ust,  1887,  pp.  201-2. 

38 


S94  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

thrown  over  a  single  denomination,  and  a  military  force  at  the  com- 
mand of  that  denomination,  and  there  will  be  no  occasion  to  look 
elsewhere  to  find  a  State  religion.  The  first  of  these  two  remain- 
ing requisites  was  disclosed  in  the  overhauling  of  the  lunatic  asylum 
and  other  charitable  institutions  in  New  York  city.  The  American 
Protestant  *  relates  the  story  : 

We  need  not  go  to  Rome  to  find  a  State  religion.  The  overhauling  of  the  lunatic 
asylum  and  other  charitable  institutions  reveals  a  state  of  corruption  and  sectarian- 
ism that  is  very  startling.  The  Catholics  hold  the  rule  in  these  institutions,  and 
out  of  the  thousands  scarcely  one  can  be  found  who  has  not  the  brogue.  Laws 
have  been  passed  by  the  Legislature  for  the  express  purpose  of  keeping  devoted 
and  earnest  missionaries  from  laboring  among  the  destitute,  the  criminal  and  the 
lowly.  Where  Protestants  are  allowed  to  work  among  our  charitable  institutions 
great  honor  is  put  upon  the  Catholic  worship— comfortable  chapels  are  provided, 
and  the  pall  of  authority  is  thrown  over  it — while  Protestants  are  left  to  shift  for 
themselves.  The  Tombs  is  a  good  illustration  of  this.  A  fine  chapel  is  fitted  up 
for  Catholic  worship,  the  prisoners  are  marched  into  a  room  where  stands  an 
altar,  with  the  paraphernalia  of  worsiiip.  and  music  lends  its  attractiqns.  Protest- 
ants hold  their  meetings  in  the  narrow  gallery  that  runs  around  the  prison.  The 
prisoners  remain  in  their  cells.  A  few  peep  out  of  the  iron  grating.  Those  who 
choose  lie  in  bed,  read  newspapers  or  novels,  draw  down  their  blinds,  and  show 
the  utmost  contempt  for  public  worship.  The  officials  are  not  even  respectful. 
Without  music,  without  attention,  without  even  an  audience  in  sight,  the  minister 
opens  his  services.  He  is  liable  to  constant  interruption,  not  only  from  the  cells, 
hut  from  the  coming  and  going  of  officers,  the  loud  call  for  prisoners  and  the 
opening  and  slamming  of  the  iron  doors.  The  order,  decency  and  accommodation 
afforded  to  the  Catholic  worship,  and  the  neglect  and  contempt  thrown  upon  the 
Protestant  service,  show  the  difference  between  a  State  religion  and  one  that  is 
tolerated  in  New  York. 

They  obtained  control  of  the  chaplaincies  of  Bellevue  Hospital, 
Blackwell's  Island,  Hart's  Island,  Randall's  Island  and  Ward's 
Island  institutions,  a  considerable  number  of  Jesuit  priests  occupy- 
ing positions  in  them.  The  education  on  Hart's  Island  and  the 
school-ship  Mercury  has  been  declared  to  be  "  as  sectarian  as  it 
is  possible  for  the  commissioners  of  public  charities  to  allow  and 
for  an  eminent  Jesuit  to  effect."  On  Blackwell's  Island  the  Jesu- 
itical pressure  is  felt  in  the  lunatic  hospital,  the  Work-house,  the 
Penitentiary  and  the  Charitable  Hospital,  and  these  Jesuit  chap- 
lains are  supported  chiefly  by  Protestant  taxpayers. 

The  last  requisite  of  a  State  Church — a  military  force  at  the 
command  of  a  single  denomination — was  obtained  by  the  organi- 
zation of  "  Roman  Catholic  regiments  "  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
composed  wholly  of  members  of   that    Church.     Late  in  1872  the 

*  Januarj'  ii,  1873.     Boston,  Mass. 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  REGIMENTS.  593 

New  York  Daily  Witness  called  attention  to  the  formation  of  "  mil- 
itary bands  of  the  papal  Church"  in  that  State — a  gross  and  alarm- 
ing perversion  of  the  military  system  from  its  original  purpose — 
and  the  fault  of  the  authorities,  authorizing  regiments  to  be  con- 
stituted for  admission  to  which  it  was  prerequisite  that  the  applicant 
should  be  a  Roman  Catholic.  No  well-regulated  State  pretending 
to  recognize  religious  equality  can  recognize  the  formation  of 
denominational  military  companies.  The  Christian  World*  spoke 
out  emphatically  on  the  subject,  and  against  the  marching  on  Sun- 
day in  the  streets  of  New  York  city  of  2,000  men  belonging  to  the 
"  Emmet  Zouaves,"  "  Wolf-Tone  Guards,"  and  "  Emerald  Guards" 
in  uniform,  though  without  arms,  preceded  by  bands  of  music. 


Section  ;^.— The  System  of  Chnrcli  Tenure. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  important  movements  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  early  part  of  this  period.  In  a  chapter  in 
the  previous  period  the  earlier  efforts  of  Bishop  Hughes  to  reform 
the  system  of  lay  trusteeship  were  related.  Bishop  Hughes  still 
persisted  in  this  work,  purging  from  the  system  of  church  tenure 
all  limitations  conflicting  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  hier- 
archy— complete  ecclesiastical  control.  At  that  early  date,  when 
the  Roman  Catholics  were  comparatively  weak  in  numbers  and 
influence,  it  was  not  deemed  prudent  to  request  the  State  legis- 
latures to  embody  such  principles  in  legal  enactments ;  they 
therefore  first  attempted  to  reach  the  difficulty  by  ecclesiastical 
action.  Under  the  skillful  leadership  of  Bishop  Hughes,  the  Plen- 
ary Council  in  1852  adopted  canons  to  eff*ect  this  object,  not 
directly  asking  for  the  titles  of  the  churches,  but  deciding  that  no 
priest  should  be  sent  to  a  church  which  had  not  placed  its  title-deed 
in  the  hands  of  its  bishops,  thus  compelling  the  surrender  under 
the  threat  of  withholding  the  means  of  grace.  This  action,  attributed 
to  Bishop  Hughes,  has  been  called  the  most  important  act  of  his 
life.  Dr.  Bailey,  in  his  funeral  discourse  at  the  decease  of  Bishop 
Hughes,  said  that  but  for  this  action  "  the  whole  future  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  in  this  country  would  have  been  paralyzed."  Bishop 
Hughes  was  a  man  of  consummate  prudence  as  well  as  of  strong 
nerve,  and  so  carefully  administered  the  law  as  to  save  all  his 
churches.  A  few  congregations  withstood  the  canon  for  some 
time.     As  late  as  1855  the  St.  Louis  Church,  Buffalo,  was  in  con- 

*  February,  1873. 


896  CHRISTIAXITY  IX    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

flict  with  its  bishop.  Intent  upon  success,  other  expedients  were 
adopted. 

The  first  step  in  the  scheme,  the  ecclesiastical,  had  been  taken, 
and  another  remained.  The  aid  of  the  civil  power  was  next  invoked. 
Under  the  forms  of  the  civil  law  an  effort  was  made  to  induce  the 
reluctant  congregations  to  vest  their  property  in  the  hands  of  their 
bishop.  During  the  session  of  the  New  York  Assembly,  in  1853, 
Hon.  Mr.  Taber  introduced  into  the  Senate  a  specious  document 
intended  to  exactly  meet  the  case.  It  was  entitled,  "  An  act  to 
authorize  the  incorporation  of  Roman  Catholic  congregations  or 
societies."  It  provided  that,  '*  Any  officer  or  officers,  person  or  per- 
sons, being  citizens  of  the  State,  who,  according  to  the  discipline 
and  usage  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  may  be  designated  to 
represent  any  Roman  Catholic  congregation  or  society  in  holding 
and  managing  the  temporalities  thereof,  may  become  incorporated 
as  the  trustee  or  trustees  of  such  congregation  or  society,"  etc.  This 
bill,  it  will  be  noticed,  provided  that  a  single  officer  or  person  might 
constitute  the  corporation,  so  that  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  might 
be  chosen  the  trustee  and  become  incorporated  as  such.  For  this 
Bishop  Hughes  had  been  for  years  struggling,  intending  thus  to 
acquire  the  control  of  all  the  church  edifices,  parsonages,  and  ceme- 
teries, so  that  even  Christian  burial  would  depend  upon  his  will  and 
word.  But  "the  Taber  Bill"  failed  to  receive  the  approval  of  the 
Legislature  ;  and  with  that  failed  what  was  intended  to  be  the 
initiatory  step,  to  be  followed  up  in  other  States  of  the  Union,  cloth- 
ing the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  with  unlimited  possessions  and 
power. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  famous  "  Know-Nothing  "  movement, 
during  the  years  1854  and  1855,  radical  legislative  action  took  place 
in  several  States  relating  to  the  holding  of  church  property.  The 
much-discussed  "  Church  Tenure  Bill  "  was  passed  in  New  York 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  after  the  able  advocacy  of  Senators 
Putnam,  Brooks,  Whitney,  etc.  The  bill  required  all  denominations 
to  hold  their  property  by  boards  of  trustees,  from  which  priests 
and  bishops  should  be  excluded.  A  similar  law  was  passed  in 
Michigan,  and  came  also  before  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  only  State  in  the  Union  which  had  previously,  unwittingly, 
as  is  believed,  passed  a  law  which  gave  to  three  Roman  Catholic 
bishops  of  that  Commonwealth  all  the  power  over  ecclesiastical 
property  with  which  the  Plenary  Council  at  Bnltimore  had  resolved 
to  invest  all  bishops.  About  the  same  time  the  legislatures  of 
Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  some  other  States  took  conserva- 


CONTROL  OF  CHURCH  PROPERTY.  597 

tive  action.     Many  Roman  Catholics,  particularly  Germans,  favored 
it.     But  the  New  York  law  was  repealed  eight  years  later. 

A  Sharp  Contest. 

Bishop  Hughes  was  absent  at  Rome  when  this  subject  was  before 
the  Legislature  of  New  York,  in  1853.  On  his  return  he  found  that 
Hon.  Erastus  Brooks  had  spoken  in  the  State  Senate  of  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  church  property  of  which  "John  Hughes  was  the 
legal  owner,  supposed  to  be  worth  at  current  values  nearly  five  mill- 
ions of  dollars."  Thereupon  the  bishop  penned  a  long  and  jesting 
letter,  professing  his  "astonishment  at  finding  himself  so  very  rich," 
and  promising,  if  the  Senator  would  find  the  property  for  him,  to 
build  and  endow  a  public  library  in  New  York  at  an  expense  of  two 
million  dollars,  to  be  called  the  Erastus  Brooks  Library.  A  long 
correspondence  ensued.  The  Senator  produced  a  list  of  deeds  duly 
recorded  vesting  a  large  amount  of  real  estate  in  the  arch-prelate, 
with  such  comments  as  were  requisite  to  show  that  they  sustained 
the  position  he  had  taken.  The  bishop  was  driven  into  close  quar- 
ters, out  of  which  he  attempted  to  escape  by  tne  most  transparent 
subterfuges.  At  one  time  he  said  he  owned  it,  "  not  as  plain  John 
Hughes,  but  as  Archbishop  "  Another  time  he  said  that  "  the 
property  belonged  to  God,"  and  that  he,  poor  man.  "  did  not  even 
own  the  furniture  of  the  house  he  lived  in  ;  "  and  yet  he  was  con- 
tinually selling  and  mortgaging  God's  property,  as  if  it  were 
"  Mr.  J.  Hughes's  estate."  The  public  were  convinced  that  the 
bishop  was  the  legal  owner  of  the  property  notwithstanding  his 
quibbles. 

The  necessity,  therefore,  came  to  be  felt  by  Protestants  to  fix 
a  limit  to  the  accumulations  of  real  estate  by  the  Church  of  Rome 
in  this  country  as  in  some  European  countries,  where  there  are 
rigid  limitations,  impartially  enforced,  sustained  by  public  sentiment. 
The  Church  of  Rome,  seeing  the  chance  in  this  country — a  chance 
denied  in  some  portions  of  Europe — was  buying  up  all  the  land  it 
could  in  city  and  country,  and  many  fears  were  entertained  that 
peril  might  come  to  important  public  interests  from  such  accumu- 
lations. It  was  felt  that  the  law  of  self-preservation  and  the  law  of 
freedom  demanded  that  such  dangers  should  be  made  impossible  by 
wise  and  timely  legislation.  Limiting  statutes,  bearing  alike  upon 
all  religious  bodies,  were  therefore  enacted,*  in  the  years  1856  and 
1857,  by  the  legislatures  of  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  Ohio,     A 

*  In  some  instances,  however,  these  limitations  were  subsequently  repealed. 


898  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

writer  in  Putnam's  Magazine  for  July,  1869,  estimated  the  landed 
estate  then  held  or  controlled  by  the  five  Roman  Catholic  prelates 
in  the  State  of  New  York  to  be  worth  from  thirty  to  fifty  million 
dollars.  But  Mr.  James  Parton,  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  April, 
1868,  estimated  that  in  the  archdiocese  of  New  York  alone  at  fifty 
million  dollars. 

In  1866  the  late  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  and  others  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  asking  for  an  '*  Act  authoriz- 
ing the  several  Roman  Catholic  churches  or  congregations  in  the 
Commonwealth  to  assume  corporate  powers  with  the  same  rights  to 
hold  property  and  estate  which  religious  parishes  have  by  law,  and 
that  such  corporate  powers  in  every  case  shall  be  vested  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  bishop,  the  vicar-general  of  the  diocese  in  which  such 
church  or  congregation  may  be,  the  pastor  of  such  church  or  congre- 
gation for  the  time  being,  and  two  laymen  thereof,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  said  bishop,  vicar-general,  and  pastor,  or  a  majority  of  them." 
The  petition  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  "  Parishes  and  Re- 
ligious Societies,"  of  which  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Worcester,  D.D.,  was 
the  chairman.  After  due  deliberation  the  committee,  by  a  unani- 
mous vote,  reported  adversely  on  the  petition.  In  their  very  able 
report  they  say  : 

By  this  arrangement  the  congregational  or  society  corporations  would  "  in  every 
case  "  be  merely  nominal.  The  real  corporation  would  be  composed  of  three 
ecclesiastics  and  the  two  laymen  of  their  choice,  the  members  of  the  congregational 
body  having  no  vote  in  the  appointment  of  their  nominal  representatives.  In  short, 
the  congregational  corporation  would  have  no  corporate  powers  whatever.  No 
such  anomalous  bodies,  we  affirm  with  all  confidence,  can  ever  be  created  or  legal- 
ized by  an  act  of  the  Legislature.  They  would  be  contrary  to  the  whole  theory  and 
practice  of  our  civil  and  religious  institutions. 

Bishop  Gihnour,  of  Cleveland,  O.,  in  January,  1873,  issued  a 
"  Pastoral  "  in  which  the  following  declaration  appeared,  demanding 
that  all  the  ecclesiastical  property  should  hereafter  be  conveyed  to 
himself: 

Hereafter  there  are  and  will  be  no  trustees.  The  bishop  is  the  only  trustee  in 
the  diocese,  and  in  his  name  all  property  is  held.  Under  no  circumstances  will  we 
allow  laymen  to  hold  church  property,  or  in  any  way  control  it.  Titles  to  church 
property,  whether  in  the  form  of  deeds  or  land  contracts,  shall  be  made  directly  to 
the  bishop,  "his  heirs  and  assigns,"  without  qualification  or  condition.  Nearly  all 
the  troubles  we  have  noticed  in  the  diocese  have  arisen  from  a  failure  to  strictly 
comply  with  the  orders  laid  down  in  the  "  Rules  and  regulations  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  church  in  the  diocese."  We  hereby  require 
every  priest  to  have  a  copy  of  them,  read  and  explain  them  to  their  congregations, 
then  follow  them. 


EDUCATION  AND    THE  CHURCH.  399 

Section  5.— The  Common  Scliool  Contest 

has  been  one  of  the  most  important  struggles  which  American 
Romanism  has  aroused  in  the  United  States.  The  origin  of  the 
movement  in  the  city. of  New  York  was  related  in  the  chapter  on 
Romanism  in  the  previous  period.  After  the  Common  School 
Society  transferred  their  property  to  the  city,  all  of  the  schools 
came  under  the  control  of  the  Board  of  Education,  with  local 
officers  chosen  in  the  several  wards.  This  occurred  in  1853,  at 
which  time  the  Bible  had  been  excluded  from  eighty  schools  in 
New  York  city.  Thus  was  successfully  inaugurated  a  great  struggle 
which  was  destined  to  shake  many  other  communities.  But  the 
Roman  Catholics  were  not  satisfied  with  what  they  had  gained. 
They  had  protested  against  the  schools  as  sectarian  because  the 
Bible  was  read  in  them,  and  it  had  been  excluded.  They  next 
complained  that  the  schools  were  "  godless,"  "  atheistical,"  "  infidel." 
As  early  as  1853  Bishop  Hughes  said  : 

Experience  has  since  shown  that  the  new  system,  although  administered  with 
as  much  impartiality  as  could  be  expected  under  the  circumstances,  is  one  which, 
as  excluding  all  religious  instruction,  is  most  fatal  to  the  morals  and  religious  prin- 
ciples of  our  children,  and  that  our  only  recourse  is  to  establish  schools  of  our  own. 
where  sound  religious  instruction  shall  be  imparted  at  the  same  time  with  secular 
instruction. 

In  this  single  sentence  the  next  line  of  action  was  indicated.  It 
was  a  blow  aimed  at  the.  public  school  system,  and  could  not  fail  to 
arouse  intense  indignation.  The  Journal  of  Commerce  came  out 
with  a  stirring  article,  in  which  these  lines  occurred : 

Now  the  question  is.  Are  our  public  schools  still  to  be  tampered  with,  at  the 
instigation  of  Romish  priests.?  And  how  far  is  this  pusillanimous  compliance  with 
their  demands  on  the  part  of  our  School  Commissioners  to  be  carried  ?  Shall  the 
whole  school  system  be  first  sacrificed  and  then  Romanized  ?  The  object  of  this 
crusade  against  our  public  schools  is,  first,  to  bring  them  into  contempt  and  suspi- 
cion as  irreligious  and  ungodly,  and,  next,  to  build  up  Romish  schools  on  their  ruins. 

After  a  long,  exciting  contest,  the  action  of  the  Cincinnati  Board 
of  Education  excluding  the  Bible  from  the  public  schools  was  taken 
on  the  1st  of  November,  1869.  On  the  20th  of  the  same  month 
the  New  York  Tablet  (Catholic)  said  : 

If  this  has  been  done  with  a  view  to  reconciling  Catholics  to  the  common 
school  system  its  purpose  will  not  be  realized.  It  does  not  meet  nor  in  any  degree 
lessen  our  objection  to  the  public  .school  system,  etc. 

On  the  25th  of  December  it  said : 

We  hold  education  to  he  a  function  of  the  Church,  not  of  the  State ;  and  in 
our  case  we  do  not  and  will  not  accept  the  State  as  educator. 


600  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

On  the  nth  of  December  the  Freeman's  Journal  said  : 

The  Catholic  solution  of  this  muddle  about  Bible  or  no  Bible  in  schools  is, 
'•Hands  off."  No  State  taxation  or  donation  to  any  schools.  You  look  to  your 
children  and  we  will  look  to  ours.  We  don't  want  you  to  be  taxed  for  Catholic 
schools.  We  do  not  want  to  be  taxed  for  Protestant  or  for  godless  schools.  Let 
the  public  school  system  go  to  where  it  came  from — the  devil. 

Parochial  Schools. 

Next,  Roman  Catholic  children  were  taken  from  the  public 
schools  and  collected  into  parochial  schools,  and  the  demand  was 
made  that  a  portion  of  the  public  school  money  raised  by  taxation 
should  be  paid  over  to  them — not  that  the  portion  of  that  money 
raised  from  their  own  people  should  be  divided  to  them,  which 
would  have  been  quite  small,  but  that  they  might  receive  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  children  they  could  muster.  In  1853  ^^i^ 
demand  for  a  portion  of  the  public  school  money  was  made  in  eight 
different  States — New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  California.  If  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  these  demands  they  would  have  gained  two  important 
objects:  First,  they  would  have  drawn  large  sums  from  Protestant 
purses  to  support  Roman  Catholic  schools ;  and,  second,  they 
would  have  effected  a  partial  union  of  Church  and  State — an  object 
dear  to  every  Romanist.  The  money  of  the  State  would  have  been 
devoted  to  the  payment  of  sectarian  teachers,  all  of  whom  impart 
religious  instruction.  It  was  also  expected  that  if  they  succeeded 
in  this  object  all  other  religious  denominations  would  ask  their  share 
of  the  public  school  money.  Thus  the  funds  provided  in  common 
for  all,  being  dissipated  among  the  different  sects,  the  common 
school  system  itself  must  perish.  But  this  demand  was  not  ac- 
ceded to. 

Up  to  1863  there  was  no  sectarian  instruction  in  the  public 
reformatory  and  charitable  institutions  of  New  York.  All  denom- 
inations shared  without  jealousy  in  the  work  in  an  unsectarian  way. 
But  in  the  spring  of  1863,  at  the  instance  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ives,  a  per- 
vert to  Romanism  from  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  a  charter 
was  obtained  for  a  "Roman  Catholic  Protectorate"  for  destitute  or 
unfortunate  children,  to  be  supported  by  a  public  tax.  All  its 
officers  and  instructors  were  to  be  of  one  faith,  the  Roman  Catholic, 
and  they  were  to  receive  annually  $110,  instead  of  $70  per  capita  as 
before.  This  was  another  triumph.  This  action  against  the  com- 
mon .school  system  was  greatly  quickened  by  the  celebrated  Ency- 
clical Letter  and  the  Syllabus  of  Errors  which  it  condemned,  issued 


THE  ENCYCLICAL  LETTER.  601 

by  the  pope  in  1865.     Among  the  so-called  errors  "  condemned,"  the 
following  were  conspicuous : 

The  entire  direction  of  public  schools  in  which  the  youth  of  Christian  States 
are  educated  may  and  must  appertain  to  the  civil  power,  and  belong  to  it  so  far 
that  no  other  authority  shall  be  recognized  as  having  any  right  to  interfere  in  the 
discipline  of  the  schools,  the  arrangements  of  the  studies,  etc. 

The  most  advantageous  conditions  of  civil  society  require  that  popular  schools 
open  without  distinction  to  all  children  of  the  people,  and  public  establishments 
designed  to  teach  young  people  letters  and  good  discipline  and  to  impart  to  them 
education,  should  be  freed  from  all  ecclesiastical  authority  and  interference,  and 
should  be  fully  subjected  to  the  civil  and  political  powers  for  the  teaching  of  mat- 
ters and  opinions  common  to  the  times. 

The  foregoing  principles,  fundamental  to  the  educational  system 
of  the  United  States,  were  condemned  as  "errors"  by  the  pope,  and 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  our  country  were  counseled  to  oppose  them. 

On  the  I2th  day  of  M  ly,  1869,  the  "  ta.x  levy"*  law  for  New  York 
city  was  passed  by  the  Legislature,  allowing  "  an  annual  amount, 
equal  to  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  excise  moneys  received  for  said  city 
for  1868,  to  be  distributed  for  the  support  of  schools  educating  chil- 
dren gratuitously  in  that  city."  Under  this  law  there  was  appro- 
priated to  sectarian  schools  about  $250,000,  of  which  the  Roman 
Catholics  received  about  $200,000,  while  all  other  institutions,  Prot- 
estant and  Jewish,  received  only  about  $50,000.  It  should  be  stated 
that  nearly  all  Protestants  declined  to  receive  these  funds,  protest- 
ing not  only  against  the  unequal  distribution  proposed,  but  against 
the  principle  recognized  in  the  "  Bill "  of  appropriating  money  to 
sectarian  schools,  as  fatal  to  the  common  school  system.  The  peo- 
ple found  themselves  taxed  for  the  support  of  sectarian  education — 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith  being  taught  in  their  schools.  The  State 
and  the  Church  were  virtually  united.  A  powerful  agitation  fol- 
lowed, and  through  the  vigorous  efforts  of  Francis  Lieber,  LL.D., 
and  the  Union  League  Club  this  law  was  repealed  in  April,  1870. 

This  demand  for  the  distribution  of  the  school  money  was  intro- 
duced after  the  session  of  the  Plenary  Council  in  Baltimore  in  1852. 
It  has  been  general,  open  and  persistent,  chiefly  in  large  cities,  though 
sometimes  the  efforts  have  been  temporarily  suspended.  In  many 
of  the  cities  the  Roman  Catholics  have  provided  schools  of  their 
own  in  which  nuns,  monks,  etc.,  are  employed  as  teachers,  and  many 
have  been  the  petitions  for  the  public  money  for  their  support.  In 
March,  1870,  the  Tablet  said  : 

There  is  no  help  but  in  dividing  the  public  schools,  or  in  abandoning  the  sys- 
tem altogether. 


602  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

In  their  periodicals  and  lectures  the  common  schools  have  been 
ridiculed  and  denounced  as  "pits  of  destruction"  and  "public  soup- 
houses  where  our  children  eat  with  wooden  spoons."  The  editor  of 
the  Freeman  s  Journal  said,  "Every  such  school  is  an  insult  to  the 
religion  and  virtue  of  our  people."  And  a  Roman  Catholic  orator 
said,  "The  prototype  of  our  school  system  is  seen  in  the  institutions 
of  paganism." 

As  early  as  i860  over  fifty  thousand  Roman  Catholic  children 
had  been  gathered  in  parochial  schools.  In  1870  the  number  had 
increased  fivefold.  In  numerous  cases,  like  that  of  the  Bishop  of 
Cleveland  in  1873,  pastorals  have  been  issued  commanding  Catholic 
parents  to  transfer  their  children  from  the  public  to  the  parochial 
schools,  threatening,  in  case  of  non-compliance,  the  withholding  of 
the  sacraments  from  said  parents.  In  1875  Bishop  McQuaid  said, 
in  Worcester,  Mass.:  "We  are  going  to  have  a  desperate  struggle 
on  this  question  all  over  this  country  for  the  ne.xt  generation." 

The  last  Plenary  Council  avowed  "  the  determination  to  es- 
tablish all  over  the  country  a  great  system  of  parochial  schools  in 
opposition  to  the  public  schools,  and  it  is  made  the  most  urgent 
duty  of  the  priests  every-where,  under  threat  of  expulsion,  to  found 
such  schools."*     Dr.  McGlynn  says: 

The  hope  is  not  concealed  that  when  the  so-called  "Catholic  vote"  shall  be- 
come larger,  the  politicians  may  he  induced  to  appropriate,  through  State  legisla- 
ture or  local  governments,  all  the  funds  necessary  for  the  support  of  these  schools. 
This  has  already  been  accomplished  in  Poughkeepsie,  New  Haven,  and  elsewhere, 
and  for  a  brief  period  during  the  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  between  a  certain 
set  of  priests  and  the  Tammany  Ring  of  the  days  of  Tweed,  Connolly  and 
Sweeney,  an  appropriation  procured  by  a  legislative  trick  and  fraud,  under  the  man- 
agement of  Peter  B.  Sweeney,  awarded  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the 
parochial  schools  of  New  York  city.  .  .  .  The  extraordinary  zeal  manifested  for 
the  getting  up  of  these  sectarian  schools  and  institutions  is,  first  of  all,  prompted 
by  jealousy  and  rivalry  of  our  public  schools  and  institutions,  and  by  the  desire  to 
keep  children  and  other  beneficiaries  from  the  latter;  and,  secondly,  by  the  desire 
to  make  employment  for  and  give  comfortable  homes  to  the  rapidly-increasing 
hosts  of  monks  and  nuns,  who  make  so-called  education  and  so-called  charity  their 
regular  business,  for  which  a  very  common  experience  shows  that  they  have  but 
little  qualification  beyond  their  professional  stamp  and  garb.  It  is  not  risking 
much  to  say  that  if  there  were  no  public  schools  there  would  be  very  few  parochial 
schools :  and  the  Catholic  children,  for  all  the  churchmen  would  do  for  them, 
would  grow  up  in  brutish  ignorance  of  letters ;  and  a  commonplace  of  churchmen 
here  would  be  the  doctrine  taught  bv  the  Jesuits  in  Italy,  in  their  periodical  maga- 
zine, the  Civilta  Cattolica,  that  the  people  do  not  need  to  learn  to  read  ;  that  all 
they  do  need  is  bread  and  the  catechism,  the  latter  of  which  they  could  manage  to 
know  something  of  even  without  knowing  how  to  read.     A  confirmation  of  this  is 

♦See  ako  paragraphs  428,  429  of  the  Second  Plenary  Council. 


'   THE  ENTERING    WEDGE.  603 

to  be  found  in  the  very  general  illiteracy  in  countries  where  churches  and  church- 
men have  been  exceedingly  abundant  and  have  exercised  temporal  control.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  in  Italy,  France,  and  other  so-called  Catholic  countries,  in 
spite  of  the  hostility  to  the  government  schools,  the  clergy  do  not  establish  paro- 
chial schools.  The  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  Italy,  while  willing  enough  to  im- 
pose on  our  Catholic  people  of  America  so  heavy  a  burden,  do  not  dare  to  try  to 
impose  a  similar  burden  upon  their  people  nearer  home. — North  American  Rnnew. 
August,  1887.     P  199. 

Within  a  few  months  the  Catholic  Review  has  said  : 

There  is  no  longer  a  school  question  for  Catholics.  It  is  closed.  The  door  of 
discussion,  which  was  slightly  ajar  prior  to  1884,  was  closed,  locked,  bolted  and 
barred  by  the  Plenary  Council  held  in  that  year,  which  directed  that  Christian 
schools  should  be  maintained  by  all  the  parishes  in  the  United  States  not  prevented 
liy  extreme  poverty  from  carrying  them  on.  That  decree  is  law  for  priests  and 
people. 

In  the  New  York  Legislature,  January,  1887,  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced by  Hon.  Michael  C.  Murphy  which  provided  that, 

The  schools  established  and  maintained  by  the  New  York  Catholic  Protectory 
shall  participate  in  the  distribution  of  common  school  funds,  in  the  same  man- 
ner and  degree  as  the  common  schools  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York. 

A  plain  demand  for  sectarian  appropriations  and  the  destruction 
of  the  common  school  system.  The  bill  failed,  but  it  is  a  key  to  the 
purposes  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

In  August,  1887,  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  applied 
to  the  School  Board  of  the  city  for  a  supply  of  school-books  for 
their  parochial  schools,  on  the  plea  that  they  are  bought  by  money 
raised  by  tax  for  the  free  use  of  pupils.  In  Maiden,  Mass.,  in  the 
same  month,  the  Roman  Catholics  asked  the  city  authorities  to 
grant  them  the  use  of  public  school-rooms  for  their  parochial 
schools.  In  each  case  the  reply  was  made  that  the  Constitution  of 
Massachusetts  forbids  the  use  of  money  raised  for  school  purposes 
for  any  denominational  schools.  Later,  the  request  was  made  in 
Maiden  that  the  unoccupied  rooms  might  be  leased  to  them  for 
a  compensation.  The  issue  is  still  pending.  Is  it  the  thin  edge 
of  the  wedge?  Will  the  compensation  be  fixed,  in  time,  at  a 
merely  nominal  fee?  And  in  some  future  partisan  contest,  or  in 
some,  other  unlooked  for  emergency,  will  the  fee  be  remitted  by  un- 
scrupulous politicians  for  the  sake  of  Roman  Catholic  support? 
These  inquiries  have  been  started. 

This  parochial  school  policy  has  been  widely  adopted  in  all  the 
larger  cities  and  towns,  and  in  many  of  the  smaller  communities  of 
the    United    States.      Statistics,  confessedly  incomplete,  given   in 


604  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Sadlier's  Roman   Catholic  Almanac,   give  the  number  of  pupils  in 
their  parochial  schools  in 

Pupils.  Schools. 

i860 57.611         660 

1870 257,600  1.214- 

1880 423.383  

1885 492,949  2,631 

1886* 537.725  2,697 


Section  4.— Tlie  Religious  Orders. 

The  monastic  and  conventual  orders  of  the  Old  World  have  been 
transplanted  into  the  United  States,  and  monks,  nuns,  religious 
houses  and  fraternities  have  already  become  numerous,  assiduously 
toiling  in  the  religious,  philanthropic  and  educational  work  of  the 
Church.  As  instructors  in  parochial  schools,  seminaries  and  col- 
leges, they  carry  out  the  educational  policy  of  the  hierarchy.  Dur- 
ing the  last  thirty-five  years  these  orders  have  rapidly  multiplied, 
and  through  them  the  seeds  of  the  effete  civilization  of  papal  Europe 
are  being  sown  in  American  soil.  They  constitute  too  large  an 
element  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  be  omitted  in  any  exhibit 
of  its  strength  or  to  be  ignored  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
In  1876  Mr.  J.  O'Kane  Murray  f  gave  a  table  of  27  male  religious 
orders,  24  of  which  reported  228  houses,  and  21  of  which  reported 
2,714  members.  He  also  gave  a  table  of  23  female  orders,  17  of 
which  had  541  religious  houses  (convents,  etc.,)  and  2i  had  9,488 
members.  But  they  have  increased  very  greatly  since  1876. 
Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,  Almanac  and  Ordo,  for  1887,  gives  a 
list  of  24  "orders"  of  "priests,"  11  of  "  brothers,"  and  jy  of  "  sis- 
ters and  nuns"— total,  112  in  the  United  States.  Six  of  the 
afore-mentioned  orders  were  introduced  into  the  present  limits 
of  the  United  States  prior  to  1800:  9  between  1800  and  1840, 
and  the  remainder  since  1840.  They  exist  in  every  State  in  the 
Union. 

The  statistics  are  given  here  in  considerable  fullness,  as  a  legiti- 
mate part  of  a  true  representation  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States,  showing  how  widely  and  thoroughly  it  is 
organizing  its  forces,  and  concentrating  its  influence  upon  its  people, 
.to  hold  and  utilize  them  in  their  ranks.  They  deserve  close  atten- 
"tion  and  study. 


♦  Year  Book  for  1887. 

+  History  0/ the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.     Pp.  384,  415. 


STRENGTH  OF  AMERICAN  ROMANISM. 


60S 


Religious  Orders  and  Communities  in  the  United  States. 

Priests. 


1.  Augustinians. 

2.  Benedictines. 

3.  Capuchins. 

4.  Carmelites. 

5.  Dominicans 

6.  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Mary. 

7.  Franciscans  (Conventual). 

8.  Franciscans. 

9.  Holy  Cross,  Priests  of  the. 
to.  Holy  Ghost,  Fathers  of  the. 

11.  Jesuits. 

12.  Lazarists. 


i>  Mercy,  Priests  of. 

14.  Missionary  Fathers  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

15.  Oblates. 

16.  Passionists. 

17.  Pauiists. 

18.  Precious  Blood. 

19.  Redemptorusts. 

20.  Resurrection,  Congregations  of  the. 

21.  Servites. 

22.  St.  Viateur. 

23.  Sulpitians. 

24.  Trappists. 


Brothers. 


Alexian  Brothers,  or  Cellites. 

Brothers  of  Charity. 

Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools. 

Brothers  of  Good  Works. 

Brothers  of  Mary. 

Brothers  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis. 


7.  Brothers  of  St.  Viateur. 

8.  Brothers  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

9.  Brothers  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

10.  Franciscan  Brothers. 

11.  Xavierian  Brothers. 


Nuns  and  Sisters. 


Benedictine. 

Carmelite. 

Daughters  of  Charity. 

Daughters  of  the  Cross. 

Dominican. 

Felician  Sisters. 

Franciscan  Nuns  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 

Franciscan  Sisters,  or  Sisters  of  St.  Francis. 

Franciscan  Sisters  of  Charity. 

Gray  Nuns. 

Hospital  Sisters  of  St.  I'rancis. 

Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary. 

Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor. 

Marianite  Sisters. 

Missionary  Sisters  of  the  3d  Order  of  St.  Francis. 

Oblate  Sisters  of  Providence. 

Perpetual  Adoration. 

Poor  Clares. 

Poor  Handmaids. 

Presentation  Nuns. 

Religious  of  the  Holy  Heart  of  Mary. 

School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame. 

School  Sisters  of  St.  Francis. 

Servlte  Sisters. 

Sister-Servants  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary. 

Sisters  of  Bon  Secours. 

Sisters  of  Charity. 

Sisters  of  Charity  of  Nazareth. 

Sisters  of  Charity  of  St.  Augustine. 

Sisters  of  Charity  of  St.  Joseph. 

Sisters  of  Charity  of  the  B.  V.  M. 

Sisters  of  Christian  Charity. 

Sisters  of  Divine  Providence. 

Sisters  of  Loretlo. 

Sisters  of  Mary. 

Sisters  of  .Mercy. 

Sisters  of  Notre  Dame. 

Sisters  of  our  Lady  of  Charity,  Mother  of  Mercy. 

Total  in  the  three  classes,  112. 


40.  Sisters  of  our  Lady  of  Charity  of  the  Good  Shep'd. 

41.  Sisters  of  our  Lady  of  Mercy. 

42.  Sisters  of  Peace. 

43.  Sisters  of  Providence. 

44.  Sisters  of  St.  Agnes. 

45.  Sisters  of  St.  Ann. 

46.  Sisters  of  St.  Clara. 

47.  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic. 
43.  Sisters  of  St.  Frances  of  Joliet. 

49.  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph. 

50.  Sisters  of  St.  Mary. 

51.  Sisters  of  St.  Nazianz. 

52.  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  of  Notre  Dame. 

53.  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd. 

54.  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Child  Jesus. 

55.  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

56.  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Family. 

57.  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Family  of  Nazareth. 

58.  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Names  of  Jesus  and  Mary. 

59.  Sisters  of  tlie  Humility  of  M.iry. 

60.  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary. 

61.  Sisters  of  the  Incarnate  Word. 

62.  Sisters  of  the  Most  Holy  and  Im.  Heart  of  Mary. 

63.  Sisters  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic. 

64.  Sisters  of  the  Order  ot  St.  Francis  of  Assisium. 

65.  Sisters  of  the  Poor  of  St.  Francis. 

66.  Sisters  of  the  Precious  Blood. 

67.  Sisters  of  the  Present.Ttion. 

68.  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mar>-. 

69.  Sisters  of  the  Second  (Jrder  of  St.  Dominic. 

70.  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order  of  .Mount  Carmel. 

71.  Sisters  of  the  Third  Ord^r  of  St.  Dominic. 

72.  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis. 

73.  Sisters  of  the  3d  Order  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisium. 

74.  St.  Mary's  Sisters  (Servants  of  the  Divine  Hea^t). 

75.  Ursulines. 

76.  Ursuline  Sisters. 

77.  Visitation  Nuns. 


608 


CHRISTIAXITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Convents,  Monasteries,  etc.* 


DIOCESES. 


Baltimore 

Boston 

Chicago 

Cincinnati 

Milwaukee.   .. 
New  Orleans.. 

New  York 

Oregon  City.. 
Philadelphia... 

St.  Louis 

San  Francisco. 

Santa  Fe 

Albany 

Alton 

Brooklyn 

Buffalo 

Burlington. . .. 
Charleston.  . . . 

Cleveland 

Columbus 

Covington 

Davenport 

Detroit 

Dubuque 

Erie 

Fort  Wayne.. . 

Galveston 

Grand  Rapids. 
Grass  Valley. . 

Green  Hay 

Harrisburg 

Hartford 

Helena 

Kansas  City.. . 

La  Crosse 

Leavenworth  . 

Little  Rock 

Louisville 


Female. 

Male. 

^^ 

3 

.8 

.5  a 

0  3 

■z  0 

J;  S  rt 

?5! 

C  y^ 

fix 

x.y  "3 

So 

2  0  S 

c    . 
OX 

R§^ 

UX 

CAZOi 

Soi 

KZa, 

3° 

&3 

12 

269 

24 

S04 

I 

.... 

34 

86 

3 

27 

i8 

1,112 

b 

3'4 

JO 

1,248 

3 

79 

32 

497 

2 

33 

36 

I.911 

li 

30Q 

7 

82 

I 

26 

i,oS3 

4 

155 

9> 

703 

b 

89 

7 

153 

3 

60 

7 

70 

I 

22 

13 

590 

b 

74 

12 

471 

2 

'97 

8 

680 

I 

67 

46 

604 

9 

I20 

II 

74 

4 

78 

23 

791 

6 

50 

S 

192 

I 

21 

18 

I 

4 

6 

.65 

1 

'5    1 

12 

166 

I 

26    1 

20 

370 

I 

60 

"4 

3 

....     1 

"9 

643 

S 

206    1 

8 

89 



12 

I 

] 

II 

61 

I 

5     ' 

8 

162 

2 

18 

12 

103 

28 

370 

I 

4 

3 

54 

21 

182 

3 

&) 

2 

■93 

I 

27 

8 

299 

5 

60 

9 

74 

2 

30 

I  091 

6 

99 

DIOCESES. 


Manchester 

Marquette 

Mobile 

Monterey 

Nashville 

Natchez 

Natchitoches 

Nesqually 

Newark  

Ogdensburg 

Omaha 

Peoria 

Pittsburg,  etc. . . . 

Portland 

Providence 

Richmond 

Rochester 

San  Antonio 

Savannah 

Scranton 

Springfield 

St.  Augustine. . . . 

St.  Paul 

Trenton 

Vancouver's  Isle. 

Vincennes 

Wheeling 

Wilmington 

Arizona 

Brownville 

Colorado 

Dakota 

Idaho 

North  Carolina.. . 
North  Minnesota. 
Indian  Territory. 


Total 978 


Female. 


ul 


wZO. 


123 
62 
82 
71 


84 

»7S 

550 
"3 
24s 


139 

75 

451 

146 

790 
156 

45 
69 
140 


Male. 


0-. 

I      X.H  3 


"  °  o 

ezc- 


28 

»7 

38 

5 

140 


tgt 
6 


Here  are  928  female  conventual  houses,  three  dioceses  not  reporting-,  with 
20,126  sisters,  novices,  etc.,  144  houses  not  reporting  the  number  of  sisters;  also 
166  monastic  or  male  religious  houses,  23  dioceses  not  giving  this  item,  with 
3,094  brothers,  etc.,  10  houses  not  reporting  the  number  of  brothers. 

The  sisterhood  of  St.  Joseph  in  the  United  States  and  Canada 
is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  Largest  religious  communities  of 
women  in  this  country,  having  a  membership  of  2,213,  and  58>553 
pupils.  In  the  United  States  and  Canada  it  has  2,543  sisters,  in 
charge  of  60  academies  and  249  parochial  schools,  in  which  are 
enrolled  64,075  pupils,  and  also  50  charitable  institutions.! 

The  Catholic  Year  Book  for  1884  gives  a  clear  view  of  the  relig- 
ious orders  in  the  Diocese  of  Cleveland.     One  hundred  and  twenty- 


•  It  is  not  claimed  that  this  table  is  o  mplete,  but  it  is  as  full  and  accurate  as  the  data  furnished 
make  it  possible.  The  data  are  given  in  a  great  variety  of  forms  by  the  different  dioceses,  and, 
in  some  cases,  are  either  wholly  or  partially  omitted.     See  Catholic  Year-Book  for  1887. 

t  The  Pilot,  May  28,  1887. 


RELIGIOUS  HOUSES, 


607 


five  parochial  schools,  with  an  attendance  of  about  22,000  pupils,  arc 
under  the  following  teachers : 


Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross,   3 

Sisters  of  St.  Agnes 3 

Sisters  of  the  Most  Precious  Blood.  11 

Brothers  of  Mary '7 

Franciscan  Brothers ' 

Lay  teachers 103 

Besides  these,  194  sisters  are  in  charge  of 


Ursuline  Sisters 57 

Sisters  of  St.  Joseph 14 

Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  23 

Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 70 

Sisters  of  the  Humility  of  Mary 20 

Sisters  of  St.  Francis 35 

Total,  236  sisters  and  18  brothers, 
hospitals  and  asylums. 

The  Diocese  of  Pittsburg  and  Allegheny  reported    16,552  pupils 
in  parochial  schools  taught  by: 


Sisters  of  St.  Joseph 9 

Sisters  of  St.  Agnes 7 

Brothers  of  Mary 10 

Brothers,  Franciscan 4 

Lay  teachers '6 


Sisters  of  Mercy 75 

Sisters  of  Charity 5° 

Sisters  of  St.  Francis 34 

Sisters,  Benedictine '5 

Sisters  of  Divine  Providence 7 

Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 10 

Total,  207  sisters  and  14  brothers.  Others  are  employed  in  academies,  select 
schools,  asylums  and  hospitals,  making  in  all,  526  sisters  and  130  brothers  reported 
in  this  Diocese, 

The   Diocese   of  Newark    reported   62    parochial  schools,  with 
20,000  pupils,  taught  by : 


Sisters  of  Charity 191 

Sisters  of  St.  Joseph 18 

Sisters  of  St.  Benedict 15 

Sisters  of  Charity I4 

Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 12 


Sisters  of  St.  Francis 10 

Sisters  of  St.  Dominic 22 

Brothers  of  Christian  Schools 14 

Brothers  of  Mary 2 

Lay  teachers 3^ 


Total  292  sisters  and  16  brothers  in  parochial  schools.  In  all  situations  in  the 
Diocese, '713  sisters  and  27  brothers.  In  1886.  28  brothers  and  866  sisters  were 
reported  in  this  diocese. 

A  few  other  data  will  be  found  helpful,  as  examples  of  the  lead- 
ing houses  of  some  of  the  female  orders: 

MOTHER-HOUSE  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  Mount  St.  Vincent-on-the-Hudson. 
New  York  city.  Mother  Ambrosia  Sweeney,  Superior.  The  community  numbers 
at  present  9^5  members  ;  842  professed  sisters,  85  novices.  8  postulants.  There  are 
103  independent  establishments  in  the  States  of  New  York.  New  Jersey,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island  and  Pennsylvania.* 

Convent  of  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame.  MOTHER-HOUSE  AND  NOVI- 
TIATE Milwaukee  Wis.  Venerable  Mother  Mary  Caroline,  Commissary-General 
of  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  in  America.  Religious  in  Mother-house,  108  • 
novices,  78:  postulants.  60.  preparatory  course.  25 
in  two  provinces,  eastern  and  western.  177 


Number   of  branch  houses 
total  number  of  sisters  1,627,  having 


*  Sadlier's  Catholic  Almanac,  1887,  p.  107. 


608  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

under  their  charge  47.888  parochial  children.  1,538  orphans,  and  3.465  pupils  in 
institutes  and  high  schools.* 

A  Mother-house  and  Novitiate  of  the  Franciscan  Sisters  of  Charity,  at 
Silver  Lake,  Wis.  Religious,  87;  novices.  40;  postulants,  42.  These  Sisters  con- 
duct 29  parochial  schools,  two  of  which  are  in  other  States. 

Mother-house  and  Novitiate  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Agnes,  Fond  du  Lac, 
Wis.  Religious,  133;  novices,  15;  postulants,  25.  They  conduct  36  schools  in 
Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  Texas,  Kansas,  New 
York  and  Dakota  Territory.* 

Mother-house  and  Novitiate  of  the  School  Sisters  of  St.  Francis,  at 
New  Cassel,  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis.  Religious,  166 ;  candidates,  24.  These  Sisters 
conduct  two  academies  in  Minnesota  and  Dakota,  and  37  parochial  schools  in  Wis- 
consin, Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Idaho  and  Washington  Territory.  The  com- 
munity steadily  employs  from  25  to  30  Sisters  in  preparing  all  kinds  of  embroidered 
church  vestments  and  ornaments. 

Mother-house  and  Novitiate  of  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Dom- 
inic, Sinsinawa  Mound,  Grant  County,  Wis.  Sisters,  270;  novices,  25.  Number 
of  branch  houses  in  the  country,  22. 

Besides  these  five  ^^Mother-houses''  in  the  Diocese  of  Milwaukee 
there  are  convents  of  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  of  Sisters  of  the  Third 
Order  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisium,  of  Sisters  of  Mercy,  and  several 
male  religious  houses,  making  13  religious  houses  in  all. 

These  are  specimens  which  will  help  the  reader  to  understand 
the  magnitude  of  this  movement  of  Romanism  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States. 

The  Jesuits. 

The  most  conspicuQus  of  these  orders  in  its  influence  is  that  of 
the  Jesuits.  Among  the  strange  vicissitudes  of  its  history  it  has 
ever  been  noted  for  its  unfaltering  devotion  to  the  Church.  Of 
its^  past  history,  its  peculiar  principles,  its  tactics,  the  abilities  and 
accomplishments  of  its  distinguished  members,  the  extent  of  its 
missions,  and  the  influence  it  has  exerted  with  courts  and  cabinets, 
nothing  need  here  be  said.  We  have  elsewhere  noticed  that  three 
Jesuits,  Carroll,  Dubourg  and  Neale,  became  American  bishops. 
They  founded  Georgetown  College.  The  property  of  the  Order 
obtained  in  the  colonial  era  remained  intact — sufficient  to  support 
thirty  persons.  Thirteen  Jesuits.  "  nearly  all  broken  with  age,"  on 
the  resuscitation  of  the  Order  renewed  their  vows,  and  Father 
Robert  Molineaux  was  appointed  Superior  for  the  United  States. 
At  the  session  of  the  Provincial  Council,  in  1833,  the  pope  was  re- 
quested to  confide  the  Indian  tribes  living  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
fixed  dioceses  to  the  care  of  this  Order.     At  that  time,  of  the  308 

*  Sadlier's  Catholic  .Almanac,  1887,  p.  92. 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTIONS.     609 

Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastics  in  the  United  States  forty-three  are 
said  to  have  been  Jesuits,  twenty-five  of  whom  were  graduates  of  the 
Georgetown  Jesuit  College.  As  late  as  1853,  of  the  162  priests  who 
had  been  ordained  within  the  Diocese  of  Baltimore  seventy-two  * 
were  Jesuits,  mostly  graduates  from  said  college. 

In  1850  in  the  Province  of  Maryland  the  Jesuits  numbered, 
priests,  70;  scholastics,  60 ;  total,  130,  employed  in  different  insti- 
tutions or  missions.  The  Jesuits  of  this  province  directed  fifty 
churches  in  the  Dioceses  of  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Pitts- 
burg and  Richmond,  including  the  Indian  missions  in  the  State  of 
Maine.  The  vice-Province  of  Missouri,  the  fathers  of  which  were 
furnished  by  Maryland,  in  1823,  numbered  in  1850,  priests,  75  ; 
scholastics,  56;  lay  brothers,  83;  total,  214.  Its  priests  directed 
twenty-eight  churches  in  the  dioceses  of  St.  Louis,  Louisville,  Cin- 
cinnati, Milwaukee  and  Chicago,  and  sixteen  churches  or  stations 
among  the  Indians  in  the  Territories.  A  "  mission  "  dependent  on 
the  Province  of  France,  and  lying  partly  in  Canada,  had  in  the  State 
of  New  York  in  the  same  year  twenty-one  priests  who  directed  the 
diocesan  seminary,  St.  John's  College,  and  several  churches  in  the 
dioceses  of  New  York,  Albany  and  Buffalo.  At  the  same  time  the 
Province  of  Lyons  had  a  mission  in  the  Southern  States,  employing 
twenty-two  "  fathers  "  in  the  dioceses  of  New  Orleans  and  Mobile, 
where  they  conducted  St.  Charles  College  at  Grand  Coteau,  the 
School  of  Jesus,  in  New  Orleans,  and  Spring  Hill  College,  near  Mobile. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Year  Book  for  1887  has  been  carefully 
searched  for  statistics  of  this  Order,  but  the  data  are  given  in  an 
imperfect  and  confusing  manner;  at  least  it  seems  so  to  an  outside 
party.  Combining  all  we  have  been  able  to  find,  we  have,  Jesuits 
in  bishops'  councils,  15;  in  pastoral  work,  286 ;  professors  in  col- 
legiate and  novitiate  institutions,  353;  lay  brothers,  76:  and  movi- 
tiates,  59.  Some  of  these  are  evidently  duplicated,  professors  in 
colleges  often  having  charge  of  churches.  In  another  table,  pre- 
pared with  equal  care,  the  number  of  professors  in  Jesuit  colleges 
is  eighty  more  than  the  number  just  given. 


Section  5.— Benevolent  Institutions. 

American  Romanism  has  numerous  hospitals,  asylums  and 
*'  homes,"  under  the  care  of  members  of  the  various  religious  orders. 
In   1870,  131   orphan  asylums  were  reported,  in  86  of  which  there 

•  De  Courcey's  History  of  the  Catholic  Church,  pp.  S5*-554- 

39 


610 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


were  11,321  orphans,  and  10  asylums  for  "  infants,"  in  five  of  which 
were  572  infants.  There  were  nine  "  homes"  for  destitute  persons, 
with  414  inmates;  12  homes  for  fallen  women,  with  1,447  in- 
mates, and  61  hospitals  under  the  care  of  "sisters,"  in  14  of 
which  during  a  single  year  were  7,595  patients.  In  the  foregoing 
222  benevolent  houses  there  were  21,353  beneficiaries.  In  addition 
to  these,  infirmaries,  retreats  for  the  insane,  deaf  and  dumb,  indus- 
trial schools,  protectories  for  boys  and  girls,  "  benevolent  societies," 
etc.,  are  reported.  In  1874  there  were  311  hospitals  and  asylums; 
in  1875,  214  asylums  and  96  hospitals;  in  1885,  449  charitable  insti- 
tutions were  reported.  Statistics  culled  with  laborious  care  from 
Sadlier's  Almanac  for  1886  show  154  hospitals  with  30,087  inmates, 
320  asylums  with  39,983  inmates,  and  19,791  orphans  cared  for. 
These  figures,  probably,  approximate  nearly  to  the  exact  number. 
May  not  Protestants  learn  something  from  these  facts? 

Charitable  Institutions. 


DIOCESES. 


Baltimore  . . . . 

Boston 

Chicago 

Cincinnati  . . . 
Milwaukee  . . . 
New  Orleans. 
New  York . 


Oregon  City. . .  . 

Philadelphia 

Saint  Louis 

Saa  FrancLsco  . . . 

Santa  F6 

Albany 

Alton 

Brooklyn 

Buffalo 

Burlingtoo 

Charleston 

Cleveland 

Columbus 

Covington 

Davenport , 

r>eiroit 

Dubuque 

Erie , 

Kort  Wayne 

Galveston 

Grand   Rapids.... 

Grass  Valley 

Green  Bay 

Harrisburg 

Hartford 

Helena 

Kansas  City 

I-a  Crosse 

Leavenworth 

Little  Rock 

Louisville    


Hospit'l^. 


E  = 

3  o 

ZX 

6 
7 
3 
3 


Asylums,  Ref- 
uges, Homes,  &c. 


E  -  o  E 

o  sr  o «  ^, 


1,627 

'7 
13 

13 

2,300 

9 

14 

1,000 

16 

4>576 

31 

100 

I 

I.9QS 

10 

2,512 

9 

"48 

5 

I 

4JS 

14 

5 
12 

6.935 

1,242 

II 

2 

'3 

1,200 

3 

3 

"60 
38 

7 
3 

2 

a 

aoo 

3 

2 

3 

a 

3 

7 

3 

41S 

a 

a 

J, 808 


3,4071 
ii,6i8| 

i',8oi 
i,i6qi 
1.755, 

^^ 
i,6it| 

3.0911 

«.354; 

96| 

45 

1,027 

466 


280 
116 


103 


91* 


DIOCESES. 


388 
1,510 
1,671 


465    Manchester... 
050' Marquette. . . . 

375J!  Mobile 

611  i  Monterey,  etc  , 

Nashville 

Natchez 

Natchitoches.  . 

Nesqually 

i,i32|iNcwark 

658nOgdensburg  . . . 

i.ioo  .Omaha 

6o'|  Peoria. 

1,561  !i Pittsburg,  etc.. 

ll  Portland 

2,089'!  Providence 

a26  I  Richmond 

86 jl  Rochester 

. . .      San  Antonio. . . 

793.]Savannah 

a92j|Scranton 

Springfield  .  . . . 

'St.  Augustine.. 

....|Si.  Paul's 

901  Trenton 

•35;rV?ncouver. .    . . 
1501  VIncennes. 

125 


380 
116 


237: 


50 
103. 


640 


Wheeling. 

Wilmington 

Arizona    

Brownville 

Colorado 

Dakota 

Idaho 

North  Carolina. 
North   Minnesota. 
Indian  Territory. 


HospiT'LS.  ,  Asylums.  Ref- 
uges, H0.MES,  Ac. 


75 

415 


^°''' I    '  S4'  3^087     330  39.98  ^   10.791 


•■I 


83 

60 

100 
300 
ISO 


13s 
1,006 


667 
96 
240 
187 
410 

no 

52 

200 

'478 

so 
45 
384 
50 
9> 


00 


80 


70 
60 
100 
300 
ISO 
112 

13s 
585 


481 

83 
340 
107 
435 

no 
.Sa 


45 
260 

50 
9« 


JESUIT  COLLEGES. 


61  1 


Section  6.— Educational  Institntions. 

It  would  be  a  very  difficult  task  to  give  a  full  sketch  of  the 
educational  work  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States  without  unduly  extending  this  volume.  Only  a  few  leading 
points  can  be  noticed.  The  first  college  of  this  denomination  was 
founded  by  the  Jesuits  at  Georgetown,  D.  C,  in  1789.  In  1791 
the  St.  Mary's  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  a  theological  school,  was 
established  in  Baltimore,  Md.  ;  in  1819,  St.  Joseph's  College,  at 
Bardstown,  Ky. ;  in  1820,  the  second  Jesuit  College,  the  St.  Louis 
University;  in  1830,  another  Jesuit  institution,  the  St.  Joseph's 
College,  at  Spring  Hill,  Ala.;  and,  in  183 1,  St.  Charles  College,  at 
Ellicott,  Md. 

One  college  was  founded  prior  to  1800,  four  from  1800  to  1840, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  88  colleges  now  existing  were  founded  since 
1840.  Many  of  them  are  only  foundations  for  colleges,  but  they  all 
comprise  over  fourteen  thousand  students  in  the  preparatory  and 
collegiate  departments,  with  1,041  professors.  The  Jesuit  colleges 
number  26,  with  433  professors  and  5,258  students. 

The  founding  of  the  colleges  mentioned  in  the  next  two  tables, 
all  but  five  since  1840,  has  involved  large  expenditures  of  labor  and 
money,  and  evinces  the  tremendous  energy  with  which  the  ad- 
vances of  this  church  are  pushed. 


Jesuit  Colleges. 


NAME  OF  INSTITUTION. 


St.  Joseph's  College 

St.  Ignatius  College 

Santa  Clara  College 

College  of  the  Sacred  Heart 

St.  Mary's  College 

St.  Ignatius  College 

College  of  Immaculate  Conception. 

St.  Charles  College 

Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus 

Loyola  College 

Boston  College 

College  of  the  Holy  Cross 

Detroit  College 

St.  Louis  University. 


WHERE  LOCATED. 


Spring  Hill,  Ala 

San  Francisco,  Cal . . . . 

Santa  Clara,  Cal 

Denver,  Col 

St.  Mary's.  Kan 

Chicago,  111 

New  Orleans,  La 

Grand  Coteau,  La 

Woodstock,  Md 

Baltimore,  Md 

Boston,  Mass 

Worcester.  Mass 

Detroit,  Mich 

St.  Louis.  Mo 


Creighton  College Omaha.  Neb 


St.  Peter's  College 

Las  Vegas  College 

Cannisius'  College 

St.  John's  College 

College  of  St.  Francis  Xavier 

St.  Xavier  College 

St.  Joseph's  College 

Marquette  College 

College  of  Most  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus 

Georgetown  College 

Gonzaga  College 


Total,  26  Jesuit  Colleges. 


Jersey  City,  N.  J 

Santa  Fe,  N.  Mex 

Buffalo,  N.  Y 

Fordham,  N.  Y 

New  York  city,  N.  Y. 

Cincinnati,  O 

Philadelphia,  Pa 

Milwaukee.  Wis , 

Prairie  du  Chien,  Wis. 
Georgetown,  D.  C  . . . 
Washington,  D.  C 


Brotherhood 

holding 
Supervision. 


S.J. 


Pro- 

Stu- 

fessors. 

dents. 

19 

168 

23 

670 

ao 

350 

II 

30 

380 

16 

380 

16 

359 

13 

119 

35 

9 

I30 

'7 

133 

14 

93 

9 

33 

363 

8 

253 

6 

135 

33 

23 

350 

23 

300 

30 

471 

8 

27s 

10 

150 

15 

136 

19 

IIS 

38 

316 

8 

144 

5.258 


612 


CHRISTIAXITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Other  Roman  Catholic  Colleges. 


NAME  OF  INSTITUTION. 


St.  Patrick's  College 

St.  Patrick's  College 

St.  Mary's  College 

Sacred  Heart  College , 

St.  Vincent's  College , 

Franciscan  College,  etc , 

Pio  Nono  College , 

St.  Viateur  College 

St.  Joseph's  College , 

.St.  Francis's  College 

St.  Meinrad's  College 

University  of  Notre  Dame... 

St.  Bonaventure's  College 

St.  foseph's  College 

St.  Benedict's  College 

Cecillian  College 

St.  Joseph's  College 

St.  Mary's  College 

Jefferson  College 

Thibodeaux  College 

St.  Charles  College 

St.  Mary's  College 

Rock  Hill  College 

Mt.  St.  Joseph's  College 

St.  Thomas  Aquinas  College. 
Aloysius'  College 


WHERE  LOCATED. 


Sacramento.' Cal Ch.   Bros 


St.  John's  University. 
St.  Vincent's  Cc " 


i  College. 

College  of  Redemptorist  Fathers 
College  of  Christian  Brothers.. . 

Seton  Hall  College 

St.  Benedict's  College 

Manhattan  College 

St.  Louis  College 

College  of  St.  John  the  Baptist. 

St.  Francis's  College 

Niagara  University 

St.  Joseph's  College , 

St.  Bonaventure's  College , 

St.  Mary's  College , 

St.  Michael's  College 

Catholic  College  of  Columbus 


Stockton.  Cal. 
St.  Mary's,  Cal... 
San  Francisco,  Cal.. 
Los  Atigeles,  Cal. . . 
Santa  Barbara,  Cal. 

Macon,  Ga 

Bourbonnais,  111 

Teutopolis,  111 

Quincy,  111 

St.  Meinrad,  Ind 

Notre  Dame,  Ind. .. 
Terre  Haute,  Ind... 

Dubuque,  la 

Atchison,  Kati 

Cecillian,  Ky 

Bardstoivn,  Ky 


St.  Mary's,  Ky. 

St.  James  Parish,  La.. 

EUicott  City,  Md!.'.'."'! 

Emmettsburg,  Md 

Ellicott,  Md 

Carrollton,  Md 

Cambridgeport,  Mass.. 

Helena,  Klont 

Collegeville,  Minn 

Cape  Girardeau,  Mo. . . 

Kansas  City,  Mo 

St.  Louis,  Mo 

South  Orange,  N.J 

Newark,  N.  J 

New  York  City,  N.  Y. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y '.'. 


Suspension  Bridge,  N.  Y. 

Buffalo.  N.  Y 

Allegany,  N.  Y 

St.  Mary's,  N.C 

Santa  Fe,  N.  Mex 

„  Columbus,  O 

St.  loseph's  College Cincinnati,  O 

St.  Michael  s  College. Portland,  Ore 

■Augustinian  College I  Villanova,  Pa 

I  -  £-_!.-  /-  ..  Philadelphia,  Pa 

North  East,  Pa 

Beatty's,  Pa 

Loretto,  Pa 

Pittsburg,  Pa 

Memphis,  Tenn 

Galveston,  Tex 

Victoria,  Tex 

San  Antonio,  Tex 

Walla  Walla,  Wash 

Mt.  Calvary,  Wis 

Watertown,  Wis  ' 

St.  Francis,  Wis 

Burlington,  Vt 

Vancouver's  Isle 


La  Salle  College 

Col.  of  Con^'n  of  Most  Holy  Redeemer... 

St.  Vincent  s  Seminary  and  College 

St.  Francis's  College 

Holy  Ghost  College ■'■......    '.'.'. 

Chnstian  Brothers  College 

St.  Mary's  University '_ 

St.  loseph's  College 

St.  Mary's  College 

St.  Patrick's  College '.\'.\\ 

College  of  St.  Lawrence  of  Brundusium. . . 

College  of  Our  Lady  of  Sacred  Heart 

Pio  Nono  College 

St.  Joseph's  College 

Holy  Angels  College 


Total,  60  Colleges 

Add  26  Jesuit  Colleges. 


Aggregate  for  86  R.  C.  Colleges. 


Brotherhood 

holding 
Supervision. 


Bros,  of  Mary 

Ch.  Bros 

Ch.   Bros 

C.  M 

O.  S.  F.... 


C.  S.  C. 
O.  S.  F.. 
O.  S.  F.. 
O.  S.  B.. 
C.  S.  C. 
O.  M.  C. 


O.  S.  B. 


S.  M. 

c.s'.; 


Ch.  Bros 

Xavierian  Br. 


O.  S.  B.... 

CM 

C.  S.  S.  R. 
Ch.  Bros.. 


O.  S.  B 

Br.  Ch.  Schs.. 


C.  M 

O.  S.  F 

CM 

Ch.  Bros 

O.  S.  K 

O.  S.  B 

Ch.  Bros 


Pro- 
fessors. 


C.S.  C... 


O.  S.  A  . . , 
Ch.  Bros.. 
C.  S.  S.  P  . 
O.  S.  B.... 
O.  S.  F.... 
O.  S.  Sp... 
Ch.   Bros.. 


Bros,  of  Mary. 


O.  M.C. 
O.  S.  C. 


608 
4.^3 


Stu- 
dents. 


200 

150 
350 
650 
90 

70 
200 
168 
»35 

77 
500 
103 

6q 

I2S 
109 
108 
100 
120 
60 
J85 
125 

130 

75 
70 
70 
2tg 
170 
40 
300 

90 
119 

273 

66 

150 

300 

107 

225 

155 

35 

200 

40 

200 

ISO 


205 
150 

300 
60 
85 

100 

lOI 

03 
100 

8.749 
5.258 


<?R^?''fn77K''\^^°r'  '^^•=,'i^%'^"  ""^^^  f'-°"'  data  furnished  by  General  Eaton's  Educational  Retort  for 
;,HL';-f"i'/.'^!il^'^lf':!F'''''.''''^-'^'''''',r''"  '^°'"  '^^S  and  ,886.  each  giving  some  iten.s  the  other  omits 


ca5e 
our  cou 


D    .  .1.       u  •     ■ ,-f--'  ■-•-■•   ••   >•'■"=  tuiin-iiium  01   -.uiuics  were  equiva  ent.  w  1  ch 

But  the  above  statistics  show  the  great  work  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  doine  f  .r  ed 
intry.     It  is  making  large  provision  for  the  future.  ^ 


re- 

ch  is  not  the 

liication  in 


SUMMARY  OF  EDUCATIONAL    WORK.  613 

In  Table  VIII.  of  General  Eaton's  Educational  Report  for  1883, 
1884,  giving  statistics  of  institutions  for  the  superior  instruction  of 
women,  are  19  Roman  Catholic  female  colleges,  with  685  students  in 
the  more  advanced  grades;  3,645  of  all  classes,  and  331  instructors. 
In  Table  VI.  of  the  same  report,  giving  statistics  of  institutions  for 
secondary  instruction,  out  of  1,588  of  these  schools  in  the  whole 
country  the  Roman  Catholics  have  146,  with  341  male  and  994 
female  instructors;  21.028  pupils— 8,412  males  and  12,616  females— 
8,564  of  whom  are  pursuing  a  classical  course.  Of  146  theological 
seminaries  given  on  page  169  of  General  Eaton's  report,  with  750 
professors  and  5,290  students,  the  Roman  Catholics  have  19  the- 
ological schools,  156  professors  and  1,214  students. 

The  following  summary  will  give  an  approximate  idea  of  the 
educational  work  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States : 

Number  of  Jesuit  colleges 26 

Number  of  other  colleges 60 

Number  of  theological  seminaries 19 

Number  of  female  colleges 19 

Total  institutions  of  highest  grade 1 24 

Professors  in  Jesuit  colleges 433 

Professors  in  other  colleges 608 

Professors  in  female  colleges 331 

Professors  in  theological  schools 1 56 

Total  professors  in  highest  institutions 1,528 

Students  in  Jesuit  colleges 5.258 

Students  in  other  colleges 8,749 

Students  in  female  colleges 3.645 

Students  in  theological  schools 1,214 

Total  students  in  highest  institutions 18,866 

Number  of  secondary  institutions   146 

Teachers  in  secondary  institutions 1.330 

Students  in  secondary  institutions 21,028 

Number  of  parochial  schools 2,697 

Pupils  in  parochial  schools 537.725  * 

Aggregate  students  and  pupils  of  all  classes 577.6i9 

Besides  the  above  are  many  conventual  schools,  some  of  which, 
and  probably  a  large  number,  are  not  included  in  this  summary,  and 
the  number  in  attendance  on  the  parochial  schools  is  doubtless 
larger  than  the  figures  here  given.  The  educational  work  of  this 
denomination  is  of  no  mean  magnitude. 

*  This  item  is  from  Sadlier's  Roman  Catholic  Year  Book  for  1S87. 


614 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Section   7.— Growtb.. 

The  increase  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  this  country  is 
one  of  the  striking  religious  phenomena  of  this  century.  Conced- 
ing heavy  losses  in  Europe,  it  has  been  their  habit  to  boast  of  large 
gains  in  the  United  States.  Its  churches,  schools,  convents,  eccle- 
siastics and  adherents  have  increased  many  fold,  and  it  has  become 
a  conspicuous  factor  in  the  main  centers  of  the  population.  It 
exerts  a  large  and,  in  some  localities,  a  controlling  influence  in  pol- 
itics. Its  magnificent  cathedrals,  artistic  music,  subtle  logic  and 
political  patronage  have  captivated  and  led  away  some  of  the  Prot- 
estant population.  Never  was  it  plotting  more  deeply  and  deter- 
minedly than  now,  and  some  persons  have  grave  fears  for  the  safety 
of  our  free  institutions. 

The  Church  Edifices,  etc., 

of  Romanism  in  the  United  States,  as  given  in  the  U.  S.  census  re- 
ports, were:  in  1850,  1,222 ;  in  i860,  2,550;  in  1870,  3.806.  Estimated 
value  in  1870,  $60,985,506.  The  census  of  1880  did  hot  give  eccle- 
siastical statistics.  The  following  table  contains  the  leading  items  of 
statistics  for  one  hundred  and  eleven  years. 


■775 

tSoo. 

1830. 

1845- 

1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1880. 

i886.t 

Dioceses,  Vicar  Apos- 

I 

9 

23 

675 

592 
707 

220 

29 
»,245 
585 
1,302 
322 
35 
6S 

123 

48 
a>5»9 
1,278 
2,316 

499 
100 

»73 

58 
3.912 
1,480 
3,966 
1,015 
"5 
297 

467 
1,214 

237,600 

4,600,000 

69 

5.856 
2,684 

6,402 
1,170 

6,910 
3,281 
7.658 

52 

Chapels,  stations 

Priests 

Ecclesiastical  stud'nts 

26 

5° 

232 

•Male  religious  houses 

tFemale  do 

28 
89 

Educat'l  institu'nsfor 
young  men  &  ladies- 

4 

590 
2,389 

423.383 

286 

681 

Parochial  schools... 

660 

S7,6ii 

2,697 

337.725 

485 

8  7,200.000 

Pupils     in     Parochial 
schools 

Hospitals,  Asylums.  . 

94 
1,071,800 

108 
1,614,000 

Est.  Cath  population. 

100,000 

500,000 

2,789,000 

6,367,330 

Note. — The  above  statistics,  from  1830  to  i886,  have  been  collated  from  the  Metropolitan  Catholic 
Almanac  ^ndSziWer  9,  Calltolic  Directory.  Th'ry  do  not  entirely  agree  with  Father  Hecker's  table  in 
the  Catholic  l^orld,  June,  1879.  We  prefer  to  rely  upon  the  Year  Books  of  the  Church  as  far  as  we  can. 
The  rule  observed  throughout  this  table  is  to  take  the  data  in  each  Year  Book  for  the  preceding  year. 


Roman  Catholic  Population  of  the  United  States. 
Without  any  definite  statistics  of  their  population,  and  depend- 
ent  upon  conjectural  estimates,  it   is   not  strange   that  the    most 

*  Monasteries.  t  Convents.  I  Year  Book  for  1887. 

§This  item  has  not  been  given  in  the  Year  Books  since  1884,  when  the  estimate  was 
6,623,176.  For  the  last  three  years  we  have  allowed  an  increase  of  376,824,  which  we  think  quite 
liberal  as  compared  « ith  the  figures  in  the  Catholic  Year  Books,  which  showed  an  increase  of 
only  255,846  in  the  four  years,  1880-4. 


STATISTICS  OF  POPULATION. 


615 


diverse  and  even  amusing  statements  of  their  numerical  strength 
should  be  made.  Taking  only  those  of  the  Roman  Catholics  them- 
selves, and  going  no  farther  back  than  the  famous  letter  of  Bishop 
England,  in  1837,  we  present  the  following  contradictory  but  instruc- 
tive estimates  and  the  authority  for  each  : 


Year. 


Estimates. 


Catholic  Authorities. 


1800. 

1837. 

1840. 
1845. 


1869. 


100,000. 

I.OOO.CXK) 

to 
1,200,000. 

1,300,000. 
1,500,000. 
1,071,800. 


IS50. 

1,614,000 

" 

2,000.000. 

" 

3,000.000. 

" 

3,500,000. 

1852. 

1 ,930,000. 

'< 

3, 500,000. 

1 5^  S3. 

4,000,000. 

i860. 

4.500,000. 

1865. 

4,400,000. 

1866. 

5,000,000. 

1868. 

5,000,000. 

" 

9,000,000 

to 

10,000,000. 

3,354.000. 


6,000,000 

to 
7,000,000. 


Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker,  Catholic  World,  1879,  generally 
accepted. 

Bishop  England,  of  South  Carolina,  in  letter  to  the 
Propaganda  at  Lyons,  said:  "It  is  doubtful  whether 
the  number  of  Catholics  rises  above  a  million,  but  it  may 
amount  to  1,200,0000." 

Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac,  1841. 

Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker,  Catholic  World,  1879. 

Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac  for  1846.  Four- 
teen dioceses,  estimated  by  the  bishops,  gave  811,800. 
Eight  dioceses,  estimated  by  the  editor,  260.000  more. 
The  editor  says  this  number  "cannot  fall  short  of  the 
truth,"  though  "  less  than  for  several  years  past." 

Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac,  1851. 

Annals  of  the  Lyons' Propaganda. 

Archbishop  Hughes. 

Rev.  L  T.  Hecker,  in  Catholic  World,  1879. 

Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac.  Also  indorsed  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Mullens,  of  Ireland. 

Archbishop  Hughes. 

Bishop  O'Connor,  of  Pittsburg. 

Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker.  in  Catholic  World,  1879. 

The  Catholic  World. 

Civita  Catholica,  papal  organ,  Rome. 

The  Catholic  World. 

Hon.  J.  Y.  Maguire,  member  of  Parliament  from 
Cork,  in  his  book.  The  Irish  in  America,  p.  539,  says  : 
•'I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  those  who  regard  from  nine  to 
ten  millions  of  Catholics  as  a  fair  and  moderate  estimate." 

German  Catholic  Year  Book,  by  Rev.  E.  A.  Reitter, 
a  Jesuit  priest,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  In  the  preface,  pp.  6,  7, 
the  editor  says  ;  "After  the  nearest  possible  account  of 
the  German  Catholics  in  the  United  States — that  is,  such 
as  have  their  children  baptized,  their  number  is  1,044,000. 
The  number  of  Catholics  of  all  other  nations  is  2.31  >  co, 
making  the  whole  number  3,354,000,  which  is  less  than 
is  commonly  thought.  ...  If  to  these  are  added  the 
incredibly  large  number  of  those  who,  after  their  arrival 
in  this  country,  have  only  too  soon  thrown  over  their 
Catholic  faith,  we  may  with  good  reason,  as  the  judg- 
ment of  those  who  know,  and  my  experience  of  fifteen 
years  has  taught  me,  add  one  half  to  the  number  above,' 
which  would  bring  it  to  5,031,000.  Yet  such  cannot 
now  or  ever  be  taken  into  account:  as  in  this  country 
nothing  is  more  seldom  than  a  backslidden  Catholic  ever 
to  be  reclaimed,  even  on  their  death-beds." 

Catholic  World. 


616  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Roman  Catholic  Population  of  the  United  States — Continued. 


Year. 


Estimates. 


Catholic  Authorities. 


1870. 


1872. 
1875. 
1876. 


1877. 
1878. 


1879. 
1§§0. 

1884. 


4,600,000. 


10,000,000. 
5,000,000. 

8,000,000, 
6,000,000. 
9,000,000. 

6,500,000. 
6,240,000. 


Over 
6,000,000. 
6.304.950. 


Over 
7,000,000. 
7,000,000. 
9,000,000. 
6.375.630- 

6,143,222. 

6.367,330. 

6,623,176. 
7,000,000. 

8,000,000. 


8,000,000. 


Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory  gives  thirty-four  dioceses 
reporting  estimates  amounting  to  2,649,800.  Tiie  re- 
maining twenty-four  dioceses  comprise  eight  of  the  very 
largest,  five  quite  large  and  others  much  smaller.  Sup- 
posing the  twenty-four  not  reporting  to  average  with 
those  reporting,  we  have  4,600,000  for  the  total. 

The  St.  Peter's,  in  reply  to  the  New  York  Times, 
said,  "  The  Roman  Catholics  in  the  United  States  are 
ten  millions  strong." 

The  Catholic  Telegraph,  Cincinnati,  said  the  estimate 
of  The  St.  Peter  s  would  be  correct  had  Roinanism 
kept  all  its  children  received  by  emigration,  but  it  had 
lost  half  of  them. 

Catholic  World,  June,  1872,  "We  number  8,000,000 
souls." 

Kehoe,  Manager  of  the  Catholic  Publication  Society. 
New  York. 

Father  Sack  ;  estimated  on  the  basis  of  three  masses 
to  each  priest,  and  each  priest  representing  a  congre- 
gation .of  2,000  devout,  indifferent,  children,  ere. 

History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States. 
By  J.  O'Kane  Murray,  p.  577. 

Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory ;  five  dioceses  not  re- 
porting that  year,  supplied  from  estimates  given  in  other 
years. 

Catholic  Family  Almanac,  1876. 

Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory ;  eight  dioceses  not  re- 
porting that  year,  supplied  from  estimates  given  in  other 
years. 

Mr.  Kehoe's  report  to  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Washinsr- 
ton,  D.  C.  ^ 

Rev.  I.  T.  Hecker,  in  Catholic  World,  1879. 

A  priest  in  Indiana,  estimating  like  Father  Sack. 

Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,  1879,  all  dioceses  re- 
ported. 

Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,  1880.  all  dioceses  re- 
ported. 

Sadlier's  Catholic  Directory,  1881.  All  but  three 
very  small  dioceses  reported. 

Sadlier's  Catholic  Almanac  for  1884. 

John  A.  Russel,  A.B.,  in  a  prize  essay  before  the  Third 
Plenary  Council,  at  Baltimore,  November,  1884.  Me- 
morial volume,  p.  27. 

Bishop  McQuaid,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y..  at  the  Council, 
said,  "  The  Directory  estimates  the  Roman  Catholic 
population  at  6,623.176.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  these 
figures  are  not  based  on  correct  information.  Tiie  editor 
fulfills  his  task  in  accurately  counting  up  the  numbers 
sent  him.  But  estimates  of  population,  year  after  year 
the  same  in  rapidly-growing  dioceses,  must  be  at  fault. 
for  they  are  clearly  wide  of  the  mark.  An  estimate  that 
would  place  our  Catholic  population  at  eight  millions 
would,  in  my  judgment,  not  be  far  from  the  truth," 

The  Catholic  Union,  Baltimore. 


VARYING   ESTIMATES. 


617 


Roman  Catholic  Population  of  the  United  States— Con//nuetI. 


Year. 

Estimates. 

Catholic  Authorities. 

1884. 

1S§6. 

8,000,000 

to 

10,000,000. 

More  than 
8,000,000. 
8,000,000. 

7,200.000. 

Hugh  P.  McElrone  before  the  Third  Plenary  Council. 
Memorial  Volume,  p.  29. 

Judge  William  M.  Merrick,  Plenary  Council. 

Bishop  J.    L.    Spaulding.   D.D.,   before  the   Plenary 
Council,  Baltimore.  1884.  Memorial  Volume,  pp.  100-188. 
THE  AUTHOR   OF   THIS    VOLUME. 

The  striking  variations  of  the  foregoing  estimates  by  high 
Roman  Catholic  officials  show  the  necessity  for  careful  discrimi- 
nation when  speaking  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population.  Five 
estimates  may  be  noticed  in  the  foregoing  table,  between  1868  and 
1876,  which  exceed  most  of  those  made  since  1876.  And  it  will 
also  be  noticed  that  those  given  in  the  Catholic  Year  Books  con- 
trast with  the  random  figures  of  others.  The  Year  Book  statistics 
are  made  up  from  reports  by  bishops  of  the  dioceses,  each  estimating 
the  Catholic  population  in  their  respective  dioceses. 

The  statistics  of  the  communicants  of  the  Protestant  churches 
will  be  made  up  for  the  years  1800,  1850,  1870,  1880  and  1886.  In 
order  to  future  comparison  it  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  select  the 
most  reliable  estimates  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population  for  the 
same  years  as  follows  : 

1800 100,000.    1880 6,367,330 

1850 1,614,000. 

1870 4,600,000.    1886 7,200,000 

Average  increase  each  decade,  1800-1850 302,800 

'*  "  "        "         1850-1880 r. 584,443 

Average  yearly  increase,  1800-1850 30,280 

"  *'  "  1850-1870 150,000 

"  "  "  1870-1880 176,000 

•♦  "  "  1880-1886 138,778 

We  have  before  noticed  that  the  number  of  emigrants  landed  in 
the  United  States  from  1845  to  June  30,  1887,  was  a  little  more 
than  13,000,000.  Of  these,  according  to  wise  estimates,  three  fifths, 
or  7,800,000,  were  Roman  Catholics.  The  total  increase  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  in  these  years  was  6,128,200,  or 
1,671,800  less  than  their  own  emigrants,  saying  nothing  of  the 
natural  increase  over  deaths.  That  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
has  grown  very  largely  in  the  United  States  is  unquestionable,  and 
it  is  likely  to  grow  more  ;  for  every  thing  grows  in  this  country. 
But   the  gains  have  been  almost    entirely  by  emigration,  and  its 


618 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


losses  have  been  greater  than  its  gains.  By  its  own  acknowledg- 
ment it  has  lost  millions  here.  "  This  country  is  the  biggest  grave 
for  popery  ever  dug  on  earth." 

A  Tabulated  View  of  Roman    Catholic  Losses  in  the  United 
States,  as  Acknowledged  by  Romanists. 


Year. 


Estimated  Losses. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


1837. 


1852. 


1855. 

1862. 
1864. 

1869. 
1875. 


2.800,000 

to 

3,000,000. 


2,000,000. 

One  third  of 
all  the  Irish  emi- 
grant-s. 


Thousands 
lost  in  cities ; 
more  in  thecoun- 
try. 

Typical  cases 
of  loss  of  de- 
scendants. 


Sixty  per  cent, 
of  the  children. 


3.000,000 
to  4,000,000. 

Five  hundred 
lost  to  popery  to 
one  convert  from 
Protestantism. 

"  1,700.000  in 
15  years." 

Thousands 
upon  thousands. 


Bishop  England,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Lyons  Propaganda,  said:  "If  there  had  been  no  losses 
the  number  of  Catholics  would  have  amounted  to 
4,000,000."  Deducting  his  estimate  (1,000,000  to 
1,200,000)  of  Catholics  then  living  in  the  United  States, 
we  have  the  annexed  figures. 

Rev.  Robert  Mullen,  D.D.,  based  upon  an  elaborate  sta- 
tistical calculation.  He  said  :  "Of  the  number  of  Irish 
Catholics  emigrating  to  the  United  States  one  third  at 
least  are  lost  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church."  He  also 
said  that  Rev.  Bishop  Reynolds,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  told 
him,  "  You  will  save  religion  by  proceeding,  on  your  re- 
turn to  Ireland,  from  parish  to  parish,  telling  the  people 
not  to  lose  their  immortal  souls  by  coming  to  America  ;  " 
and  that  Archbishop  Hughes  said  to  him  :  "  The  people 
at  home  (Ireland)  do  not  fully  understand  the  position  of 
the  emigrants,  thousands  being  lost  in  the  large  cities, 
while  in  the  country  the  faith  has  died  out  of  multi- 
tudes."— Christian  Union,  August,  1852,  p.  251. 

In  the  Freeman  s  yourna/,  ]une  5,  1852,  a  correspond- 
ent said  :  "We  know  of  a  Catholic  couple  who  settled 
in  an  adjoining  county  some  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago  ; 
their  descendants  are  very  numerous,  but  there  is  not  a 
Catholic  now  among  them  !  In  another  county  an  old 
Irish  couple  are  still  living  and  still  preferring  the  Cath- 
olic faith,  whose  children,  grandchildren  and  great- 
grandchildren number  something  over  one  hundred  souls, 
yet  there  are  but  two  or  three  Catholics  at  present  among 
them." 

The  editor  of  the  CV//,  lecturing  in  Ireland,  advised 
his  countrymen  to  "  stay  at  home,  because  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  loses  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  children  of 
Roman  Catholic  parents  in  the  United  States." 

Bishop  of  Toronto. 

The  Tablet,  New  York  city,  said  :  "  Few  insurance 
companies,  we  venture  to  assert,  would  take  a  risk  on 
the  national  life  of  a  creed  which  puts  five  hundred  daily 
into  the  grave  for  one  it  wins  over  to  its  communion  ; 
and  yet  this  is  what  the  Catholic  Church  is  doing  in  these 
States  while  we  write." 

German  Catholic  Year  Book. 

An  archbishop  in  Ireland,  after  visiting  the  United 
States,  told  his  people  in  Ireland,  "  It  is  far  better  for 
you  to  live  here  in  poverty  and  die  in  the  faith,  and  be 
sure  of  saving  your  immortal  souls  and  going  to  heaven, 
than  to  go  to  a  country  where  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  our  race,  our  Irish  race,  deny  the  faith." 


ESTIMATED   LOSSES  OF  ROMANISM.  619 

Roman  Catholic  Losses  in  the  United  States— Con//nufd. 


Yean. 


1876. 


Estimated  Losses. 


Loss     greater 
than  the  gain. 


More  fallen 
away  than  now 
iving. 

18,000,000. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


Z//<f  0/  Archbishop  Spaulding.  Speaking  of  the 
period  "  in  which  the  hierarchy  has  been  In  existence 
(1790-1876),"  the  biographer  says:  "We  have  lost  in 
numbers  by  far  more  than  we  have  gained,  if  I  may  ex- 
press an  opinion,  beyond  all  doubt." 

J.  O'Kane  ^\\xx\^.y.  History  of  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States,  p. 583,  says  :  •'  It  may  be  safely  said 
that  more  Catholics  have  fallen  away  from  the  faith  in 
this  country  during  the  last  two  centuries  and  a  half 
than  are  to-day  living  in  it." 

J.  O'Kane  Murray,  History  of  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States,  pp.  610,  611.  The  following  is 
Mr.  Murray's  full  statement,  and  the  basis  on  which  it  is 
predicated  : 

"Two  points  frequently  discussed  are,  i.  What  are 
the  relative  proportions  of  the  Celtic  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  or  English  element  in  the  population  of  the  United 
States  ?  2.  How  many  members  has  the  Catholic 
Church  probably  lost  in  this  country.?  In  regard  to  the 
first  question,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Celtic  ele- 
ment far  exceeds  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  This  is  a  settled 
fact.  A  careful  analysis  of  our  statistics  proves  it.  Just 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  the  Hon.  William  E,  Robin- 
son, in  a  remarkable  speech  at  Hamilton  College,  Clin- 
ton, N.  Y.,  said  :  '  I  think  it  would  be  quite  good-natured 
in  me  to  allow  that  about  one  eighth  of  this  country  is 
English,  or  what  is  called  Anglo-Saxon.  By  means  of 
statistics  he  then  clearly  demonstrated  the  correctness 
of  this  opinion.  (See  New  York  Tribune,  July  30,  1851.) 
Rev.  Stephen  Byrne,  O.S.D.,  in  his  Irish  Emigration  to 
the  United  States,  1873,  puts  the  Celtic  element  at  one  half 
of  our  present  population,  the  Anglo-Saxon  at  one  fourth. 
The  New  York  Irish  World,  whose  editor,  Mr.  Ford,  is 
well  known  as  a  diligent  student  of  statistics,  holds  that 
two  thirds  of  our  people  are  Celts  by  birth  or  descent, 
and  only  about  one  ninth  are  Anglo-Saxon. 

"  As  to  the  Church's  loss  in  the  United  States,  it  is  no 
easy  problem  to  solve.  Neither  higher  algebra  nor 
calculus  can  help  us  to  grapple  it.  The  geologists  say 
that  past  time  is  long.  As  to  its  exact  length  they  hesi- 
tate to  put  it  into  figures,  or  when  they  do  scarcely  two 
are  alike.  It  is  the  same  with  the  American  loss  to  the 
faith.  The  earnest  student  of  our  history  is  obliged  to 
confess  that  it  was  large ;  but  how  large  it  may  have 
been  is  an  unsettled  question.  The  Irish  IVorld  of  ][i\y 
2  5, 1 874.  maintained  that  1 8,000.000  have  been  lost  to  Cath- 
olicity in  the  Republic.  It  backed  up  the  assertion  with 
the  following  table,  which  I  believe,  is,  in  the  main,  reliable: 

"  Table  Showing  the  Relative  Proportions  of  the  Con- 
stituent Elements  of  the  Population  of  the  United 
States  in  1870.  in  which  is  Indicated  the  Number  of 
Catholics  that  should  be  in  the  Country  now  (1874). 

I.  Total    white    population 
of  the    thirteen    colo- 


620  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Roman  Catholic  Losses  in  the  United  ^t kiils— Continued. 


Yean. 


1876. 


Estimated  Losses. 


l8,CXX),000. 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 

nies  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War. . .  3,172,000 
II.  Relative  proportions  of 
constituent  elements  in 
colonial  population — 
Celtic  (Irish,  Scotch, 
Welsh,  French,  etc.). .    1,903,200 

(Irish  separately) 1,141,920 

Anglo-Saxon   841 ,800 

Dutch     and     Scandina- 
vians        427,000 

III.  Product,  in  1870,  of  the 

population  of  1790 9,496,000 

IV.  Product,  in   1870,  of  the 

separate    elements    of 

the  population  of  1790  : 

Celtic 5,697,000  ) 

(Irish  separately) 3,418,200  I 

Anglo-Saxon 2,504,000! 

Dutch  and  Scandinavians  1,295,000] 

V.  Product,  in  1870,  of  pop- 

ulation gained  by  ac- 
quisition of  new  terri- 
tory since  1790 1,500,000 

VI.  Product,  in  1870,  of  Irish 
and  French  emigration 

from  Canada 2,000,000 

VII.  Total  strength  of  colored 

element  in   1870 4.504,000 

VIII.  Total  emigration  to  U.  S., 

1790  to  1870 8,199,000 

Irish     emigration      from 

1790101870 3,248,000 

Anglo-Saxon  emigration, 

from  1790  to  1870 796,000 

Emigration   of  all  other 

elements 4,155,000 

IX.  Product  of  total  emigra- 
tion to  U.  S.  from  1790 

to  1 870 23,000,000 

Product  of  Irish  emigra- 
tion (from  1790) 9,750,000 

Product  of  Anglo-Saxon 

emigration  (from  1790)  2,000,000 
Product  of  ail  other  emi- 
gration (from  1790).  .  .11.250,000 
X.  Total  population  of  U.  S. 

VT    T  !"'^7o. 38,500,000 

AI.  Jomt  product,  in  1870,  of 
Irish  colonial  element 
and  subsequent  Irish 
emigration  (including 
that  from  Canada)) ....  [4,325.000 
Joint  product,  in  1870,  of 
Anglo-Saxon    colonial 


GROWTH  IN    THE  CITIES. 


621 


Roman  Catholic  Losses  in  the  United  Si w^s— Continued. 


Years. 


1876. 


Estimated  Losses. 


18,000,000 


'  The  losses 
have  been 
enormous." 


Catholic  Authorities,  Remarks,  etc. 


element  and  subsequent 
Anglo-Saxon  emigra- 
tion    4,522,000 

Joint  product,  in  1870,  of 
all  other  colonial  ele- 
ments and  all  subse- 
quent emigration  (in- 
cluding colored  popu- 
lation)   19,653,000 

Total  joint  product   38,500,000 

XII,  Total  Celtic  el'm'nt  (Irish, 
Scotch,  French,  Span- 
ish, Italian)  in  U.  S.  in 
1 870 24,000,000 

Total    Irish    element     in 

U.  S.  in  1870 14.325.000 

Total  Anglo-Saxon  ele- 
ment in  U.  S.  in  1870.   4,522,000 

Total  of  all  other  ele- 
ments (not  Celtic  or 
Anglo-Saxon)  in  U.  S. 

in  1870 9,978,000 

"  Almost  the  entire  Celtic  element  (24,000,000)  might 
be  safely  regarded  as  the  descendants  of  rnen  who  were 
Catholics  on  settling  in  America." 

The  Catholic  Mirror,  of  Baltimore,  while  claiming 
that  there  are  8,000,000  Catholics  in  this  country,  asserts 
that  there  should  be  20,000,000,  and  admits  that  the 
losses  have  been  enormous.  The  Mirror  adds  the  fol- 
lowing frank  confession  :  "  It  is  our  opinion  that  a  vast 
deal  of  unmeaning  stuff  has  been  talked  about  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Catholic  Church  both  in  England  and 
America.  It  is  true  there  are  2,000,000  in  England  and 
8,000,000  in  America.  Nine  tenths  of  those  in  the  former 
country  and  three  fourths  in  the  latter  are  of  Irish  blood. 
There  have  been  a  few  hundred  people  of  what  are  there 
called  the  '  higher  classes  '  converted  to  the  faith  in  En- 
gland ;  whether,  from  a  politic  stand-point,  they  have 
been  an  acquisition  we  greatly  doubt  ;  but  it  is  certain 
that  the  masses  have  not  been  touched.  In  America,  also, 
there  have  been  a  few  conversions,  but  they  do  not 
amount  to  a  drop  in  the  bucket  in  compirison  with  the 
immense  losses  the  Church  has  sustained." 


Notwithstanding  these  losses  Romanism  has  gained,  both 
actually  and  relatively.  This  question  will  be  treated  in  another 
place. 

In  the  Large  Cities 

the  evidences  of  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  are  the 
most  striking.-  The  rapid  multiplication  of  the  city  populations,  of 
itself,  presents  a  problem    demanding  the  close  attention  of  the 


622  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Christian  public ;  the  fact  that  this  increment  is  largely  foreign  and 
heterogeneous  enhances  the  importance  and  the  difficulty  of  the 
problem ;  but  the  additional  fact  that  the  foreign  elements  that 
have  settled  down  so  largely  in  the  cities  are  Roman  Catholics  pre- 
sents the  case  in  a  still  more  serious  and  urgent  light.  The  multi- 
plication of  large  and  imposing  church  structures  and  other  ecclesi- 
astical buildings  has  greatly  impressed  the  public  and  excited  alarm 
in  some  quarters.  No  more  definite  data  exist  to  help  to  a  distinct 
view  of  this  growth  of  Romanism  in  the  cities  than  the  statistics  of 
the  churches  and  the  clergy.  These  are  given  in  their  Year  Book, 
but  we  are  still  left  without  any  information  in  regard  to  the  extent 
of  the  church  accommodations  or  the  size  or  number  of  their 
audiences.  These  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  every  reader. 
The  following  table  will  help  to  show  the  growth : 


Roman  Catholic  Churches  and  Clergy  in  Fifty  Principal  Cities. 


New  York 

Philadelphia 

Brooklyn 

Chicago 

Boston 

St.  Louis 

Baltimore 

Cincinnati 

San  Francisco 

New  Orleans 

Cleveland 

Pittsburg 

Buffalo 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Newark 

Louisville 

Jersey  City 

Detroit 

Milwaukee 

Providence  

Albany 

Rochester 

Allegheny  City.  . . . 

Indianapolis 

Richmond 

New  Haven 

Lowell 

Worcester 

Troy 


Churches.  * 


30I    41 
26     38 


20 
13 
15 
17 
13 
15 

7 
20 

6 

5 

12 

6 

?! 

2; 

e' 

7 
6 

7 
7 
3 
2 
2 
3 
3 
2 

3 


59!     69 
441     51 


42 
36 
30 
41 
26 

35 
18 
28 


19 

19 

10 

II 

8 

13 

13 

18 

7 

10 

II 

16 

10 

13 

6 

9 

10 

li 

10 

12 

5 

6 

1   3 

6 

>   3 

3 

4 

7 

4 

5 

i   4 

71 

6 

T 

I9I      22 

27!  42 
23 
12 

15 

18 

14 

19 
17 
16 


Clergy,  f 


61 
50 
30 
23 

28 

39 
20 

33 
14 
30 
7 
8 
23J 
15 
12 


ii|     15 


d 

d 

r^ 

00 

x> 

CO 
216 

119 

91 

124 

62 

97 

57 

lOI 

58 

99 

70 

77 

30 

51 

58 

64 

26 

43 

60 

65 

iS 

26 

24 

50 

29 

35 

17 

24 

II 

25 

30 

35 

9 

21 

21 

29 

22 

26 

14 

26 

20 

24 

14 

24 

9 

14 

4 

14 

7 

7 

8 

14 

II 

15 

5 

13 

II 

14 

275 
148 
III 
164 

114 

83 
64 
65 
46 

66 
3r 
5S 
37 
31 
33 
35 
27 
41 
37 

23 

31 
26 

15 
14 
II 

17 
22 

»7 
17 


*  Chapels  not  included. 

+  We  think  that  in  a  few  cases  some  of  the  priests  may  be  duplicated,  but  there  are  more  cases 
where  the  names  of  clergy  are  not  given. 


CHURCHES,   CLERGY,    AND  POPULATION. 
Roman  Catholic  Churches  and  Q\.^kqn— Continued. 


623 


Kansas  City. ... 

Cambridge 

Syracuse 

Columbus,  O. . . . 

Paterson 

Toledo 

Charleston,  S.  C. 

Fall  River 

Minneapolis 

Scranton 

Nashville 

Reading 

Wilmington,  Del. 

Hartford 

Camden 

St.  Paul 

Lawrence,  Mass. . 

Dayton 

Lynn 

Atlanta 

Denver 


Churches. 


"^o'^^  '  170   312   495   676!  825    336!  565  1,031  1.562!  1,892 


Clergy. 


4 
6 

15 

7 

51 


\ 

7 
b' 
3 
6; 

51 
3 

61 

\ 


14 
13 

I? 

>4 
II 
10 
15 
T9 
16 

7 

5 

9 

II 

4 

25 

14 

9 

5 

4 

II 


The  foregoing  table  contains  the  "  Fifty  Principal  Cities  "  of  the 
United  States  as  tabulated  in  the  last  Census.  The  total  population 
of  these  cities  for  the  same  dates  (1886  excepted,  having  no  census 
for  this  year  except  in  a  few  cases)  has  been :  1850,  2,417,699;  i860, 
3,937,489;   1870,5,686,897;   1880,7,794,503. 

Increase  of  Churches  and  Priests  Compared  with  the  Population. 


Churches. 
1850... One  church  for  14,221   inhabitants. 
i860...    "  "         "    12,620  •' 

1870...    "  "         "    11.486 

1880...    "  "         "    11,530 


Priests. 

1S50 One  priest  for  7,195    inhabitants. 

i860 "         "        "    6,969  " 

1S70 "         "        "    5,516 

i38o "        "       "    4,991  " 


We  have  here  an  evidence  of  gain  upon  the  population  in  the 
number  of  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  these  large  cities.  In 
1850  they  had  one  church  in  14,221  inhabitants,  in  1880  one  in 
11,530  inhabitants.  But  it  will  be  noticed  that  this  gain  was  from 
1850  to  1870,  while  since  1870  it  has  relatively  fallen  off  a  little. 
During  the  same  decades,  it  will  be  noticed,  the  priests  have  steadily 
gained  upon  the  population.  Other  aspects  of  the  growth  of  Rom- 
anism, particularly  as  compared  with  the  growth  of  the  Protestant 
churches,  will  be  considered  in  the  last  two  chapters  of  this  volume. 


024 


CIlRISTIANirY  IN    THE   UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER    III. 


DIVERGENT    CURRENTS. 


Skc.   I.  The  Jews. 

"       2.  'I'lic  Shakers. 

3.  Tlie  I'roj^rcsHive  Fiietuls. 

4.  The  New  Jerusalem  Cliurch. 
"       5.  Uiiiversalism. 


Skc.     6.  Unitarianism. 

"         7.  Free  Religion. 

8.  Mulliform  Skepticism. 

"        9.  The  Latest  Socialism. 

"       lo.  Mormonism. 


Serfiofi   /.—The  Jews. 

IN  1825  Jucljj^c  Mordocai  No.ih  started  a  Jewish  colony  at  Niag- 
ara Falls,  but  it  did  not  succeed.  Jewish  Sunday-schools  were 
introduced  in  Philadelphia  in  1838  by  Isaac  Leeser.  A  Reform 
con<^regation  was  organized  in  BaltiiTiore,  Md.,  in  1842,  and  at 
New  York  city  the  Temple  Emanuel  in  1845.  -^  Rabbinical  Con- 
ference was  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1869.  A  Union  of  American 
Hebrew  Congregations  was  established  in  1873,  and  two  years  later 
a  Hebrew  college  was  founded  in  Cincinnati,  O.  The  first  Ameri- 
can Russo-Jewish  agricultural  colony  in  America  was  settled  at 
Sicily  Island,  Catahoula  Pari.sh,  La.  In  1882  a  large  emigration 
of  persecuted  Russian  Jews  came  to  the  United  States.  A  Jewish 
authority  says :  * 

There  arc  now  in  America  one  third  of  a  million  (in  round  numbers)  of  persons 
l)orn  of  Jewish  parents,  including  a  small  number  of  Judaized  Christians,  about 
as  many  as  there  are  Christianized  Jews.  Most  of  ihem  live  in  large  cities.  A 
minority  ot  them  is  scattered  all  over  the  country.  Their  numerical  relation  to  the 
general  population  is  one  to  150.  Wherever  they  live  together  in  sufficient  num- 
bers they  have  cstabli'^hecl  congreg.itions.  benevolent  societies,  lodges,  young  men's 
associations  and  clubs.  The  number  of  the  so-called  infidels  or  indifferents.  per- 
sons who  take  no  interest  in  Jewish  organizations,  is  verj'  small,  except  among 
those  who  live  in  towns  where  no  Jewish  society  exists,  and  a  number  of  eccentric 
persons  in  larger  places  who,  in  consequence  of  the  prevailing  anti-Christian  sen- 
timent, especially  among  foreigners,  are  nnti-religious.  hence  also  anti-Jewish, 
some  few  even  to  the  point  of  atheism.  The  number  of  those  "outsiders"  is  in 
proportion  much  smaller  among  Jews  than  among  Christian-born  persons  who 

•  The  American  Jews'  Annual,  Cincinnati,  1884. 


JEWS.   SHAKERS.   PROGRESSIVE  FRIENDS.  625 

abandon  the  Church.     On  the  whole,  the  American  Jew  is  as  proud  of  his  religion 
as  he  is  of  his  country,  and  is  as  loyal  to  the  cause  as  he  is  a  law-abiding  citizen. 

The  nunaber  of  Jewish  congregations  in  this  country  is  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty,  half  of  their  number,  and  among  these  the  largest  congregations  of  the 
United  States,  form  the  Union  of  American  Hebrew  Congregations,  established  in 
1873.  Every  congregation  supports  a  house  of  worship,  a  Sabbath-school  for  the 
young,  a  burial-ground,  and  some  benevolent  institution.  Generally  the  house  of 
worship  is  called  "  The  Temple  ; "  only  in  some  cases  it  is  yet  called  "The  Syna- 
gogue," or  9\so  Die  i'r^^/,  and  almost  every  temple  is  connected  with  school-rooms 
where  the  young  are  instructed  twice  or  more  times  a  week  in  religion,  Jewish 
history  and  the  Hebrew  language.  Some  of  those  temples,  as  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  St,  Louis,  Chicago,  New  Orleans,  and  San 
Francisco,  are  gorgeous  and  magnificent  monumental  structures.  In  general  almost 
all  temples  and  synagogues  built  since  i860  are  prominent  and  costly  structures, 
in  proportion  to  the  size  and  wealth  of  the  cities  and  towns  in  which  they  stand. 
On  the  evening  and  morning  of  every  Sabbath  and  biblical  holiday  the  temples 
are  open  for  divine  service  and  religious  instruction,  open  and  free  to  all,  Jew  and 
Gentile.  In  some  temples  there  are  prayer-meetings  every  Sabbath  afternoon 
and  evening,  twice  every  day,  or  at  least  Monday  and  Thursday  mornings. 


Section  :?.— Shakers. 

When  Spiritualism  broke  out  in  New  York  the  Shakers  were 
greatly  elated  with  hopes  of  a  large  increase  of  converts  to  Shaker- 
ism.  They  anticipated  that  Spiritualism  would  prepare  the  public 
for  the  adoption  of  their  doctrines.  But  their  increase  has  not 
met  their  expectations,  only  three  societies  having  been  organ- 
ized in  about  three  quarters  of  a  century,  and  the  growth  of  those 
previously  existing  has  been  slow.  Since  1870  they  have  pub- 
lished the  Shaker  and  Shakercss,  a  monthly,  at  Mount  Lebanon. 
N.  Y.  According  to  the  United  States  census  for  1870  they  num- 
bered about  9,000,  living  in  18  communities:  3  in  New  York,  4  in 
Massachusetts,  2  in  New  Hampshire,  2  in  Maine,  i  in  Connecticut, 
4  in  Ohio,  and  2  in  Kentucky. 


Section  .7.— ProgressiYe  Friends. 

This  body,  formerly  called  Hicksite  Quakers,  because  the  follow- 
ers of  Elias  Hicks,  in  a  schism  effected  by  him  in  the  body  of 
Friends  in  1827,  have  been  distinguished  from  the  "Orthodox 
Friends"  by  holding  Arian  and  Socinian  doctrines.  Soon  after 
1850  they  attempted  to  organize  into  yearly  meetings  under  the 
name  of  Progressive  Friends — a  name  first  adopted  at  a  convention 
held  in  Selma,  O.,  in  September,  1852.  Prior  to  this  time  the  Gen- 
40 


626 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


esee,  Ohio  and  Indiana  yearly  meetings  of  the  Hicksite  Friends 
had  been  distracted  by  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  and 
considerable  minorities  had  seceded  and  organized  at  Green  Plain, 
O.,  and  Waterloo,  N.  Y.,  under  the  designation  of  Congregational 
Friends.  Subsequently  there  were  other  organizations  elsewhere, 
somewhat  varying  in  character,  but  in  later  years  under  the  two 
names,  Progressive  Friends  and  Friends  of  Human  Progress,  all  ex- 
cept the  Orthodox  Friends  have  been  comprised.  The  Ortho- 
dox Friends  are  now  estimated  as  having  600  churches,  500  ministers, 
and  70,000  members.  The  non-affiliating  Orthodox,  including  the 
"  Wilberite  "  bodies,  are  estimated  to  have  100  churches  and  12,000 
members,  and  the  Hicksite  Friends  about  23,000  members. 


Section  4.— The  Kew  Jerusalem  Chtircli. 

The  Minutes  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church  in  the  United  States 
for  1887  show  the  following: 


States. 


Illinois 

Maine 

Maryland 

Rhode   Island  and  Massa- 
chusetts  

Michigan 

Minnesota 

New  Jersey  and  New  York 

Georgia 

Florida 

Arkansas 

Michigan 

New  Hampshire 

Wisconsin 

Ohio 


II 

5 
4 

19 
5 
2 

13 
I 
I 
2 
6 
2 

5 
12 


600 
300 
271 

1,636 

192 

60 

659 


605 


States. 


Pennsylvania 

California 

Connecticut 

Kansas 

Colorado. . . . ." 

Iowa: , 

District  of  Columbia 

Delaware  ?.■•■.» 

Indiana 

Missouri 

Virginia 

Texas 

Total 


128 


115 


2 
.o 
E 

500 

116 

50 

45 


5,034 


Section  5.— UniYersalism. 

In  the  declining  years  of  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  D.D.,  modifications 
became  apparent  in  some  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Universal- 
ist  denomination,  occasioning  him  much  anxiety.  The  question  of 
the  moral  connection  between  the  present  and  the  future  life  was 
constantly  obtruded  upon  him  by  his  brethren  in  correspondence, 
in  sermons,  and  in  the  periodicals  of  the  denomination,  in  opposition 


UNIVERSALISM.  627 

to  Mr.  Ballou's  favorite  dogma  of  the  immediate  holiness  and  hap- 
piness of  all  at  death.  This  was  the  great  question  in  dispute 
amongthe  Universalists  from  1845  to  1855.  Mr.  Ballou  endeavored  to 
stem  the  tide  setting  in,  but  in  vain.  Great  respect  was  entertained 
for  him,  and  the  brethren  were  kind  and  conciliatory,  though  fast 
breaking  away  from  his  guidance.  The  point  in  question,  as  held 
by  him,  was  the  most  distinctive  point  of  difference  between  the 
Universalists  and  the  Unitarians,  and  he  deprecated  the  surrender 
of  hX?, post  mortem  view  as  showing,  as  he  declared,  "An  inclination 
in  some  of  the  professed  preachers  of  Universalism  to  adopt  some 
of  the  peculiar  opinions  of  our  Unitarian  fraternity." 

The  present  type  of  Universalist  belief  in  reference  to  the  future 
condition  of  the  wicked  has  been  a  matter  of  some  uncertainty  in 
many  minds  outside  of  that  denomination.  Attempted  statements 
have  often  shown  a  want  of  patient,  clear  discrimination  on  both 
sides,  and  this  denomination  has  doubtless  been  sometimes  misrepre- 
sented, and  arguments  directed  against  them  have,  therefore,  often 
fallen  powerless,  being  misdirected.  Probably  no  Universalist  minis- 
ters now  hold  or  preach  Mr.  Ballou's  "death  and  glory"  doctrine,  and 
few  of  their  intelligent  laymen  cherish  it.  Most  Universalists  hold 
to  a  state  of  discipline  after  death  for  the  wicked,  some  of  whom 
dislike  to  be  called  Restorationists.  and  all  are  careful  not  to  use  the 
term  punishment  in  speaking  of  \)l\.q.  post  mortem  condition.  There 
are  those,  however,  the  more  progressive  wing  of  the  body,  who 
hold  that  the  soul  after  death  retains  its  moral  identity,  with  germs 
of  virtue  and  piety ;  that  some  will  enter  upon  the  future  life  more 
advantageously  than  others,  because  of  a  better  character  in  this 
life ;  but  that  all  will  progress  upward  forever. 

In  the  Liberal  Christian  (Unitarian)  April  4,  1871,  the  editor  says  : 

The  essential  difference  between  Unitarian  and  Universalis^  opinions  on  the 
subject  of  universal  salvation  in  our  day  is  miinly  only  one  of  perspective.  The 
Universalists  make  universal  salvation  the  foreground,  the  first  and  most  emphatic 
doctrine  in  their  scheme;  the  Unitarians  generally  receiving  it,  keep  it  in  the 
background  or  give  it  only  a  relative  and  secondary  place  in  their  minds  and  their 
preaching.  Both  denominations  are  getting  verj'  near  together  in  their  ideas  of 
future  retribution  on  its  punitive  side,  as  a  disciplinary  and  reformatory  process  — 
a  state  in  which  the  soul  continues  under  unchangeable  and  spiritual  laws  to  work 
out  its  salvation  through  suffering.  We  know  no  barriers  between  the  two  bodies 
except  those  of  dissimilar  historic  origin  and  organization. 

Within  the  last  thirty-five  years  there  have  been  manifest  efforts 
to  organize  this  denomination  more  fully,  to  promote  a  practical 
religious  life  among  the  people,  to  make  them  more  devout,  and  to 


628 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


introduce  various  forms  of  social  worship,  such  as  prayer  and  con- 
ference meetings.  Religious  activities,  formerly  unknown  among 
them,  have  been  inaugurated  in  their  leading  churches,  chiefly  in 
the  larger  communities,  and  frequent  desires  are  expressed  to 
make  their  religious  theories  practicable  forces  in  the  denomination 
and  in  the  world. 


Universalist  Ministers 

IN   THE 

United  States.* 

States. 

1835- 

1840. 

1851. 

i860.     1870. 

1880. 

1886. 

Maine 

29 
32 
25 
67 
2 

14 

69 

33 

40 

109 

8 

10 

60 

24 

40 

142 

4 

16 

46 

27 

41 

126 

5 
15 

40 

15 

34 

107 

3 
17 

49 
23 
41 

133 

8 
18 

New    Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Rhode  Island 

Connecticut 

Total  in  New  England 

l6g 
139 

269 
243 

2S6 
356 

260 

425 

2X6 

409 

272 
457 

Out  of  New  England 

Total  in  United  States 

308 

512 

642 

685 

625 

729 

673 

Note. — This  denomination  has  4  colleges,  with   279  students,  and  2  theological  seminaries,  with  42  stu- 
dents.    They  also  have  a  publishing  house  in  Boston,  whose  sales  amount  to  about  $50,000  annually. 

Universat.tst  Parishes  in  the  United  States. 


States. 


Maine 

New  Hampshire. 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . . 
Rhode  Island. . . 
Connecticut 


Total  in  New  England. 
Out  of  New  England 


Total  in  the  United  Stales  % 


1835- 


lor 
72 
80 
90 

5 
45 


393 
260 


653 


1840. 


100 
81 
92 

131 

7 
27 


438 
415 


853 


1851. 


130 

70 

150 

108 

ID 

33 


501 

568 


1,069 


i860. 


139 
78 
82 

168 
12 
27 


506 

758 


1.264 


1870. 


29 
60 

105 

5 

16 


304 
613 


917 


1880. 


91 

35 

64 

115 


331 
625 


956 


i886.f 


99 
36 
62 
III 
II 
19 


338 
596 


934 


The  Year  Book  for  1887  gives  (Canada  deducted):  families,  38,117  ;  church  edifices. 
780;  churches,  687  ;  valuation,  $7,370,027;  members,  34.987;  ministers  in  fellow.ship, 
673;  Sunday-schools,  628;  lay  preachers,  20;  Sunday-school  members,  53,226;  assets  of 
publishing  house,  Boston,  Mass..  $65,000. 


Section  6*.  -Unitarianism. 

After  1845  the  rationalistic  tendencies  engendered  in  this  denom- 
ination ripened  under  the  fostering  influence  of  materialistic  and 
transcendental  philosophy.     Neither  the  transcendentalism  of  Mr. 

♦  Each  Year  Book  gives  the  statistics  of  the  previous  year. 

t  Deducting  Canada,  Year  Book  oi  1887.  t  Year  Book,  1887. 


UNITARIANISM.  629 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  nor  the  bold  radicalism  of  Theodore  Parker, 
however,  awakened  much  open  sympathy,  while  in  fact  the  leaders 
of  the  denomination  felt  embarrassed  by  the  extreme  departure  of 
the  latter,  because  he  was  generally  recognized  by  the  public  as  a 
Unitarian.  They  were  unwilling  to  accept  him  as  a  representative. 
The  American  Unitarian  Association,  therefore,  in  1853,  attempted 
to  relieve  themselves  of  the  embarrassment  they  felt  on  this  account 
by  making  an  elaborate  statement  of  belief,  not  for  the  purpose  of 
binding  others,  but  to  vindicate  themselves.  The  document  was  of 
great  perspicuity  and  was  both  a  negative  and  a  positive*  state- 
ment. 

A  very  considerable  departure  from  original  Unitarianism  was 
perceived  in  the  followers  of  Emerson  and  Parker.  The  club  of 
Boston  transcendentalists,  the  Brook  Farm  Community  at  West 
Roxbury,  and  the  supporters  of  the  Dial  and  the  Harbinger,  em- 
bracing many  able,  brilliant  and  cultured  writers,  all  the  offspring  of 
Unitarianism,  passed  over  to  the  extremes  of  unbelief,  and  in  the 
body  itself  marked  symptoms  of  radical  departures  appeared.  This 
might  have  been  expected,  for  a  perceptible  drift  of  rationalistic 
ideas  characterized  the  denomination  from  its  inception.  Unitarian- 
ism in  England  sprung  up,  simultaneously  with  deism,  out  of  the 
rising  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  partaking  largely  of  that  spirit.  The 
same  influence  appeared  in  Mayhevv  and  his  associates  in  the  middle 
of  the  last  century,  and  still  later  Freeman,  Hollis,  Sewall,  Norton, 
Emerson  and  Parker  floated  rapidly  down  on  the  swelling  current. 

This  drift  has  continued  to  our  time,  until  the  humanitarian  or 
rationalistic  wing  is  now  supposed  to  represent  the  major  part  of 
the  denomination.  Professor  John  Fiske  recently  said :  f  "  Forty 
years  ago  Theodore  Parker  was  virtually  driven  out  of  the  Unitarian 
Church  for  saying  the  same  sort  of  things  which  may  be  heard 
to-day  from  half  the  Unitarian  pulpits  in  New  England." 

In  the  days  of  Buckminster,  and  the  earlier  days  of  Channing, 
this  tendency  was  not  so  perceptible.  But  the  period  was  a  peculiar 
one.  The  outbreak  had  not  then  occurred,  and  all  were  cautious. 
Skirmishing  and  reconnoitering  constituted  the  order  of  action. 
Buckminster  lived  in  the  transitional  period  of  the  movement, 
when  it  was  passing  out  from  the  scholastic  into  the  classical  type. 
Charming  in  style  and  affluent  in  learning,  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
refined  and  cultured  classes  of  Boston  aristocracy,  he  was  recognized 
as  a  Liberal  Christian,  but  was  nevertheless  called  "the  conservative 

*  The  author  had  fully  intended  to  insert  it  in  these  pages,  but  the  crowded  condition  of  the 
work  excludes  it.  t  North  American  Revieiv.     March,  1882.     P.  260. 


630  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

liberal  churchman  of  the  old  r^//;/^,  and  as  little  prone  to  radicalism 
as  any  bishop  in  the  Parliament  of  England."*  Neither  Buckmin- 
ster  nor  Channing  had  any  sympathy  with  the  radicalism  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  they  were  decidedly  opposed  to  the  French 
Revolutionary  school — to  the  materialism  and  infidelity  of  both 
English  and  French  radicals,  who  have  recently  been  extolled  as 
"  saints  "by  Mr.  O.  B.  Frothingham.  And  yet  while  these  men  had 
similar  conservative  tendencies  Channing  was  a  bold  champion  of 
reform  and  progress.  Buckminster  was  more  aristocratic — "the  pet 
of  Boston  aristocracy" — with  more  of  the  elements  of  an  iconoclast ; 
Channing  was  more  Democratic,  and  though  he  could  hardly  be 
called  a  revolutionist,  yet  he  was  a  man  of  ideas,  and  an  innovator. 
A  prominent  Unitarian,  writing  in  the  Christian  Examiner,  in  1865, 
said  of  Channing:  "Within  his  Arian  theology  and  conservative 
affinities,  he  bore  the  seeds  of  all  the  new  ideas  which  have  given 
such  life,  and,  at  times,  threatened  such  mischief,  to  the  Unitarian 
body."  He  was  "  the  father  of  Unitarian  Rationalism  in  Amer- 
ica"— the  leader  of  the  ideal  school  that  passed  over  into  transcen- 
dentalism. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Theodore  Parker's  death,  only  six  years  after 
the  publication  of  the  famous  statement  of  Unitarian  principles,  in 
1853,  marked  divergencies  were  apparent  in  the  denomination,  occa- 
sioning deep  concern  in  some  minds  and  serious  forecastings  in 
others.  This  was  probably  the  occasion  of  the  remarkable  sermon 
of  Rev.  H.  W.  Bellows,  D.D.,  of  New  York,  on  the  "  Broad  Church," 
which  attracted  general  attention.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  design 
of  the  sermon  to  prepare  the  way  for  preserving  the  unity  of  the 
denomination,  and  also  for  enlarging  and  building  up  a  broad  cath- 
olic church  out  of  the  scattered  fragments  of  Liberal  Christians  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  This  was  one  of  the  most  noticeable 
features  of  Unitarian  policy  in  the  last  days  of  Dr.  Bellows — to  lay 
the  foundations  of  their  denomination  so  broad  that  men  of  all 
shades  of  sentiment,  from  the  highest  Arians  and  the  most  reverent 
supernaturalists  to  those  who  deny  the  Divine  personality  and  the 
peculiar  claims  of  Christianity,  might  dwell  harmoniously  together. 
The  Universalists,  the  Christians  and  the  Progressive  Friends  were 
invited  to  the  union.  Detached  congregations  meeting  occasion- 
ally as  lyceums,  some  rejecting  the  Scriptures  as  the  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  in  whose  articles  of  association  in  one  or  two  instances 
even  the  name  of  God  f  did  not  appear,  were  added  to  their  list  of 

*  Christian  Examiner.     1865      P.  34. 

tRev.  A.  D.  Mayo,  D.D..  in  the  Liberal  Christian,  in  1870. 


THE  NATIONAL    CONFERENCE.  631 

societies,  and  others,  who,  not  accepting  Christianity  as  commonly 
understood,  preferred  not  to  assume  the  name,  were  invited  to  their 
liberal  fellowship.  They  hoped  to  find  a  cement  strong  enough  to 
unite  and  hold  together  these  diverse  elements,  but  the  effort 
sorely  tried  the  chemistry  of  the  ecclesiastical  experimenters. 

The  organization  of  the  National  Conference  was  effected  in 
1865.  Its  object  was  to  "combine  scattered  religious  bodies,  to 
infuse  into  them  a  common  life,  and  to  devise  and  set  in  operation 
means  for  greater  growth  and  efficiency."  Whether  they  could 
succeed  in  organizing  such  a  body  was  a  serious  question  with  many 
Unitarians,  representing  as  they  did  those  extreme  Congregational 
ideas  of  individuality  and  independency,  which  had  produced  very 
strong  disinclination  to  associated  efforts  and  a  keen  suspicion  of  all 
ecclesiastical  ties.  At  the  close  of  the  Conference  the  leaders  felt 
that  they  had  been  quite  successful,  although  the  task  had  called 
into  requisition  the  most  skillful  management.  The  way  for  the 
adoption  of  the  Preamble  and  Constitution  was  prepared  by  first 
mutually  entering  into  the  following  agreement : 

That  all  resolutions  passed  in  the  Convention  should  be  binding  upon  the  indi- 
vidual members  only  to  the  extent  in  which  they  commended  themselves  to  their 
individual  consciences.  * 

As  the  session  of  the  Conference  in  1870  approached,  a  great 
amount  of  feeling  was  manifested  in  the  denomination,  leading  to 
sharp  controversies.  The  immediate  cause  was  the  organization  of 
the  "Free  Religious  Association"  in  Boston,  in  1867,  by  prominent 
Unitarian  ministers,  in  which  the  most  radical  tendencies  came  to  a 
head — a  protest  against  the  action  of  the  Conference  at  Syracuse, 
in  1866.  It  was  asserted  by  Rev.  E.  H.  Sears  f  that  the  National 
Conference  had  received  into  its  fellowship  many  who  held  with 
Theodore  Parker  and  the  Tubingen  critics  that  the  New  Testament 
is  not  an  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice ;  that  the  Fourth  Gospel 
is  a  forgery  of  the  second  century;  that  the  whole  framework  of 
narrative  in  the  New  Testament  called  miracle  is  false  and  mythical ; 
that  such  a  being  as  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  is  presented  in  the  New 
Testament,  never  existed  on  this  earth ;  and,  moreover,  that  there 
were  professedly  Unitarian  pulpits  which  teach  that  God  is  not  a 
conscious  personality ;  :|:  that  he  has  never  revealed  himself,  and  that 

*  Christian  Examiner.    1866.    P.  294.       \  Religious  Monthly  Magazine.    1870.    Vol.  I,  p  318. 

X  Their  Cambridge  Divinity  School  was  also  sending  out  young  men  as  ministers  who  were 
skeptics  of  the  most  extreme  type.  Rev.  Dr.  James  \V.  Thompson  mentions  that  an  eminent 
clergymjin,  speaking  of  a  young  graduate  of  the  Divinity  School,  said  :  "He  don't  believe  in 
much  ot  any  thing — in  Christianity,  in  personal  immortality,  or  in  a  personal  God — but  he  is  a 


632  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  belief  in  a  Divine  Revelation  had  been  more  harmful  than  bene- 
ficial to  humanity. 

Rev.  O.  B.  Frothingham  in  a  public  discourse*  said:  "God  is 
only  an  abstract  force  or  goodness,  and  has  never  revealed  himself, 
but  remains  a  shadow  or  silence."  Rev.  Samuel  Longfellow  f  said  : 
"What  Jesus  was  and  what  he  did  we  never  can  know."  "He  was 
only  a  mythologic  demi-god,"  "a  hideous  idol."  Rev.  J.  L.  Hatch:}: 
said  :  "Jesus  of  Nazareth,  as  given  in  the  New  Testament,  is  offen- 
sive to  me  in  the  extreme."  Rev.  Thomas  Vickers,  §  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  new  First  Unitarian  Church  in  Cincinnati,  read  extracts 
from  the  Koran,  the  Analects  of  Confucius,  the  Vedas,  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  and  from  Lowell's  *  Cathedra,"  Similar  quotations 
might  be  produced  from  the  writings  of  Revs.  W.  J.  Potter,  David 
A.  Wasson,  John  Weiss,  and  many  others  whose  names  long  ap- 
peared in  the  Unitarian  Year  Book  as  ministers  of  the  denomina- 
tion. In  the  "List"  were  four  hundred  names,  of  whom  Rev.  E.  H. 
Sears  said,  from  one  fourth  to  one  third  are  supposed  to  accept  the 
results  of  the  Tiibingen  critics. 

Such  extraordinary  utterances  from  so  many  Unitarian  clergy 
awakened  an  unusual  interest,  as  the  National  Conference  in  1870 
approached,  on  account  of  the  purpose  of  a  large  number  to  commit 
the  denomination  to  a  fuller  declaration  of  "allegiance  to  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  of  others  to  resist  such  action. 

The  desired  amendment  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  266  yeas  to 
33  nays,  nearly  two  hundred  delegates  present  not  voting.  This 
action  afforded  satisfaction  to  the  conservative  wing,  because  they 
felt  that  it  committed  the  Conference  distinctly  to  Christianity,  and 
allowed  the  largest  liberty  consistent  with  this  Christian  limitation. 
The  Radicals,  however,  felt  quite  easy  about  it,  claiming  that  the 
resolution  could  be  construed  to  mean  the  Transcendental  concep- 
tion of  Christ  as  well  as  the  Historic  Christ. 

The  dissensions  in  the  Unitarian  denomination  arise  from 

The  Different  Schools  of  Thought 

embraced  within  its  folds  and  their  constantly  increasing  divergence. 
In  their  more  general  features,  these  schools  have  been  classified 
under  two  heads — the  transcendental  and  the  historical. 

pure-minded  young  man  of  good  talents,  and  I  think  that  somewhere  in  the  IVest  he  may  do 
good."  Mr.  Thompson  then  remarks :  "  It  is  to  be  hop>ed  that  he  may  do  good  wherever  he  goes; 
but,  in  the  name  of  truth,  let  not  such  a  teacher  be  registered  in  your  Year  Book  as  a  Unitarian 
minister." — Religious  Monthly  Magazine,  February,  1870. 

•  Hoiticultural  Hall  Lecture,  Boston,  January,  1870.  \  Radical.     Vol.  II,  p.  524. 

Xlbid.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  524.  %  Liberal  Christian.     November,  1870. 


DR.  BELLOWS' S  EXPLANATION.  633 

The  transcendental  school  of  Unitarians  is  a  protest  against 
what  they  regard  as  "the  narrowness  of  the  orthodox  theory  of 
revelation,"  which  claims  that  God  once  spoke  to  men,  but  for  ages 
has  ceased  to  speak  them.  They  affirm  as  the  basis  of  their  theory 
the  perpetual  immanence  of  God,  his  constant  indwelling  in  men  ; 
hence  a  constant  inspiration  from  the  Infinite  Spirit,  and  the  veracity 
and  authority  of  the  individual  intuitions  of  the  human  mind,  as  the 
interpreters  of  the  Divine  mind. 

The  historical  school  believe  in  revelation.  But  on  the  one  hand, 
against  orthodoxy,  they  contend  that  inspiration  and  revelation  are 
not  entirely  facts  of  the  past,  leaving  a  form  of  exact  words  vouched 
for  by  miracles,  etc.,  wholly  documentary  and  scholastic  in  charac- 
ter; but  that  THE  Word  has  not  surrendered  his  prerogative  of 
revelation  since  the  sacred  books  were  penned,  and  hence  they  hold 
to  a  positive  revelation  in  Scripture  and  the  divine  manifestation  in 
all  history.  On  the  other  hand,  against  the  transcendental  school, 
they  contend  that  it  is  inconsistent  to  look  to  individual  intuitions 
for  absolute  truth,  and  at  the  same  time  to  slight  the  revelations  of 
God  in  the  more  aggregated  forms  in  which  they  present  themselves 
in  history ;  that  if  God  is  with  us  now  he  has  been  with  the  fathers 
of  all  previous  generations;  that  if  we  would  know  him  truly  we 
must  study  his  entire  revelations  to  the  race,  and  look  through  all 
the  chosen  ages  for  especial  gifts  of  illumination  and  grace,  as  well 
as  to  the  gifted  minds  of  our  own  age. 

The  doctrinal  position  of  this  body  undoubtedly  appears  very 
strange  to  many  Christian  people,  and  it  is,  therefore,  due  that  Dr. 
Bellows's  frank  explanation  and  ingenious  defense  as  given  in  the 
Liberal  Christian*  should  be  here  presented.     He  said: 

There  is  a  certain  valued  and  valuable  portion  of  the  Unitarian  communion. 
"the  extreme  right,"  ministers  and  laymen  thoroughly  Unitarian  in  their  theology, 
who  have  lost  interest  and  iaith  in  the  denomination,  from  dissatisfaction  with  its 
general  and  necessary  policy;  a  policy  which  they  complain  of  as  disrespectful  to 
Christianity,  as  injurious  to  our  Christian  reputation,  an  ecclesiastical  mistake,  a 
denominational  weakness.  This  policy  originated  with  those  who  have  been  anx- 
ious to  reduce  the  Christian  faith  to  its  lowest  terms,  and  it  is  a  source  of  grief 
to  many  Christian  men  that  the  Unitarian  denomination  is  more  devoted  to  liberty 
than  to  Christian  faith. 

For  doubtless  this  is  what  the  Christian  world  is  saying  of  us  :  "The  Unita- 
rians haven't  faith  enough  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  make  a  positive  and  historical 
profession  of  faith  in  it  a  condition  of  fellowship.  They  allow  any  body  that  calls 
himself  a  Christian  to  use  their  name  and  enjoy  their  prestige,  no  matter  whether 
he  be  a  disbeliever  in  the  Christian  miracles  and  records  or  even  in  the  historical 

*  July  21,  1871. 


634  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

existence  of  such  a  person  as  Jesus  Christ.  Nay,  he  may  be  a  Pantheist  or  an 
Atheist,  and  if  he  calls  himself  a  Christian,  and  is  not  immoral  in  life,  he  may  join 
the  Unitarian  Conference  and  claim  as  good  an  ecclesiastical  standing  as  the  most 
conservative  believer."  This  is  all  true,  and  the  orthodox  world  does  not  see  it  any 
more  clearly  than  we  do.  Nor  can  it  see  half  as  plainly  as  we  feel  all  the  weakness, 
all  the  prejudice,  all  the  pain  the  position  costs  and  involves. 

And  yet,  claiming  to  be  among  the  most  conservative  of  the  Unitarians,  if  that 
word  means  any  thing,  we  hold  and  are  prepared  to  defend  this  extreme  ground. 
For  we  feel  that  there  must  be  some  portion  of  the  Christian  Church  content  to 
occupy  the  most  exposed  and  storm-driven  outposts,  furthest  north  toward  the 
snows,  furthest  east  toward  the  ocean  ;  an  Eddystone  light-house,  over  which 
dreadful  waves  are  always  breaking;  a  last  haven,  where  stores  and  comfort  and 
refuge  are  offered  to  voyagers  in  search  of  the  Pole.  Creeds  and  articles  of  religion 
have  so  often  cramped  and  galled  noble  minds  and  tender  consciences  that,  without 
denying  their  convenience  and  advantages,  there  must  be  some  Christian  body  that 
will  bear  the  odium  and  disintegration  and  lose  all  the  immediate  profit  of  a  definite 
statement  and  profession  of  faith,  in  order  to  show  and  maintain  the  independence 
which  Christian  faith  can  bear,  and  to  vindicate  the  rights  and  claims  of  the  private 
conscience  and  the  individual  intellect.  Accordingly,  whenever  the  attempt  has 
been  made  to  put  any  yoke  upon  congregational  or  private  liberty  of  opinion  in 
the  Unitarian  body  it  has  always  failed. 

Latest   Utterances. 

In  the  purpose  of  doing  the  fullest  justice  to  this  denomination, 
we  also  add,  as  one  of  its  latest  statements,  the  following,  from  the 
pen  of  Rev,  M.  J.  Savage,  of  Boston,  in  the  Christian  Register, 
October  23,  1885  : 

Unitarianism  has  points  of  agreement  with  Orthodoxy,  with  Science,  with  the 
Ethical  Culture  Movement,  with  Agnosticism,  with  Materialism,  with  Spiritualism, 
with  Free  Religion,  with  the  Religion  of  Humanity.  And  yet  it  is  neither  of  these 
alone;  and  we  believe  it  is  more  and  better,  or  else  we  are  not  Unitarians  by  any 
right  of  intelligent  conviction  and  earnest  purpose.  .  .  .  We  are  theistic,  and  we 
are  humanitarian ;  we  are  scientific,  and  we  are  ethical ;  we  are  religious ;  we 
believe  in  church  and  in  worship.     But  what  we  are  after  now  is  a  definition. 

1.  We  believe  in  freedom  of  thought.  This  freedom  is  based  on  faith,  and  that 
faith  is  grounded  in  the  past  experience  of  man.  We  believe  that  human  history 
justifies  both  the  faith  and  the  freedom.  .  .  . 

2.  We  believe  in  a  progressive  revelation.  We  hold  that  all  truth  is  of  God,  as 
all  light  is  of  the  sun.  And  as  the  day  begins  with  a  twilight,  and  broadens  and 
lifts  gradually  and  naturally  toward  noon,  so  do  we  believe  in  the  advance  of  spiritual 
knowledge.  The  prophet,  the  seer,  the  inspired  man,  is  only  the  lofty  mountain 
peak  that  first  catches  and  reflects  the  light,  while  the  mists  and  shadows  still 
creep  over  and  obscure  the  valleys.  The  inspiration  thus  is  as  natural  as  the  lack 
of  it.  .  .  .  We  hold  the  man  of  Nazareth  in  supreme  reverence,  because  we  believe 
him  to  have  been  the  supremest  soul  that  has  walked  among  men.  We  hold  the 
Bible  above  all  other  books,  because  we  believe  it  to  be  the  loftiest  peak  in  the 
world's  religious  literature.  .  .  . 

3.  We  believe  that  all  truth  is  one.     This  springs  of  necessity  out  of  our  belief 


FREE  RELIGION." 


633 


in  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  and  in  and  through  all.  For  this 
reason  we  are  not  particular  to  draw  the  lines  very  carefully  between  secular  truth 
and  sacred.  .  .  . 

4.  We  believe  in  a  good  destiny  for  all  men.  This  follows  necessarily  from  the 
type  of  theism  that  we  hold.  That  power  and  wisdom  and  goodness  are  the  heart 
of  things— this  is  our  faith.  And,  if  this  is  so,  then  no  evil  can  ultimately  be  the 
destiny  of  any  single  soul.  .  .  . 

This,  then,  is  Unitarianism :  a  church,  religious,  worshipful,  sharing  more  or 
less  the  characteristics  of  all  other  organizations  that  try  to  help  on  the  world,  but 
marked  off  from  the  churches  by  its  belief  in  free  thought,  the  progressive  nature 
of  revelation,  the  belief  that  all  truth  that  touches  the  life  of  man  is  equally  sacred, 
and  a  trust  in  the  divine  destiny  of  all  souls.  .  .  . 

In  1886  a  considerable  stir  was  occasioned  because  the  Western 
Unitarian  Conference  declined  to  adopt  resolutions  declaring  itself 
either  a  Christian  or  a  theistic  body,  and  several  ministers  and 
churches  withdrew  because  of  this  action.  At  its  meeting  in  1887 
the  Conference  adopted  a  resolution  which  only  slightly  modified  its 

previous  action. 

Unitarian  Societies. 


States  and  Sections. 


Maine 

New  Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . . 
Rhode  Island. . . 
Connecticut 


Total  New  England. 


Western  States. 
Middle  "  . 
Southern      "     . 


Out  of  New  England 

Total  in  United  States. 


1830. 


12 

II 

3 

147 

2 

2 


177 

2 

12 

2 


16 


1840. 


150 
lo 


194 

17 
19 


36 


193 


230 


1850. 


15 
13 

5 
165 

\      5 


206 

17 

18 

5 


40 


246 


i860. 


14 
15 

3 
163 

2 

2 


199 

26 
26 

3 


1870.     1.880. 


20 

18 

6 

176 

4 
2 


226 

62 

37 

3 


55 


254       328 


19 
23 

5 
176 

4 
2 


229 

76 

27 

3 


106 


335 


1 886.* 


20 
26 

5 
179 

5 
2 


237 

86 

28 

4 


118 


355 


The  Unitarians  have  two  Theological  Schools,  at  Meadville,  Pa.,  and  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  with  40  students.     In  1886  eight  students  graduated. 

The  receipts  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association  from  all  sources,  from  1825  to 
i38o,  amount  to  $1,883,529  03,  of  which  sum  $83,768  91  was  appropriated  to  its  single 
foreign  mission  in  India — an  average  of  $3,083  42  yearly  since  it  was  founded  in  1855. 

The  average  annual  sales  of  books,  tracts,  etc.,  during  the  ten  years,  1870  to  1880, 
was  $8,697  29. 


Section  7.—"  Free  Religion." 

During  this  period  modern  skepticism  received  important  acces- 
sions from  professedly  religious  sources.     The  departure  from  prim- 

•  Year  Book  for  1887. 


636  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

itive  New  England  theology,  which  produced  Unitarianism,  con- 
tained within  itself  the  elements  of  another  departure  of  no  mean 
proportions.  If  the  former  was  a  semi-subsidence  of  faith  the  latter 
was  an  apostasy  into  the  most  radical  unbelief.  The  Transcendental 
Club,  the  Dial,X.\\Q  Brook  Farm  Comm.unity  and  the //^^A'^m^^r  were 
the  first  fruits;  but  others  rapidly  appeared,  for  the  germ  of  ration- 
alism had  been  sown  in  the  body,  and  a  bold  spirit,  in  whom  the 
fatal  seed  had  fully  ripened,  was  in  the  field,  sowing  it  broadcast  in 
thousands  of  hearts. 

Theodore   Parker. 

In  1848  Theodore  Parker's  name  appeared  for  the  last  time  in 
the  published  list  of  the  Unitarian  clergy.  He  claimed  that  he  had 
broken  away  from  all  ecclesiasticism,  as  he  had  also  from  the  "Lord- 
ship of  Jesus,"  and  from  supernatural  religion.  In  November,  1852, 
he  took  his  large  congregation  into  Music  Hall,  where  multitudes 
of  personal  admirers  and  strangers  hung  upon  his  words.  He  was  an 
ardent  advocate  of  temperance,  antislavery,  and  other  reforms,  which 
considerably  enlarged  the  scope  of  his  influence  and  made  his  rad- 
icalism in  religion  still  more  dangerous.  The  Committee  of  the 
American  Unitarian  Association,  alarmed  at  his  growing  influence, 
embarrassed  by  finding  him  regarded  as  a  Unitarian,  and  unwilling 
to  be  held  responsible  for  his  utterances,  warned  the  public  against 
him.  They  protested  against  "  his  excessive  radicalism  and  irrever- 
ence," "  treating  the  Holy  Oracles  and  the  endeared  forms  of  our 
holy  religion  with  contempt."  Although  now  squarely  outside  of 
that  denomination,  he  continued  to  exert  a  powerful  influence  over 
large  numbers,  especially  of  the  younger  minds  who  remained  within 
it,  contending  for  what  he  sometimes  called  "  Free  Unitarianism," 
which  proved  to  be  the  first  stage  of  the  "  Free  Religious"  move- 
ment of  a  few  years  later.  By  "  Free  Unitarianism,"  Parker  meant 
neither  Arianism  nor  Socinianism,  but  Unitarianism  delivered  from 
all  the  elements  of  the  old  theology,  such  as  a  supernatural  revela- 
tion and  the  "  Lordship  of  Christ,"  both  of  which  implied  limitations 
of  faith. 

In  Mr.  Parker  the  rationalistic  and  transcendental  tendencies 
of  his  times  were  singularly  combined.  His  logical  faculty  being 
only  feebly  developed,  he  afforded  abundant  evidences  of  logical 
inconsistency,  and  there  was  an  almost  entire  absence  of  strict 
logical  processes  in  his  arguments.  His  reasoning  was  a  species  of 
dogmatizing.  His  ideality  was  large,  and  he  was  eminently  an  intui- 
tionalist,  although  not  purely  so,  as  was  Mr.  Emerson.     His  doctrine 


MR.  PARKER'S   UTTERANCES.  637 

of  intuitions  was  the  cprner-stone  of  his  system.     Believing  in  the 
original  dignity  and  purity  of  human  nature,  and  in   the  veracity  of 
its  intuitions,  he  regarded  the  intuitive  power  as  absolute,  and  hence 
he  proclaimed  an  absolute  religion,  having  its  sources  in  the  human 
soul.     He  accepted  Christ  only  as  a  man  ;  the  highest  representative 
of  absolute  religion,  because  possessing  the  power  of  intuition  in  a 
hicrher  decrree  than  any  other  man  ever  did.     Yet  even  "  He  was  not 
ex^'empt  fr'om  errors."     Historical  Christianity   Mr.    Parker  rejected 
as  a  growth  out  of  the   corruptions    of  the    ages,   with   "  dogmas 
repulsive   to  the  moral   intuitions."     He  contended  that  the  Bible 
was  to  be  read  and  criticised  on  the  natural  ground  of  all  other  his- 
tories, being,  like  them,  colored  with  the  misconceptions  of  the  times 
in  which  it  was   recorded.     Even   the   teachings  of  Jesus,  he  con- 
tended  were   mixed  with  the  imperfect  local  elements  of  his  age 
and  race,  and  that  by  the  power  of  intuition  every  human  soul  could 
clearly  recognize  all  that  is  absolutely  good  and  true  in  the  instruc- 
tions of  Jesus,  the  prophets  and  apostles,  they  being  inspired  only 
like  other  men.    Miracles  he  did  not  consider  an  a  priori  impossibility, 
because  God  is  a  being  of  unlimited  power ;  but  the  accounts  of  mira- 
cles are  open  to  criticism,  and  the  evidence  of  miracles  in  all  history, 
sacred  or  profane,  ancient,  mediaeval,  or  those  of  modern  Spiritualism, 
is  very  defective  ;  and  even  if  they  could  be  substantiated,  no  essen- 
tial connection  could  be  demonstrated  between  them  and  spiritual 
truths,  for  such  truths  come  by  intuition  and  appeal  to  intuition. 

During  his  last  years  Mr.  Parker  devoted  himself  to  what  he 
intended  should  be  the  great  work  of  his  life-an  account  of  the 
development  of  religion  through  all  nations.  He  died  May  lO,  i860 
and  left  the  work  in  a  fragmentary  condition.  Many  very  radical 
utterances  from  Mr.  Parker  might  be  quoted.  Speaking  of  Christ 
as  a  teacher,  he  said  : 

I  do  not  know  that  he  did  not  teach  some  errors  along  with  it.  I  care  not  if  he 
did  *  .  He  Gesus)  is  the  greatest  person  of  the  ages  ;  the  i)roudest  achievement 
of  the  human  race.  He  taught  the  absolute  religion,  love  to  God  and  man.  That 
God  has  yet  greater  men  in  store  I  doubt  not.t If  Jesus  were  ever  mis- 
taken, as  the  evangelists  make  it  appear,  then  it  is  a  part  of  Christianity  to  avoid 
his  mistakes  as  well  as  to  accept  his  truths.  \ 

As  early  as  1852,  when  his  congregation  left  the  Melodeon  for 
the  Music  Hall,  he  said : 

I  take  not  the  Bible  for  my  master,  nor  yet  the  Church,  nor  even  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, for  my  master.  .  .  .  He  Qesus)  is  my  best  historic  ideal  of  human  great- 

"     •  speeches.  Addresses  and  Occasional  Sermons.     By  Theodore  Parker      Boston   Horace  B. 
Fuller.  1871.     P.X6.  t /^V/..  p.  «.  Xllnd.,^.^. 


638  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ness ;  not  without  errors,  nor  without  the  stain  of  his  times,  and  I  presume,  of 
course,  not  without  sins ;  for  men  without  sins  exist  in  the  dreams  of  gi'"'''-  "O^  '" 
real  fact.     You  never  saw  such  a  one,  nor  I,  and  I  presume  we  never  shall. 

While  Messrs.  Parker,  Emerson,  and  their  associates,  were  exert- 
ing so  great  an  influence  for  radical  ideas,  the  major  part  of  the 
Unitarian  party  for  a  short  time  became  more  conservative,  express- 
ing itself  decidedly  in  favor  of  supernaturalism,  evincing  a  more 
denominational  character  and  publishing  the  formal  statement  of 
faith,  thus  seeking  to  vindicate  itself  against  all  suspicions  of  com- 
plicity with  them.  It  was  in  allusion  to  this  action  that  Mr.  Parker, 
not  long  before  his  death,  declared  that  the  Unitarian  body  had 
"become  a  sect,  hide-bound,  bridled  with  its  creed,  harnessed  to  an 
old,  lumbering,  crazy  chariot,  urged  with  sharp  goads  by  near- 
sighted drivers  along  the  dusty  and  broken  pavement  of  tradition, 
noisy  and  shouting,  but  going  nowhere."  * 

This  language  shows  how  completely  Mr.  Parker  was  separated 
from  his  former  Unitarian  friends  before  he  died.  Immediately  after 
Mr.  Parker's  death  the  public  mind  was  occupied  with  the  exciting 
scenes  and  great  responsibilities  of  the  civil  war,  and  rationalistic 
ideas  made  little  perceptible  progress.  Mr.  Emerson  was  still  upon 
the  platform  as  a  lecturer,  but  his  topics  were  chiefly  of  a  national 
or  a  practical  character.  Before  the  war  closed,  however,  in  1864, 
Rev.  Octavius  B.  Frothingham,  of  New  York  city,  delivered  a  dis- 
course before  the  Alumni  of  Cambridge  Divinity  School  on  the 
"Religion  of  Nature,"  which  attracted  much  attention  on  account 
of  its  radical  positions.  A  great  personal  admirer  of  Mr.  Parker, 
this  discourse  marked  him  as  Parker's  successor  in  the  apostleship 
of  doubt — a  distinction  which  his  later  career  justified. 

A  Break. 

The  preamble  adopted  at  the  National  Conference  of  Unitarian 
Churches  in  1865,  elsewhere  referred  to,  expressing  the  least  possible 
statement  of  Christian  faith,  was  resolutely  opposed  by  a  large 
minority.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Conference,  at  Syracuse, 
Rev.  F.  E.  Abbott  introduced  a  resolution  to  repeal  the  preamble, 
which  was  voted  down.  The  adoption  of  the  phrase  ''Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  aroused  a  sharp  debate ;  but  the  conservatives  were  victo- 
rious. The  defeated  party  comprised  some  of  the  younger  ministers 
of  recognized  ability  and  culture.  At  the  close  of  the  Conference 
the  disaffected    ones  were    simultaneously  prompted    to  think   of 

*  Experience  as  a  Minister.     By  Theodore  Parker.     Boston,  i860.     P.  108. 


THE  FREE  RELIGIOUS  ASSOCIATION.  639 

organizing  some  kind  of  a  "club"  or  association,  in  which  their 
extreme  opinions  could  be  represented.  The  result  was  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Free  Religious  Association.  Its  first  meeting  was 
held  in  Boston,  May  28  and  29,  1867,  in  response  to  a  call  issued 
by  Revs.  O.  B.  Frothingham,  Wm.  J.  Potter  and  Rowland  Conner, 
the  two  former  of  Unitarian  and  the  latter  of  Universalist  ante- 
cedents. A  considerable  number  of  religious  radicals  came  together, 
claiming  that  the  "  time  had  come  for  a  new  religious  departure." 

The  first  president  was  Rev,  Octavius  B.  Frothingham,  of  New 
York  city. 

The  objects  of  the  Association  as  set  forth  in  the  first  article  of 
the  Constitution  are,  "to  promote  the  interests  of  pure  religion,  to 
encourage  the  scientific  study  of  theology,  and  to  increase  fellow- 
ship in  the  spirit." 

In  the  first  meeting  Mr.  F.  E.  Abbott  said: 

We  profess  no  especial  discipleship  to  Jesus.  We  are  disciples  only  of  the 
Spirit  and  the  Truth  wherever  they  are  found.  We  acknowledge  no  authority, 
whether  in  thought  or  action,  but  the  intrinsic  authority  of  truth,  righteousness 
and  love.  To  this  we  bow  most  reverently.  We  utterly  discard  that  principle  of 
authority  upon  which  all  organized  "Christian"  churches  are  built,  and  take  our 
stand  on  the  ground  of  spiritual  freedom — free  religion.  * 

Mr.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  also  present,  and  said : 

We  are  all  very  sensible,  it  is  forced  on  us  every  day,  of  the  feeling  that  the 
churches  are  outgrown  ;  that  the  creeds  are  outgrown  ;  that  a  technical  theology 
no  longer  suits  us.t 

Shortly  after  the  organization  of  this  Association  the  "Radical 
Club"  came  into  existence  in  Boston.  Two  periodical  organs  were 
published,  The  Radical,  in  Boston,  and  The  Index,  first  in  Toledo,  O., 
but  later  in  Boston.  The  Index  has  disappeared  and  The  Radical 
is  "twice  dead."  The  Free  Religious  Association  continues  to  exist, 
and  held  its  twentieth  anniversary  in  May,  1887,  at  which  Mr. 
Abram  W.  Stevens,  of  Cambridge,  argued  that  its  policy  was  better 
than  "the  myths  of  Christianity."     Rev.  Minot  J.  Savage  said : 

Toward  a  man  like  Theodore  Parker,  for  instance,  the  sentiment  has  changed 
to-day  his  portrait  is  one  of  the  most  honored  in  the  Unitarian  Building.  Al- 
though he  left  us  we  have  marched  on,  and  to-day  are  around  him,  and  are 
ready  to  accept  all  his  beliefs,  and  if  he  were  here  to-day  some  of  us  would  like 
him  to  take  a  few  steps  in  advance.  Here  are  some  extracts  from  a  layman's  letter 
which  will  indicate  some  of  the  changes  quite  well.  "I  do  not  like  to  hear  of 
•Channing'  Unitarianism.  I  used  to  dislike  to  read  of  Theodore  Parker  saying  that 
he  could  approach  God  without  the  mediation  of  Christ.     To-day  I  read  Parker's 


*  Report  of  the  First  Meeting  of  the  Free  Religious  Association.    P.  37.         t  Ibid.   Pp.  52,  53. 


640  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

prayers  to  my  Sunday-school  class,  and  I  recently  read  one  of  his  sermons,  and  it 
was  greatly  admired  by  the  audience.  I  think  I  am  a  representative  Unitarian." 
Now  let  me  show  you  some  of  the  changes.  We  are  gradually  drifting  away  from 
the  old  idea  that  the  Bible  has  any  particular  significance  or  authority.  We  have 
no  reliance  on  any  historic  person  like  Christ. 


Section  ^.—Multiform  Skepticism. 

Riddle  {Bampton  Lecture,  1852,)  gives  the  following  phases  of 
infidelity  in  our  times: 

I,  Rationalism  ;  2,  Spiritualism  ;  3,  Naturalism  ;  4,  Deism  ;  5,  Pantheism  ;  6, 
Atheism. 

Pearson  in  his  Prize  Essay*  on  Infidelity,  its  Aspects,  Causes  and 
Agencies,  classifies  the  forms  of  modern  infidelity  as  follows: 

I,  Atheism,  or  the  denial  of  the  Divine  existence;  2,  Pantheism,  or  the  denial 
of  the  Divine  personality  ;  3.  Naturalism,  or  the  denial  of  the  Divine  government  : 
4,  Spiritualism,  or  the  denial  of  the  Divine  redemption;  5.  Indifferentism,  or  the 
denial  of  man's  responsibility;  and,  6.  Formalism,  or  the  denial  of  the  power  of 
godliness. 

Professor  Christlieb  {Evattgelical  Alliance  Essay,  1873,)  says: 

The  chief  systematic  tendencies  of  modern  infidelity  may  be  comprised  under 
these  three  heads:  Unchristian  philosophy,  destructive  historical criticistn,  and 
antimiraculous  natural  science. 

It  will  be  evident  to  all  readers  that  it  will  be  impossible  within 
the  limits  of  this  volume  to  unfold  at  length  the  skeptical  tendencies 
of  our  times.     Brief  sketches  of  a  few  American  phases  must  suffice. 

Spiritism. 

The  Spiritistic  transition  in  the  unchristianized  elements  of  our 
population,  so  noticeable  after  1850  that  it  properly  claims  a  place 
in  this  last  period,  had  its  slight  beginnings  as  early  as  1830.  That 
is  the  date,  given  by  the  author  of  the  Autobiography  of  a  Shaker  ■\ 
as  the  year  of  his  conversion  by  "the  agency  of  spirits,"  as  he 
claims,  from  an  Owenite  Materialist  and  Socialist  to  a  Spiritualist  of 
the  Shaker  order.  This  writer  affirms  that  from  1837  to  1844,  while 
no  spiritualistic  phenomenon  appeared  in  the  outer  world,  they 
abounded  in  all  the  Shaker  communities,  with  dozens  of  mediums, 
and  that  they  foretold  the  coming  manifestations  about  to  attract 
so  much  attention.  The  seership  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  dates 
in    1844,  and   the  famous  "rappings"  at    Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in    1849. 

*  London.  iS6o.  ^  Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1869. 


SPIRITISM.  641 

Robert  Owen  in  his  last  days,  and  later  his  son,  Robert  Dale  Owen, 
became  influential  representatives  of  that  faith.  Many  of  the  orig- 
inal communists,  phrenologists,  mesmerists,  and  other  radical  doubt- 
ers, found  their  way  into  the  camp  of  the  Spiritists,  where  they 
still  plotted  against  Christianity  with  the  professed  aid  of  invisi- 
ble allies. 

The  town  of  Arcadia,  Wayne  County.  N.  Y.,  as  early  as  1847 
became  noted  for  strange  spiritualistic  phenomena — Rochester,  in 
1849;  ^"*^  in  1850  "the  Fox  girls"  appeared  in  New  York  city. 
Immediately  following  this  event  the  alleged  spiritual  manifestations 
spread,  and  became  the  topic  of  extensive  discussions  in  all  circles 
of  society.  Large  audiences  gathered  on  Sundays  and  other  days 
to  hear  and  see  the  strange  things.  Converts  were  made  in  large 
numbers.  The  Spiritual  Register  for  1859  estimated  the  number  of 
actual  Spiritualists  in  America  at  1,500,000,  besides  4,000,000  more 
partly  converted  to  the  belief.  The  United  States  Census,  however, 
gave  much  smaller  figures. 

i860.  1870. 

Organizations 95 

Edifices 17  22 

Sittings 6,275  6,970 

Value  of  Property   $7,500  $100,150 

Many  Spiritualists,  however,  have  never  been  associated  under 
any  organization,  and  they  have  little  data  for  any  estimates  as  to 
their  numbers.  The  Banner  of  Light,  established  in  1857,  has  been 
their  leading  journal. 

Besides  the  Fox  girls,  D.  D.  Howe,  the  Davenport  Brothers, 
Koons  of  Ohio,  Florence  Cook  and  the  Holmeses  were  prominent 
mediums.  Many  persons  eminent  in  science,  philosophy,  literature 
and  statesmanship  have  become  avowed  converts  to  Spiritism,  or 
have  admitted  the  phenomena  so  far  as  to  think  there  may  be  a 
new  force  not  hitherto  recognized  by  science  ;  others  have  boldly 
asserted  that  all  the  manifestations  are  attributable  to  physical 
agencies ;  and  others  still  have  explained  them  on  the  ground  of  im- 
posture or  coincidence.  The  cabinet  tricks  have  been  reproduced  by 
ordinary  performers,  and  professional  prestidigitators  have  skillfully 
imitated  the  marvels  of  so-called  Spiritism,  without  the  slightest 
pretense  of  aid  from  spirits.  Numerous  gross  spiritualistic  frauds 
have  been  exposed.  During  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  this  delu- 
sion has  rapidly  declined,  and  it  now  commands  little  attention  or 
respect  in  intelligent  circles;  but  multitudes  have  been  religiously, 
socially  and  intellectually  wrecked  by  its  influence. 
41 


642  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Prof.  Huxley  has  said: 

Spiritualism,  even  if  all  that  is  told  of  it  be  true,  is  a  matter  with  which  science 
has  no  possible  concern.  The  only  good  of  a  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  Spirit- 
ualism would  be  to  furnish  an  additional  argument  against  suicide.  "Better  live  a 
crossing-sweeper  than  die  and  be  made  to  talk  twaddle  by  a  medium  hired  at  a 
guinea  a  seance." 

Doubts  from  Misapprehensions  of  Science. 

The  legitimate  and  laudable  study  of  the  sciences,  particularly 
natural  science,  disclosing  many  errors  in  previously-accepted  ideas 
undermining  theories  supposed  to  be  taught  by  Christianity,  has 
led  to  the  reconstruction  of  some  important  phases  and  even  de- 
partments of  knowledge,  and  unsettled  some  minds  in  the  truth 
of  revealed  religion.  Superficially,  perhaps,  or,  at  least,  undis- 
criminatingly,  predicating  their  faith  upon  the  assumption  that  cer- 
tain theories  pertaining  to  the  material  universe  are  biblical,  and 
that  it  is  the  province  of  the  Bible  to  teach  authoritatively  on  such 
points,  when  they  have  found  that  the  progress  of  natural  science 
has  disclosed  the  inconsistency  and  absurdity  of  those  theories,  their 
confidence  in  the  Bible  has  been  impaired.  Very  many  in  the  first 
revulsion  following  such  discoveries  rejected  Christianity,  while  others 
struggled  on  with  an  enfeebled  faith.  But  men  are  learning  to 
understand  better  what  are  the  functions  of  revealed  religion  as 
related  to  natural  science  ;  that  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  give  us 
only  the  grand  outlines  of  the  first  ages  or  stages  of  creation,  leaving 
the  scientific  details  untouched,  and  that  the  correspondencies  in 
these  leading  features  of  the  creative  processes  with  the  clearly- 
ascertained  facts  of  nature  are  so  great  and  convincing  as  to  over- 
shadow all  the  supposed  discrepancies  in  regard  to  the  details. 
"These  outlines,"  says  Professor  Guyot,  "were  sufficient  for  the  moral 
purposes  of  the  book  ;  the  scientific  details  are  for  us  to  investigate." 
"There  is  so  much  that  the  most  recent  readings  of  science,"  says 
Professor  Dana,  "  have  for  the  first  time  explained,  that  the  idea  of 
man  as  the  a-ithor  becomes  utterly  incomprehensible.  By  proving  the 
record  true,  science  pronounces  it  divine;  for  who  could  have  cor- 
rectly narrated  the  secrets  of  eternity  but  God  himself?"  Such  testi- 
monies as  to  the  assured  results  of  the  teachings  of  science,  by  men 
whose  names  are  enrolled  with  almost  every  noted  scientific  associa- 
tion in  the  world  have  inspired  the  flagging  confidence  in  the  "old 
records,"  and  it  has  now  become  evident  that  doubts  of  this  class 
have  seen  their  most  vigorous  days. 


PHASES  OF  SKEPTICISM.  643 

German  Rationalism. 

The  foreign  source  often  referred  to,  which  has  contributed  to 
the  spread  of  skepticism  during  the  last  thirty-five  years,  has  been 
European  Rationalism,  received  through  European  literature 
eagerly  devoured  by  American  scholars,  and  the  large  accessions  of 
German  population  since  1848.  The  failure  of  the  German  revolu- 
tions (1848-1852)  led  to  a  large  emigration  to  this  country.  Dur- 
ing the  three  years  following  185 1  it  averaged  163.000  Germans 
yearly,  against  68,000  yearly  during  the  five  previous  years.  From 
1851  to  1870  Germany  sent  1,689,236  emigrants  to  our  shores, 
while  France  sent  only  114,107.  Since  1870  the  German  emigra- 
tion has  been  as  large  relatively  as  in  the  previous  twenty  years. 
These  German  emigrants,  settling  largely  by  themselves,  have 
strenuously  maintained  German  customs  and  ideas,  settingat  defiance 
our  Sabbaths,  sustaining  beer-gardens,  infidel  clubs  and  periodicals, 
many  of  them  inculcating  radical  communistic  theories  and  in 
various  other  ways  antagonizing  evangelical  Christianity. 

Odd  Phases. 

American  skepticism  is  disguised  under  such  new  names,  in  later 
years,  that  no  one  term  can  designate  its  multiform  phases.  The 
terms  "infidel,"  "deist,"  and  "atheist"  are  now  almost  obsolete, 
and  "  Radical,"  "Liberal,"  "Free  Religionist,"  and  other  covert 
appellations  have  taken  their  place,  in  deference  to  the  Christian 
sentiment  now  more  dominant  than  ever  before.  And  yet  the 
opposition  to  Christianity  is  not  hidden,  for  Spiritist  rostrums, 
Socialistic  and  Liberal  leagues,  Radical  clubs,  Free  Religious  asso- 
ciations. Liberal  tract  societies,  Paine  Memorial  Hall  addresses,  the 
Investigator,  the  Banner  of  Light,  the  Index,  the  Crucible,  the  Relig- 
io-Pkilosopliical  Journal,  etc.,  etc.,  are  all  warring  against  the  Church 
and  the  great  principles  of  revealed  religion.  Nine  years  ago  a 
writer  familiar  with  modern  infidelity  said  : 

Some  of  the  foremost,  noisiest  skeptics  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  have 
been  Spiritists,  like  Wright,  Denton,  Davis.  Finney,  and  scores  of  others.  When 
Joseph  Barker  closed  his  last  intidel  lectures  in  America,  some  fifteen  years  ago. 
he  advised  his  friends  to  affiliate  with  Spiritists,  as  their  best  allies  against  the  Bilile 
and  the  Church.  His  advice  was  largely  accepted.  Skeptical  advocates.  like  Sea- 
ver,  of  the  Boston  Investigator,  finding  no  halls  or  audiences  of  iheir  own, 
gladly  accepted  Spiritist  platforms.  Many  Spiritists  at  first  protested  against 
being  saddled  by  these  infidel  speakers.  When  Finney  first  lectured  for  Boston 
Spiritists  his  blasphemy  nearly  emptied  the  hall  before  he  closed  ;  but  now  Denton  * 

*  Since  deceased. 


644    -         CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

and  others  of  like  skeptical  mania  can  pour  out  their  ribaldry  against  the  Bible  and 
the  Church  i)y  the  hour,  and  elicit  roars  of  laughter  and  rounds  of  loud  applause. 

About  twenty-five  years  ago  Nichols.  Andrews,  Warren,  Brisbane,  Clapp  and 
others,  forming  a  socialist  coterie  in  New  York,  engrafted  Spiritism  with  the  philos- 
ophy of  *•  individual  sovereignty,"  in  opposition  to  all  objective  authority  in  society, 
government,  and  religion.  "  Free-love  "  was  one  of  the  first  outcroppings  of  this 
philosophy.  Again  Spiritists  |)rotested,  but  it  was  against  the  inevitable  destiny 
of  their  cause.  The  free-love  element  at  last  rode  into  i^ower.  and  in  1870  Mrs. 
Woodhull  took  the  chair  of  all  that  was  left  of  the  American  Spiritist  Convention. 
A  speaker  in  that  convention  denounced  all  legislators,  laws,  law-abiding  men  and 
institutions,  and  cried,  "Down  with  them  !  We  mean  rebellion."  .  .  . 

Several  speakers  proposed  to  substitute  "  affinity  "  for  marriage.  Two  noted 
lecturers  boasted  of  being  illegiiimate  children  and  cursed  matrimony.  Various 
Spiritist  conventions  have  passed  resolutions  utterly  ignoring  all  Christian  stand- 
ards of  social,  civil,  moral,  and  religious  authority.  Added  to  nuinerous  other 
proois  of  the  teachings  and  practical  results  of  Spiritism  are  the  appalling  facts — 
thousands  of  homes  wrecked,  thousands  of  husbands  and  wives  sundered,  thou- 
sands of  children  made  worse  than  homeless  orphans,  thousands  of  souls  shat- 
tered in  taith  and  hope,  thousands  driven  into  the  rayless  night  of  atheism,  and 
thousands  fallen  into  the  lower  deeps  of  demoralization. 

While  there  are  some  Spiritists  who  claim  a  belief  in  harmony  with  the  Bible, 
some  claiming  high  moral  ground,  soine  well  cultured,  well  educated,  and  other- 
wise well  balanced,  some  scientists  and  philosophers  of  no  little  repute,  some 
honest,  unsophisticated,  and  uninitiated,  on  the  other  hand,  a  large  majority  of 
Spiritist  leaders,  writers,  lecturers  and  mediums  are  in  the  dangerous  direction 
already  indicated.  The  heads  of  nearly  all  the  free-love  cliques  are  noted  Spirit- 
ists, and  talk  as  though  the  great  mission  of  the  dead  were  to  come  back  and  open 
a  Pandemonium  of  new-fangled  harlots  and  libertines.  Rev.  William  Fishbougli. 
formerly  scribe  of  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  says.  Spiritism  "attacks  all  that  is  vital 
in  religion,  the  barrier  to  vice  and  social  disorder,  and  threatens  all  the  chief  bonds 
of  society."  The  eminent  Mrs.  Richmond  says,  Spiritists  "  deny  Christianity  and 
all  other  supports  of  law  and  order.  We  have  as  advocates  the  offscourings  of 
society.  It  has  been  the  cloak  of  all  debasing  acts,  a  vehicle  for  all  debasing  the- 
ories. We  are  made  to  incite  or  justify  every  crime  in  the  decalogue,  and  have 
become  the  confederates  in  every  scheme  of  imposture." 

While  the  so-called  Liberals  and  other  classes  of  skeptics  do  not  indorse  all 
the  theories  and  coarse,  crude  expressions  of  Spiritists,  they  have  some  of  the  same 
leading  aims  and  ends  in  view.f 


Section  d.— The  Latest  Socialism.. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  two  socialistic  communities  in  Iowa 
— the  Icarian,  at  Corning,  in  Adams  County,  and  the  Inspirationists, 
at  Amana.  The  former  had  its  origin  in  France,  settled  in  a  body  in 
Nauvoo,  111.,  but  moved  to  Iowa  in  1854.  The  founder  was  Etienne 
Cabet.     Like  many  other  communistic  bodies,  it  had  no  religious 

1 1  he  Anti-Skepfic,  Boston,  January,  1878,  p.  i,  etc. 


SOCIALISTIC  ANARCHISM.  64S 

forms,  was  essentially  atheistic,  and  Sunday  was  a  day  of  amuse- 
ment. Their  property,  a  farm  of  3,000  acres,  was  owned  in  com- 
mon, and  for  a  while  they  dwelt  together  harmoniously,  until 
the  more  progressive  elements  arrayed  themselves  against  the  con- 
servatives, and  they  separated  into  the  "  Icarians"  and  the  "  New 
Icarians."  "Highly  ethereal  ideas"  were  cherished,  but  a  millen- 
nial era  looked  for  did  not  come.  Weary  under  long  disappoint- 
ments, one  after  another  withdrew,  and  the  remainder  are  seeking  a 
purchaser  for  their  property,  that  they  may  wind  up  the  concern  and 
go  to  California.  In  a  short  time  this  experiment  will  be  known 
only  in  history. 

The  other  body,  the  Inspirationists,  possess  25,000  acres  of  land 
and  have  a  population  of  1,500,  divided  into  seven  villages,  and 
employed  in  farming  and  manufacturing.  Each  family  has  its 
house,  and  all  cook  and  eat  together  in  "centrals;"  but  the  men  and 
women  eat  apart.  At  the  head  of  the  organization  is  a  woman  who 
is  supposed  by  the  members  to  speak  by  direct  "  inspiration  of 
God."  They  came  from  Germany  to  the  State  of  New  York  in 
1841,  and  moved  to  Iowa  in  1856.  The  Society  owes  its  origin  to 
an  ignorant  servant-maid  who  for  many  years  was  the  "  inspired 
oracle  "  at  Amana.  Not  the  Bible,  but  direct  commands  from  God, 
are  the  basis  of  action.     The  Sioux  City  Journal  says : 

Amusements  generally  are  forbidden;  even  photographs  and  pictures  are  not 
allowed.  Their  rules  of  daily  lifi  are  very  strict  and  severe,  enjoining  abstinence, 
penitence,  and  deep  devotion.  This  Society  is  successful  financially,  to  say  the 
Feast.  The  members  are  good  citizens,  pay  their  taxes,  avoid  litigation,  and  if 
they  find  happiness  in  complying  with  their  rigid  rules  of  government,  who  can 
say  them  nay  } 

Socialistic  Anarchism. 

Under  this  designation  we  have  the  most  radical  divergence 
from  faith  in  our  times.     It  has  its  root  in  the  baldest  atheism. 

The  great  mass  of  our  emigrant  population  are  "  wage  work- 
ers," without  capital,  and  mostly  destitute  of  education  and  culture; 
densely  ignorant.  As  to  self-government,  they  have  had  no  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  that  difficult  art.  Foreign  Roman  Catholics  on 
our  shores  rapidly  unlearn  the  churchly  lesson  of  obedience,  and 
the  element  of  wholesome  reverence  and  fear  rapidly  declining 
among  Protestants  is,  we  apprehend,  not  being  conserved  by  a 
growth  of  conscience.  Many  of  these  new  comers  are  refugees 
from  countries  where  both  the  Church  and  the  State  are  term-sym- 
bols of  oppression;  where  a  hatred  of  Christianity  is  generated  in 
the  depths  of  the  soul,  and  a  radical  jealousy  of  civil  control  inclines 


646  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  revolution  and  anarchy.  The  New  World  hastily  invests  these 
classes,  fired  with  revulsion  against  all  constituted  authority,  with 
the  privileges  and  prerogatives  of  citizenship.  Without  police  sur- 
veillance they  are  allowed  to  hold  meetings,  to  discuss  and  denounce 
abuses,  authorities  and  institutions.  They  may  organize,  plot  and 
threaten  the  overthrow  of  the  most  vital  interests,  and  no  one  inter- 
feres until  a  fatal  blow  is  struck.  They  may  poison  the  atmosphere 
of  thought  with  the  most  revolutionizing  theories,  may  debauch 
public  sentiment,  may  enfeeble  the  foundations  of  government,  and 
all  with  impunity. 

Said  Rev.  Lyman  Abbott,  D.D.*  : 

One  half  of  our  workers  are  wage  workers ;  one  third  of  our  population,  in- 
cluding the  vast  majority  of  our  wage  workers,  are  either  of  foreign  birth  or  chil- 
dren of  foreign-born  parents.  They  are  restless  and  are  growing  more  so.  There 
is  no  power  in  any  Church  to  which  they  owe  allegiance  adequate  to  prevent  an 
outbreak.  There  is  no  power  in  the  State,  no  police,  no  military  capable  of  quell- 
ing it.  Large  numbers  of  them  acknowledge  no  fealty  to  any  religion  which 
leaches  them  the  duty  or  endows  them  with  the  power  of  self-restraint.  The 
churches  too  often  address,  not  their  conscience,  but  their  imagination.  The 
schools  address  not  their  conscience,  but  their  intellect.  Men  who  have  been 
taught  that  moral  order  is  despotism  and  modern  property  is  theft,  find  themselves 
in  a  country  where  the  only  support  of  order  is  an  enlightened  conscience,  and  the 
only  protection  of  property  is  an  enlightened  self-interest,  and  neither  their  con- 
science nor  their  self-interest  is  enlightened.  Believing  that  property  is  theft,  they 
believe  that  spoliation  is  redress  ;  believing  that  the  world's  wealth  is  their  inherit- 
ance, of  which  they  have  been  too  long  unjustly  deprived,  they  are  ready  with  no 
gentle  voice  to  demand  of  society,  "  Give  me  the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to  me  ;  " 
and  we  maybe  sure  that  if  it  were  given  to  them  it  would  soon  be  spent  in  riotous 
living,  not  followed  by  repentance  and  a  request  for  employment  as  hired  servants. 

These  very  threatening  elements  in  our  population,  so  anxiously 
engrossing  public  attention,  present  a  serious  problem  in  our 
national  life,  the  solution  of  which  only  the  future  historian  can 
record. 


Section  JO.— Mormonism, 

whose  origin  was  sketched    in   the  previous  period,  has  become  an 
ecclesiastical  despotism  of  immense  strength. 

Attention  has  recently  been  called  to  the  strange  theological 
phases  of  Mormonism  heretofore  not  much  considered.  Rev.  A. 
E.  Winship,+  who  extensively  and  closely  studied  Mormonism  dur- 
ing a  long  period  spent  in  Utah,  says : 

♦  Century,  November.  1885. 

t  Late  Secretary  of  the  New  West  Education   Commission,  now  editor  of  the  Journal  0/ 
Education,  Boston,  Mass. 


THEOLOGY  OF  MORSfONISM.  647 

They  teach  that  God  is  a  man  ;  that  he  has  numerous  wives  by  whom  he  has  peo- 
pled space  with  an  infinite  number  of  spirits  that  have  existed  cycles  of  ages,  prac- 
tically from  all  eternity.  These  have  all  knowledge  in  the  abstract,  but  none  in  the 
concrete,  knowing  what  might  be  rather  than  what  is.  It  is  a  state  of  perpetual  unrest. 
They  can  only  be  transformed  into  human  souls,  with  the  eternal  possibility  of  a  soul, 
through  birth.  Christ  was  a  favorite  son  by  a  favorite  wife,  but  birth  into  human 
life  was  the  only  way  he  could  come  into  the  enjoyment  of  the  real  life.  These 
spirits  are  all  the  sons  of  God,  but  can  only  realize  and  enjoy  their  sonship  through 
birth.  They  are  every-\shere  present.  They  are  about  ever)- one  of  us  pleading  to 
be  bom.  "  I  was  once  a  spirit  pleading  to  be  bom,"  I  heard  an  elder  say  at  a 
funeral.  "  If  our  ears  were  spiritually  open,  we  could  hear  them  pleading  piteously 
to  be  born.  The  highest  privilege  and  possibility  of  humanity  is  to  liberate  these 
spirits."  Women  are  taught  this  from  the  cradle.  I  heard  it  preached  to  a  church 
full  of  people,  the  majority  of  whom  were  young.  The  inevitable  tendency  is  the 
early  marriage  of  the  girls.  It  seems  too  damnable  to  be  true,  but  true  it  is,  that 
they  use  this  philosophy  to  reconcile  the  wife  to  the  much-married  state  of  her 
husband,  that  he  may  not  be  Umited  in  the  possibilities  of  releasing  the  sons  of 
God  from  the  imprisonment  of  spirithood.  This  theory,  in  its  fruitage,  is  the 
reigning  vice  of  the  entire  system.  It  magnifies  animalism  by  means  of  the  most 
sacred  instincts  of  woman's  nature.  Heaven  itself  is  viewed  as  the  place  for  the 
limitless  gratification  of  the  passions,  without  the  limitations  of  the  flesh.  .  .  . 
"Gentiles,"  said  Orson  Pratt,  "  who  have  lived  virtuous,  upright,  truthful  lives, 
obedient  to  all  the  light  they  have  received,  will  be  admitted  to  heaven,  but  they  can 
only  be  bachelor  angels  serving  the  saints." 

Eradicate  polygamy  and  leave  Mormonism,  and  you  have  the  system  with 
the  disease  "  struck  in."  The  condition  would  be  much  like  that  of  the  child  with 
scarlet  fever,  suffering  from  seme  experience  that  drove  the  flush  from  the  skin  into 
the  blood.  The  only  remedy  will  be  one  that  purifies  the  life  blood  of  the  people, 
until  they  scale  off  polygamy  as  a  dead  and  unwelcome  attachment.  .  .  .  Law 
cannot  directly  purify  the  system  of  the  "  blood  poison  ;  "  they  must  have  different 
mental  diet,  must  breathe  a  changed  moral  atmosphere,  must  have  new  inspir- 
ations, before  we  can  hope  for  the  ultimate  restoration  of  the  life  of  Utah  to 
honesty,  loyalty  and  purity. 

The  Mormon  population  of  138.000  is  dominated  by  28,838  offi- 
cials, or  more  than  one  for  every  five  persons,  with  all  the  threads  of 
authority  gathered  into  the  hands  of  its  president.  It  is  more  than  a 
Church ;  it  is  a  State,  and  is  controlled  by  its  head  in  all  temporal, 
social,  political  and  religious  matters,  by  a  power  claiming  an  infallibil- 
ity unequaled  by  the  Pope  of  Rome.  The  political  pretensions  of 
^lormonism  are  more  and  more  eclipsing  the  religious.  Visions  of 
an  earthly  empire  now  dazzle  the  eyes  of  its  leaders,  and  they  are 
endeavoring  to  set  up  a  kingdom  *  which  shall  extend  throughout 
the  valleys  of  Utah,  Montana,  Idaho,  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Arizona 
and  Nevada.  Bishop  Lunt  has  freely  uttered  the  designs  of  Mor- 
monism in  the  following  lines: 


*  Address  before  the  Home  Missionarj'  Society,  in  Juue,  1S81. 


648  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Like  a  grain  of  mustard-seed  was  the  truth  planted  in  Zion  ;  and  it  is  destined 
to  spread  through  all  the  world.  Our  Church  has  been  organized  only  fifty  years, 
and  yet  behold  its  wealth  and  power.  This  is  our  year  of  jubilee.  We  look  for- 
ward with  perfect  confidence  to  the  day  when  we  will  hold  the  reins  of  the  United 
States  Government.  That  is  our  present  temporal  aim  ;  after  that  we  expect  to 
control  the  continent.  .  ,  .  We  do  not  care  for  these  territorial  officials  sent  out  to 
govern  us.  They  are  nobodies  here.  We  do  not  recognize  them,  neither  do  we 
fear  any  practical  interference  by  Congress.  We  intend  to  have  Utah  recognized 
as  a  State.  To-day  we  hold  the  balance  of  political  power  in  Idaho,  we  rule  Utah 
absolutely,  and  in  a  very  short  time  we  will  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  Arizona 
and  Wyoming.  A  few  months  ago  President  Snow,  of  St.  George,  set  out  with  a 
band  of  priests  for  an  extensive  tour  through  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  Wyoming, 
Montana,  Idaho  and  Arizona,  to  proselyte.  We  also  expect  to  send  missionaries 
to  some  parts  of  Nevada,  and  we  design  to  plant  colonies  in  Washington  Ter- 
ritory. 

In  the  past  six  months  we  have  sent  more  than  3,000  of  our  people  down  through 
the  Sevier  Valley  to  settle  in  Arizona,  and  the  movement  still  progresses.  All  this 
will  build  up  for  us  a  political  power  which  will  in  time  con-.pel  the  homage  of  the 
demagogues  of  the  country.  Our  vote  is  solid,  and  will  remain  so.  It  will  be 
thrown  where  the  most  good  will  be  accomplished  for  the  Church.  Then,  in  some 
great  political  crisis,  the  two  present  political  parties  will  bid  for  our  support.  Utah 
will  then  be  admitted  as  a  polygamous  State,  and  the  other  Territories  we  have 
peacefully  subjugated  will  be  admitted  also.  We  will  then  hold  the  balance  of 
power  and  will  dictate  to  the  country.  In  time  our  principles,  which  are  of  sacred 
origin,  will  spread  throughout  the  United  States.  We  possess  the  ability  to  turn 
the  political  scale  in  any  particular  community  we  desire.  Our  people  are  obedient. 
When  they  are  called  by  the  Church  they  promptly  obey.  They  sell  their  houses, 
lands  and  stock,  and  remove  to  any  part  of  the  country  the  Church  may  direct 
them  to.  You  can  imagine  the  results  which  wisdom  may  bring  about  with  the 
assistance  of  a  Church  organization  like  ours. 

Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  in  an  article  in  the  Advance,'*'  said: 
With  Utah  overwhelmingly  dominated  by  the  Mormon  Theocracy  of  their 
established  Church,  and  wielding  also,  as  they  already  claim,  the  balance  of  power 
in  the  adjoming  Territories,  this  Turkish  barbarism  may  control  the  half-dozen  new 
States  of  our  interior,  and,  by  the  power  of  their  senators  and  representatives  in 
both  branches  of  Congress,  may  even  dictate  to  the  nation  itself. 

Mormonism  is  a  great  colonizer.  By  a  thoroughly-worked  col- 
onization system,  drafting  and  distributing  its  people  under  her 
sovereign  behest,  she  has  already  gained  an  area  of  350,000  square 
miles  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  which  is  being  gradually  occu- 
pied. To  facilitate  this  work  in  1849,  a  "Perpetual  Emigration 
Fund  "  was  founded  to  aid  in  bringing  converts  from  Europe.  These 
have  not  been  few.  In  the  first  ten  years  after  the  fund  was  instituted 
the  Mormon  immigrants  numbered  about  7,500;  from  1859  to  1869, 
20,000;  from  1879  to  1884,  the  number  exceeded  12,000. 

*  .\ugust  24,  1882. 


EDUCATION  IN  UTAH.  649 

The  Mormon  problem  severely  taxes  our  statesmen  and  reform- 
ers. Political,  educational  and  religious  solutions  have  all  been 
deeply  pondered.  LaAVs  for  the  suppression  of  polygamy,  the  se- 
questration of  its  wealth,  the  disablement  of  the  hierarchy,  have  been 
proposed  ;  but  no  clearing  light  yet  dawns  upon  the  vexed  question. 

Local  school  education  supervised  by  priest  trained  Mormons,  and 
governmental  education  controlled  by  agents  politically  appointed, 
will,  we  fear,  both  be  ineffectual.  The  school  movement  should  be 
free  to  all,  inculcating  the  best  science  ;  loyal  to  the  Bible,  but  with- 
out fanaticism  ;  spiritual,  but  not  superstitious  ;  permeated  with  the 
true  spirit  of  reform,  but  not  revolutionary:  with  ethics  dominating 
theology.  The  New  West  Education  Commission,  organized  in 
Chicago,  in  1879,  '^  wisely  directing  such  a  work. 

The  Congregationalists  were  the  pioneers  in  Christian  anti-Mor- 
mon work.  Rev.  Norman  McLeod  their  first  missionary  to  Salt 
Lake,  in  December,  1864.  The  Episcopalians  followed  two  years 
later  under  Bishop  Tuttle.  In  1869  the  Presbyterians,  in  1870  the 
Methodists,  and  a  little  later  the  Roman  Catholics  appeared  in  the 
field.  The  Baptists  came  in  1872,  though  not  obtaining  a  perma- 
nent footing  until  1881,  and  the  Lutherans  in  1883.  Each  denomi- 
nation has  founded  schools  and  academies.  The  opposition  of  the 
Mormons  to  these  Churches  has  been  bitter  and  unrelenting,  and  all 
the  gains  have  been  quite  recent.  Within  twenty  years,  probably, 
one  million  of  dollars  have  been  expended  by  the  Protestant 
churches  of  the  United  States  for  the  regeneration  of  Utah. 

Schools.       Teachers.  Pupils. 

Presbyterian 3'  54  1.900 

Congregational 28  49  I.750 

Methodist 10  15  806 

Episcopalians 5  25  763 

Total 74  143  5.219 

Thirty-four  churches  have  been  gathered,  with  a  membership  of 
1,648.  Nearly  5,000  children  are  in  Sunday-schools.  Including  the 
wives  of  ministers,  and  other  women  devoted  to  missionary  work, 
the  total  force  of  laborers  cannot  fall  below  300. 

The  latest  statistics  of  Mormonism  give  their  number  at  138,000, 
of  whom  132,700  are  in  Utah  and  Idaho ;  in  Arizona,  4,953  ;  in  Col- 
orado, 1,578  ;  and  several  hundreds  in  Wyoming,  New  Mexico  and 
Nevada.  Of  those  in  Utah  24,000  are  Scandinavians.  The  vast 
majority  have  but  one  wife,  the  polygamous  Mormons  in  Utah  not 
exceeding  2,500. 


630  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Delenda  est  Christianitas 
Is  the  first  and  the  last  motto  of  all  radical  doubters. 

Glanoing  back  for  a  moment  over  these  successive  waves  of  opposition  to  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  America,  one  is  struck  first  of  all  by  the  fact  that  none  of 
them  were  of  American  origin.  The  successive  types  of  unbelief  and  misbelief 
which  have  arisen  and  prevailed  in  Europe  have  in  every  case  deterrhined  the  suc- 
cessive types  of  unbelief  and  misbelief  in  America.  In  most  cases  the  first 
effectual  introduction  of  a  new  type  has  been  due  to  Europeans  coming  to  our 
shores.  Thus,  our  first  popular  infidelity  was  directly  due  to  European  soldiery, 
and  to  such  emigrants  as  Thomas  Paine.  The  great  New  England  defection 
was,  to  a  certain  extent,  pioneered  by  British  Socinians,  and  decidedly  aided  by  the 
coming  of  Joseph  Priestly  and  John  Murray.  The  communistic  crusade  was 
preached  by  Owen  in  person,  and  seconded  by  scores  of  such  foreign-born  adju- 
tants as  G.  H.  and  F.  W.  Evans,  Fanny  Wright  and  A.  J.  Macdonald.  The 
phrenological  revival  of  naturalism  was  introduced  by  a  pupil  of  Gall  and  dissem- 
inated by  the  labors  of  Prussian  Spurzheim  and  Scotch  Combe.  Mother  Ann  Lee, 
whom  England  gave  us,  was  the  early  forerunner  of  American  "  Spiritualism," 
while  the  ghost  of  Scandinavian  Swedenborg  appearing  to  Andrew  Jackson  Davis 
in  a  grave-yard  near  Poughkeepsie,  in  1844,  so  affected  the  deliria  of  that  "seer  " 
and  the  whole  system  of  his  followers  that  the  historian  of  American  Socialisms 
declares  "  Spriritualism  is  Swedenborgianism  Americanized."  Finally  the  tran- 
sition of  the  "Free  Religionists"  from  a  professedly  scriptural  Unitarianism  to  an 
open  repudiation  of  all  positive  revelation  was  an  effect  of  German  speculation 
and  criticism,  mediated  partly  by  such  men  as  Follen,  more  effectively  by  Amer- 
ican students  and  tourists  abroad,  most  potently  of  all  by  the  writings  of  Germans 
and  of  admirers  of  German  literature.  Thus  all  these  threatening  surges  of  Anti- 
christian  thought  and  effort  have  come  to  us  from  European  seas  ;  not  one  arose 
in  our  hemisphere.  Like  other  peoples,  we  have  erred  in  the  sphere  of  religion  ; 
but  our  admitted  errors,  as  in  the  case  of  the  wild  excrescences  of  Mormonism, 
Millerism,  and  Shakerism,  are  all  in  the  direction  of  superstition  rather  than  in 
that  of  unbelief.  America  has  given  the  Old  World  valuable  theological  specula- 
tions, admirable  defenses  of  the  faith,  precious  revival  influences,  memorable 
exhibitions  of  international  charity;  but  she  has  never  cursed  humanity  with  a  new 
form  of  infidelity. 

Confining  our  view  to  the  present,  it  is  a  striking  and  a  cheering  fact  that  no 
form  of  infidelity  among  us  can  boast  of  ^.  single  champion  of  cosmopolitan  or 
even  of  national  reputation.  We  have  no  Strauss,  no  Renan,  not  even  a  Carl 
Vogt.  We  never  have  had.  The  nearest  approach  to  it  we  ever  had  was  the 
forceful  Unitarian  preacher  who  ministered  to  the  "Twenty-eighth  Congregational 
Society,"  in  Boston,  from  1845  to  1859.  Even  he  had  not  the  requisite  learning  or 
genius  to  enable  him  to  propound  a  solitary  new  difficulty  to  the  Christian  schol- 
arship of  his  age.  We  have  infidel  litterateurs  of  respectable  attainments  and 
all-too-wide  influence,  but  in  all  the  ranks  of  American  unbelievers  the  Christian 
apologist  of  learning  and  ability  can  nowhere  find  a  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel.* 


*Rev.  W.  F.  Warren,  D.D.,  LL.D.,    in   Evangelical  Alliance  Volume.     Harper  Brothers 
1874.     Pp.  251-2. 


RECKLESS  DECLARATIONS. 


63 1 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CONVERGENT  CURRENTS. 


Sec.  I.  From  Atheism  to  Theism. 

"  2.  From  Science  vs.  the  Bible,  to  Sci- 
ence with  the  Bible. 

"  3.  From  Christ  Discarded  to  Christ 
Honored. 

"     4.  From  Negative  to  Biblical  Ethics. 


Sec.  5.  From  the  Poverty  of  Skepticism  to 
the  Wealth  of  Christianity. 

"  6.  From  Defiant  Discourtesy  to  Patron- 
izing Respect. 

"     7.  From  Scholastic  to  Vital  Truth. 

"     8.  Vibratory  Movements. 


THE  great  advance  in  scientific  and  philosophic  thought  in  this 
century  found  men  every-where  speculatively  unprepared,  and 
unable   at  once  to  rightly  estimate   the  import    and  tendencies  of 
the  new  discoveries.     Some  vaguely  queried  as  to   what  would  be 
the  fate  of  the  old  faiths  and  ideals  in  which  men  had  long  lived, 
while  others  hailed  the  new  developments  as  harbingers  of  a  revolu- 
tion  which  would  rid  the  world  of  its  old  notions.     One  sanguine 
doubter  loudly  boasted  that  "  before   long   science  would  conduct 
God  to  the  frontier  and  bow  him  out  with  thanks  for  his  provisional 
services."     Down   almost  to   our   times  bold    and    reckless    decla- 
rations of  the  decay   of  Christian   theology  have   been  current   in 
popular  literature.     It  has  been  freely  asserted  that  the  evangelical 
theology  "  has  lost  its  hold   upon   the   intellect  of  the  age,"  that 
"  thinking  men  are  at  their  wits'  end  to  know  what  is  truth ;  "  that 
"  Protestantism  is  a  generator  of  skepticism  ;  "  *  that  "  a  collapse  of 
religious  belief,   of  the  most   complete    and    tremendous  kind,    is 
apparently  now  at  hand  ;  "  f  that    "  traditionary  creeds  are  losing 
their  hold;"  that  "an  intellectual  revolution  is  sweeping  over  the 
world,  breaking  down  established  opinions  and  dissolving  founda- 
tions on  which   historical  faiths  have  been  built;"  that  "science, 
history  and   philosophy  have  created  universal  uncertainty,"  X  and 
that  "  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  be  known   to 
future  historians,  as  especially  the   era    of  the    decomposition  of 
orthodoxies."  §  ^ 


♦Rev.  F.  C.  Ewer,  D.D. 
J  James  Anthony  Froude. 


t  Professor  Goldwin  Smith,  LL.D. 
§  Professor  John  Fiske. 


032  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

This  style  of  talk  has  been  popular  in  free-thinking  circles,  and 
many  people  have  easily  accepted  the  utterances  as  from  wise, 
far-seeing  men,  without  troubling  themselves  to  inquire  closely  into 
the  state  of  the  case.  To  the  monstrous  conceptions  of  "  advanced 
science,"  so  called — "  thought  without  a  thinker,  religion  without  a 
God,  automata  with  duties,  impersonal  immortality,"  etc. — they 
have  yielded,  at  least,  a  quasi  acceptance.  With  some,  faith  has 
given  place  to  credulity — faith  in  miracles  to  faith  in  magic.  The 
drift  toward  agnosticism  and  materialism  has  been  a  palpable 
phenomenon  of  the  times. 

But  "  the  new  wine  of  science  has  seriously  strained  the  old 
mental  bottles."  There  are  clear  indications  that  skepticism  has 
reached  the  point  at  which  it  is  sadly  oppressed  with  weariness  and 
self-distrust,  and  is  furnishing  results  of  ultimate  analysis  which, 
wittingly  or  unwittingly,  are  valuable  contributions  to  the  vindica- 
tion of  Christian  truth,  and  may  yet  help  to  a.  rcuaissance  o{  fa.ith 
in  souls  in  which  it  has  lapsed.  Critical  procedures  have  been 
instituted  which  have  recognized  and  guarded  the  fullest  rights  of 
scientific  investigation  and  the  moral  and  religious  nature,  and  have 
cleared  away  the  confusion  and  misunderstanding  into  which  both 
had  fallen.  In  this  work  Lotze*  has  had  no  superior.  "The  gust 
has  now  largely  blown  over,  at  least  among  thinkers.  We  have  not 
had  a  cosmological  manifesto  from  the  British  Association  for 
eleven  years.  Criticism  has  shown  that  the  perennial  questions  of 
life  remain  what  they  always  have  been,  and  that  the  old  solutions 
are  still  the  best  that  can  be  offered."  f 

Many  are  the  examples  of  indiscreet  and  unscientific  haste  in 
adopting  objections  to  Christianity.  Apparent  difficulties  have 
been  eagerly  seized,  accepted,  and  proclaimed  as  real  faults. 
Enrolled  in  the  arsenal  of  unbelief,  without  even  waiting  for  the 
christening;  and,  echoed  with  loud-mouthed  voices,  they  have  gone 
forth  upon  their  destructive  work  never  to  be  recalled.  Infidelity 
never  corrects  her  blunders,  for  it  would  have  little  else  to  do.  Men 
have  discovered  that  a  little  time  unfolds  clues  which  solve  the  diffi- 
culties sometimes  appearing  in  the  province  of  faith.  Faith  has 
learned  to  hold  her  ground  until  profounder  research  dissipates  the 
mists  in  which  shallow  knowledge  sometimes  enshrouds  the  truth.  As 
an  example  :  At  one  time  German  Rationalists  claimed  that  St.  Luke 
erred  concerning  Lysanias;  but  an  inscription  has  since  been  dis- 
covered near  Baalbec  proving  that   there  were  two  persons  of  that 

•  His  Microcosmus  is  the  master-piece  in  this  field. 

t  Professor  B.  P.  Bowne,  LL.D.,  in  Independent,  Nov   5,  1885. 


IXI'LUENCE  OF  RADICAL   PHILOSOPHY.  683 

name,  father  and  son.  Daniel's  supposed  contradictions  of  profane 
history  in  regard  to  Belshazzar  are  reconciled  by  a  document 
exhumed  in  our  day  from  the  soil  of  Mesopotamia  by  an  En- 
glish gentleman.  So  also  have  the  obscurities  in  regard  to 
"Sargon,  King  of  Assyria,"  and  the  "taxing"  of  Cyrenius  (Luke 
2.  2.)  been  solved  by  late  discoveries. 


Section  1.— From  Atheism  to  Theism- 
Fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  the  tendency  of  scientific  thought 
was   strongly  toward  materialism.     That    there   has  since    been    a 
change  is    a  common    confession,  even  in    the   ranks   of   eminent 
thinkers.     Professor  John  Fiske  says  :  * 

In  my  apprehension  it  is  a  very  serious  mistake,  though  a  very  common  one,  to 
suppose  that  the  tendency  of  modern  philosophic  thought  is  toward  materialism. 
On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  course  of  modern  philosophy  is  distinctly 
in  the  opposite  direction,  and  that  materialism  is  hopelessly  behind  the  age,  so 
that  it  argues  a  much  more  superficial  mind,  and  a  much  inore  imperfect  education, 
to  agree  with  Biichner  to-day  than  to  have  agreed  with  La  Mettrie  a  hundred 
years  ago.  The  moment  the  first  trace  of  conscious  intelligence  is  introduced  we 
have  a  set  of  phenomena  which  materialism  can  in  no  wise  account  for.  The  latest 
and  ripest  philosophic  speculation,  therefore,  as  Professor  Huxley  once  remarked 
to  me,  leaves  the  gulf  between  mind  and  matter  quite  as  wide  and  impassable  as 
it  appeared  in  the  time  of  Descartes.  Materialism  is  thus  more  than  ever  dis- 
credited by  the  dominant  philosophy  of  our  time,  and  it  will  no  doubt  continue  to 
be  more  and  more  discredited  with  each  future  advance  in  philosophic  speculation, 
though  he  thinks  there  will  always  be  a  certain  amount  of  materialism  current  in 
the  world.  There  will  always  be  a  class  of  excellent  people  in  the  world  with  a 
fair  capacity  for  understanding  scientific  generalizations,  but  without  a  head  for 
philosophy  ;  and  this  class  will  produce  the  Buchners  and  La  Mettries  of  the 
future  as  it  has  produced  them  in  the  past  and  present.  The  philosophy  of  the 
future  will  not  be  materialistic.  .  .  .  While  the  doctrine  of  evolution  has 
enormously  increased  our  knowledge  of  the  phenomenal  universe,  it  really  leaves 
all  ultimate  questions  as  much  open  for  discussion  as  they  ever  were. 

It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  amid  all  the  divergencies  of  modern 
thought  from  the  old  religious  and  theological  centers,  causing  deep 
concern  in  some  minds,  there  have  been  very  marked  reverse  ten- 
dencies, largely  from  out  the  camp  of  free  thought,  confirming  and 
establishing  the  old  truths.  Some  forms  of  radical  philosophy  have 
exerted  an  important  and  relatively  ennobling  influence  upon 
rationalistic  theology,  and  upon  the  currents  of  modern  thought. 
It  is  a  significant  fact,  cited  by  Kuntz,  that  while  Kant's  philosophy 

*  North  American  Revietv,  March,  1882,  pp.  263,  264,  266. 


634  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

stood  altogether  outside  of  Christianity,  and  upon  the  same  ground 
with  theological  rationalism,  yet  "  by  digging  deep  into  this  ground 
it  brought  out  a  much  superior  one,  of  whose  existence  vulgar 
rationalism  had  no  idea,"  "  saved  philosophy  from  superficial  self- 
sufficiency  and  quackery,"  "  led  it  out  upon  an  arena  of  unparalleled 
mental  conflict,"  and  thus  unintentionally  "became  a  school-master 
leading  to  Christ  in  manifold  ways."  The  ideas  of  God,  freedom 
and  immortalit)'  Kant  acknowledged  as  "  postulates  of  the  practical 
reason,"  and  the  basis  of  "all  religion  whose  contents  are  above 
the  moral  law." 

Nor  is  Kant  the  only  philosopher  whose  writings  have  served 
the  cause  of  faith.  The  best  forms  of  modern  philosophy  have 
modified  radical  doubt,  and  caused  the  lines  of  true  speculation  to 
converge  toward  the  lines  of  Christian  truth.  It  is  remarkable  how 
much  less  of  real  atheism  and  Pantheism  exists  than  formerly. 
More  than  in  other  days,  they  appear  in  speculative  forms,  tenta- 
tively put  forth  in  connection  with  efforts  to  explore  the  Infinite. 
Even  Hartman  leans  strongly  toward  theism,  though  not  avowing 
it,  for  he  speaks  of  "  One  Absolute  Subject,"  "  One  Identical  Sub- 
ject." Skeptical  philosophy  often  unwittingly  recognizes  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Supreme  Deity,  though  imperfectly,  and  far  from  meas- 
uring up  to  the  Christian  standard.  The  god  of  scientific  theism 
—  a  force,  personal  or  impersonal,  behind  natural  phenomena — is 
indeed  not  such  a  being  as  the  Christian  theist  worships;  but  such 
a  recognition  of  Deity  is  far  in  advance  of  the  blank  atheism  and  the 
atheistic  theory  of  chance  current  a  century  ago. 

"I  am  no  atheist,"  protested  Comte  warmly  to  a  visitor  two 
years  before  his-  death;  "my  attitude  is  that  of  belief;  if  not,  I 
should  have  no  right  to  treat  of  these  matters.  If  you  will  have  a 
theory  of  existence,  an  intelligent  Will  is  the  best  you  can  have."* 
Kant  said,  "  The  great  whole  would  sink  into  an  abyss  of  nothing, 
if  we  did  not  admit  something  originally  and  independently  exter- 
nal to  this  infinite  contingent,  and  as  the  cause  of  its  origin." 
Herbert  Spencer,  professedly  discarding  the  usually  accepted  idea 
of  God,  sometimes  falls  back  upon  anthropomorphic  conceptions 
of  Deity,  and  speaks f  of  the  "  Incomprehensible  Existence,"  the 
"  Unknown  Cause,"  the  "  Inconceivable  Greatness."  Herbert 
Spencer  invests  the  Unknowable  with  all  the  metaphysical  attri- 
butes of  God,  though  he  comes  short  of  the  Christian  idea  of  a 
distinct  personal  Deity.  But  his  Unknowable  "  is  one,  not  many  : 
the  real,  as  opposed  to  the  apparent ;  a  power  and  a  fundamental 

*  Christian  Examiner,  July,  1857.  t  First  Principles,  p.  96. 


FROM  ATHEISM    TO    THEISM.  6SS 

cause ;  persistent   and   unchangeable ;    omnipresent  in    space    and 
eternal  in  time."      Hou-  rich  his   affirmations!     Professor  Tyndall  • 
says  *  "The  idea  of  a  Creative   Power  is  as  necessary  to  the  pro- 
duction of  a  single  original  form  as  to  that  of  a  multitude."     Pro- 
fessor   John    Fiske  has    said,  f  "Provided   we   bear  m  mmd  the 
symbolic  character  of  our  word,  we  may  say,  'God  is  a  Spirit. 
And  Mr   Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  after  long  exploring  the  dreamy 
solitude  of  Pantheism,  came  to  be,  in  the  estimation  of  his  mtimate 
friend    Mr.   Alcott,   a   "Christian   theist."     Heinholtz    has    boldly 
declared  that  the  progress  of  science,  as  a  whole,  must  be  judged 
-by  the  measure   in  which    the   recognition    and  knowledge  oi  a 
causative  connection  embracing  all  phenomena  has  advanced. 

That  crreat  generator  in  modern  science,  nowhere  questioned, 
the  persist'ence  of  force,  leads  directly  up  to  the  Divine,  for  all  power, 
in  the  last  analysis,  is  will.  Gove  shows  the  issue  of  the  conserva- 
tion  of  energy.  He  says:  "In  all  phenomena,  the  more  closely 
they  are  investigated,  the  more  we  are  convinced  that,  humanly 
speaking,  neither  matter  nor  force  can  be  created  or  annihilated, 
and  that  an  essential  cause  is  unattainable.  Causation  is  the  will, 
creation  the  act,  of  God." 

The  essayist  Whipple  quoted  Professor  Agassiz  as  saying  : 

My  experience  in  prolonged  scientific  investigation  convinces  me  that  a  belief 
in  God  a  God  who  is  behind  and  within  the  chaos  of  unguessed  facts,  beyond  the 
present  vanishing  point  of  human  knowledge,  adds  a  wonderful  stimulus  to  the 
man  who  attempts  to  penetrate  the  region  of  the  unknown.  For  myself.  I  may  say 
that  I  never  now  make  the  preparation  for  penetrating  into  some  small  province 
of  nature  hitherto  undiscovered  without  breathing  a  prayer  to  the  Bemg  who  hides 
his  secrets  from  me  only  to  lure  me  on  to  the  unfolding  of  them. 

The  charm  of  a  supposed  new  discovery  has  beguiled  many 
minds.  They  have  seemed  to  see  facts  in  the  light  of  preconceived 
notions.  The  true  philosophical  method  has  often  been  ignored  ; 
extended  generalizations  made  without  a  sufficient  basis  of  facts; 
and  new  theories  wildly  and  rashly  advanced.  Unwise  disputes 
between  science  and  theology  have  been  introduced.  Scientific 
men  have  sometimes  proclaimed  new  theories,  invented  to  dispose 
of  the  supernatural ;  and  theologians  have  attempted  to  disprove 
the  new  theory  on  grounds  of  Scripture  exposition,  forgetting  that 
scientific  hypotheses  must  be  disproved  on  the  ground  of  science 
alone,  and  that  when  the  new  theory  has  attained  the  rank  of  a 
scientific  verity,  and  not  till  then,  is  it  necessary  to  compare  it  with 

♦  Belfast  Address.  \  Cosmic  Philosophy.    Vol.  II,  p.  449- 


636  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  teachings  of  Revelation.      These  mistakes  have  been  widely 
made  in  the  discussion  of  the  theor>'  of  evolution. 

In  the  form  in  which  the  theory  of  evolution  was  first  promul- 
gated, involving  the  spontaneous  generation  of  "being,  and  utterly 
eliminating  the  idea  of  an  infinite  Creator,  it  excited  alarm,  and  the 
atmosphere  was  full  of  fierce  controversy.  This  radical  phase  strug- 
gled hard  for  scientific  recognition,  but  it  seems  to  have  failed  in 
this  form.  Dr.  Montgomer>',  one  of  its  expounders  in  the  Science 
Monthly,  said  : 

The  disciples  of  science  are  ever>'-where  at  work  to  raise  to  the  dignity  of  a 
consistent  theory  what  is  promiscuously  held  on  the  strength  of  much  good  evi- 
dence, though,  also,  in  reliance  upon  the  eventual  verification  of  much  vague  fore- 
shadowing. Though  it  is  incumbent  upon  us  evolutionists  to  prove  our  opinion, 
yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  at  present  we  are  far  from  having  established  a  con- 
nected chain  of  evidence  in  support  of  it. 

Mr,  Tyndall  in  his  celebrated  address  before  the  British  Asso- 
ciation said : 

Either  let  us  open  our  doors  fully  to  the  conception  of  creative  acts,  or,  aban- 
doning them,  let  us  radically  change  our  notions  of  matter. 

Again  he  says :  * 

There  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence  of  spontaneous  generation.  There  is,  on 
the  contrary,  overwhelming  evidence  against  it.  ...  I  am  led  inexorably  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  the  lowest,  as  in  the  highest  organized  creatures,  the  method  of 
nature  is  that  life  shall  be  the  issue  of  antecedent  life. 

Mr.  Darwin,  at  least  in  his  maturer  thought,  distinctly  recog- 
nized the  Creator,  and  traced  back  the  series  of  developments  to 
this  original  source  of  life.     He  said  :  f 

Analogy  would  lead  me  one  step  further,  namely,  to  the  belief  that  all  animals 
and  plants  have  descended  from  some  one  prototype.  But  analogy  may  be  a 
deceitful  guide.  I  should  infer  from  analogy  that  piol)ably  all  the  organic  beings 
which  have  lived  on  this  earth  have  each  descended  from  some  one  primordial 
form  into  which  life  was  first  breathed. 

It  is  not  the  theory  of  Mr.  Darwin,  but  that  of  Herbert  Spencer 
or  Haeckel — not  evolution,  but  transformism  or  "monism" — which 
arrays  itself  against  theism.  It  is  this  "monism,"  a  "single  principle 
of  things,"  a  materialistic  force,  governed  by  laws  inhering  in  itself, 
out  of  which  the  universe  of  radical  unbelief  is  evolved — "the 
homogeneous  begetting  the  heterogeneous,  which  is  concentrated, 
and  co-ordinated,  and  differentiated,  and  segregated,  and  hereditated, 

*  Lecture  on  the  "  Origin  of  Life  "  before  the  Royal  Institute  of  London, 
t"  Origin  of  Species  by  means  of  Natural  Selection." 


EVOLUTION  CONSIDERED.  6B7 

and  environed,  until  at  last  we  get  the  universe  as  it  is,  which  we 
are  invited  to  believe  is  solely  and  purely  a  materialistic  universe." 
When  pressed  by  the  inquiry,  "Whence  this  monism  endowed  with 
such  possibilities?"  Haeckel  points  to  "spontaneous  generation," 
as  "crystals  form  in  the  mother-liquor,"  which  he  confesses  is  "an 
assumption  required  by  the  demand  of  the  human  understanding 
for  causation,"*  and  leaving  still  open  the  palpable  inquiries. 
Whence  "the  mother-liquor?"  and  who  made  it  capable  of  spontane- 
ously generating  such  mon£ra—d,x\A  thence  such  a  universe  as  this? 
Multitudes  of  the  best  philosophic  minds,  after  treating  with  candor 
and  careful  scrutiny  these  hypotheses,  join  with  Cowper  : 

Defend  me,  therefore,  common  sense,  say  I, 
From  reveries  so  airy — from  the  toil 
Of  dropping  buckets  into  empty  wells. 
And  growing  old  in  drawing  nothing  up  ! 

One  of  the  very  latest  scientific  testimonies  of  the  highest  rank 
is  that  of  Professor  Hartmann,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  in  his 
Anthropoid  Apes.  ^  He  shows  that  the  differences  between  these 
apes  and  man  are  greater  than  tlieir  resemblances.     He  says: 

Man  cannot  have  descended  from  any  of  the  fossil  species  which  have  hitherto 
come  to  the  notice  of  scientific  inquirers,  nor  yet  from  any  species  of  apes  now 
extant.  A  supposed  progenitor  of  our  race  is  necessarily  completely  hypothetical, 
and  all  attempts  hitherto  made  to  construct  even  a  doubtful  representation  of  its 
characteristics  are  based  upon  the  trifling  play  of  fancy.  Even  if  the  assumed 
ancestral  type  should  really  be  discovered  in  some  geological  stratum,  yet  research 
will  have  to  overcome  immense  difficulties  if  it  is  -to  explain  the  development  of 
the  understanding  and  speech,  and  the  growth  of  independent  local  intelligence. 

Evolution  has  evidently  reached  its  limit  in  attempting  to  ac- 
count for  the  origin  of  man,  and  believers  in  Genesis  are  resting  in 
the  assurance  that  his  creation  was  exceptional,  as  a  "  son  of  God." 

This  question  has  received  much  attention  of  late  years,  and 
Mr.  Darwin's  name  has  been  the  most  prominent  of  all,  as  its  pro- 
pounder  and  special  advocate.  What  many  have  called  Darwinism 
is,  strictly  speaking,  an  attempt  to  ascertain  the  rationale,  the  law  of 
evolution.  It  presupposes  evolution  ;  but  it  is  an  endeavor  to  show 
how  evolution  works  by  "natural  selection,"  etc.  It  has  been  truly 
said  : 

Evolution  is  older  than  Darwin :  the  French  naturalist,  La  Marck,  taught  it 
long  ago;  Diderot  taught  it;  not  a  few  Christian  scientists  have  long  taught  it. 

*  Evolution  of  Man.     By  Haeckel.     Vol.  II,  p.  31. 
tKegan,  Paul  &  Co.     International  Scientific  Series.     London,  1885. 
42 


683  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Before  Darwin  was  heard  of,  our  own  able  biblical  scholar,  Professor  Tayler  Lewis, 
taught  it.  by  biblical  exegesis,  as  implied  in  the  Mosaic  Cosmolog)'.  He  was  a 
Darwinist  before  Darwin.  Mivart,  an  earnest  Roman  Catholic,  shows  that  the 
great  early  Christian  "fathers,"  Augustine,  etc..  taught  evolution  as  God's  pro- 
gramme of  the  natural  world.  Wallace,  who  really  preceded  Darwin  in  what  is 
called  Darwinism,  contends  for  Christian  "orthodoxy  "  respecting  the  creation, 
especially  of  man,  and  shows  that  Darwinism  must  be  supplemented  by  doctrines 
which  sustain  the  old  ideas  of  intelligent  causality.  Christian  teachers  have,  in 
fine,  erred  in  taking  upon  themselves  too  much  the  onus  of  the  debate  on  these 
subjects.  * 


Section  ;?.— Prom  Science  ys.  tlie  Bible  to  Science 

Yiifh  the  Bible. 

History  shows  the  mutabilities  of  science.  Many  scientific  books 
and  charts  of  fifteen  and  twenty  years  ago  are  of  Httle  value  to-day. 
In  the  British  Museum,  and  in  the  Academy  of  Science,  in  Paris, 
the  natural  history  specimens  have  been  unwittingly  arranged  ac- 
cording to  the  order  given  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Eminent 
scientists  like  Cuvier,  Sir  John  Herschell,  Dr.  Whewell,  Guiot, 
Dana,  etc.,  etc.,  accept  the  word  of  God  as  a  safe  guide  as  to  the 
order  of  creation.  Hon.  William  E.  Gladstone  says  the  order  in 
Genesis  *'  may  be  taken  as  a  demonstrated  conclusion  and  an  estab- 
lished fact." 

A  recent  writer  in  the  London  Christian  shows  the  great  con- 
trast in  sentiment  in  the  British  Scientific  Association,  at  its  meet- 
ing last  year  in  Birmingham,  as  compared  with  its  meeting  in  that 
city  in  1865.  At  that  time  radical  skepticism  prevailed.  Radical 
evolution  ideas  were  rampant,  and  God  and  revelation  were  sup- 
posed to  be  eliminated  from  the  world.  At  the  late  meeting,  how- 
ever, Sir  Wm.  Dawson,  the  President,  was  a  Christian,  and  in  his 
address  he  strongly  vindicated  the  Bible.  The  leading  members  of 
the  Section  on  Geology  were  of  pronounced  religious  views.  In  the 
Section  on  Anthropology,  where  especially  skepticism  predominated 
in  1865,  the  President,  Sir  George  Campbell,  declared  that  the  Bible 
teaching  as  to  the  origin  of  man  was  the  only  firm  ground.  William 
Carruthers,  who  presided  in  the  Section  on  Biology,  was  an  ardent 
Christian.  On  Sunday  a  large  number  of  members  met  for  devo- 
tional exercises,  and  Sir  Wm.  Dawson  urged  scientific  men  to  apply 
the  same  intelligence  and  earnestness  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures 
that  they  do  to  that  of  Nature.  The  last  twenty  years  shows  a 
strong  drift  from  skepticism  toward  the  acceptance  of  revelation. 

♦Rev.  Abel  Stevens,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


THE  SCRIPTURES    VINDICATED.  639 

The  Bible,  so  severely  assailed  and  sharply  scrutinized  by  nat- 
ural scientists  during  the  last  forty  years,  is  emerging  from  the 
stern  ordeal  with  brightening  evidences  of  vindication.  Tested 
from  a  new  quarter,  by  developments  new,  often  immature,  and 
frequently  self-destructive,  a  little  time  has  been  required  to  mature 
the  questions  and  bring  them  to  a  proper  understanding.  But  there 
has  been  no  difficulty  in  adjusting  well  ascertained  results  to  the 
great  cycle  of  truth  of  which  God  is  the  center,  and  all  is  in  har- 
mony with  him.  We  are  learning  that  modern  thought  does  not 
destroy  any  thing  essential  in  the  old  faiths,*  but  invests  them  with 
a  more  beauteous  light.  The  period  of  violent  attacks  upon  the 
Bible  by  natural  science,  and  violent  defense,  has  gone  by.  The 
period  of  ingenious  compromises  and  concessions  between  religion 
and  science  has  also  passed.  We  have  now  reached  the  time  when 
the  question  is  hardly  asked  whether  religion  and  science  can  be 
harmonized,  but  rather  how  both  can  be  used  in  the  rational  inter- 
pretation of  the  universe.  The  main  body  of  scientists  at  the  pres- 
ent day  are  firm  believers  in  Christianity,  and  the  latest  results  of 
natural  science  have  no  warmer  advocates  than  are  to  be  found 
among  Christian  believers. 

The  varied  and  protracted  inquiries  into  the  nature  of  biblical 
inspiration  show  a  deepening  conviction  of  some  peculiar  Divine 
"element,  and  consequently  a  peculiar  value  attached  to  the  Sacred 
Scriptures ;  and  the  elalDorate  comparison  of  the  Bible  with  other 
great  religious  books  is  a  substantial  concession  of  its  high  charac- 
ter, and  has  demonstrated  its  matchless  superiority.  Professor 
Bowen,  of  Harvard  College,  quotes  Hartmann  as  saying,  "The 
germs  of  all  revealed  religion  are  to  be  found  in  the  heated  fancies  of 
the  mystics,  these  fancies  being  due  to  inspiration  from  the  Uncon- 
scious," and  then  adds,  "The  evidence  adduced  goes  far  enough  to 
confirm  a  text  of  Scripture,  which  he  unconsciously  labors  to  estab- 
lish, that,  *  The  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of 
man ;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 

Ghost.'"  t 

Some  of  the  specific  doctrines  of  revelation  have  received  ample 
confirmation  from  the  best  and  strongest  developments  of  .modern 
thought.  Kant's  "sharp  criticism  of  pure  reason,  his  deep  knowl- 
edge of  human  weakness  and  depravity,  revealed  in  his  doctrine  of 
the  radical  evil,  and  his  categorical  imperative  of  the  moral  law,  were 

•See  Old  Faiths  in  a  New  Light.     By  Rev.    Newman  Smyth,  D.D.     Charles  Scribner  & 
Sons.     1879. 

t  Philosophical  Lectures      P.  456. 


660  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

all  adapted  to  produce  in  profound  minds  a  despair  of  themselves, 
and  a  want  which  Christianity  alone  could  fully  satisfy."  * 
Rev.  H.  VV.  Beecher  said :  f 

From  a  new  quarter,  namely,  science  itself,  in  the  theory  that  is  now  held,  and 
is  likely  to  be  more  widely  held,  of  the  origin  of  man,  the  doctrine  of  universal  sin- 
fulness is  assumed  and  believed,  not  as  a  dogma,  but  as  a  conceded  universal  fact. 
,  .  .  Unexpectedly  from  right  out  of  the  camp  of  science  comes  a  belief  in  the  doc- 
trine which  underlies  the  whole  truth  of  religion — the  doctrine  of  the  universal  lost 
condition  of  man. 

The  modern  doctrine  of  the  solidarity  of  the  race  also  confirms 
this  Bible  truth. 

In  his  Data  of  Ethics  Herbert  Spencer  gives  to  the  world  the 
results  of  his  investigation  into  the  foundations  of  morality.  These 
inquiries  he  conducted  independently  of  the  New  Testament,  with 
reference  to  the  facts  and  laws  of  human  nature.  By  his  own  pecu- 
liar processes  of  reasoning,  he  develops  a  practical  rule  of  morality 
which  is  simply  a  restatement  of  the  Christian  law.  How  far  he 
may  have  been  unable  to  divest  himself  of  New  Testament  ideas,  and 
was  unconsciously  led  by  them  in  his  investigations,  can,  of  course, 
never  be  determined  ;  but  this  distinguished  living  sociologist  unde- 
signedly bears  his  testimony  to  the  rationale  of  moral  principles 
inculcated  by  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  can  he  resist  the  acknowledgment - 
that  the  conclusion  he  has  reached  is  "a  rationalized  version  of  the 
ethical  principles  of  the  current  creed" — in  short,  a  verification  of 
Christ's  teachings. 

The  latest  developments  of  physical  and  psychological  science 
and  the  later  interpretations  of  Scripture  have  augmented  the  vol- 
ume of  testimony  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  personal  immortality. 
The  greatest  names  in  modern  philosophy,  Bacon,  Descartes,  Leib- 
nitz, Locke,  Kant,  Hamilton,  and  even  Hartmann,  are  subscribed 
in  its  support. 

Could  there  be  a  clearer  though  undesigned  recognition  of  the 
doctrine  of  personal  accountability  to  God  than  the  rapid  and 
widely  extended  multiplication  of  oaths  and  obligations,  and  their 
substitution  in  modern  society  in  the  place  of  former  physical 
methods  of  binding  men  ?  Kant's  famous  line,  "  The  starry  heavens 
above  me,  the  moral  law  within  me,"  and  his  "categorical  impera- 
tive of  the  moral  law,"  have  placed  this  doctrine  on  an  unshaken 
foundation  with  thinking  men.  Modern  skepticism,  talking  of  duty, 
responsibility,  "  the   sacred  obligation  of  truth,"  and   the  duty  of 

•  Kurtz.  t  Sermon  on  "Christianity  Changing  Yet  Unchanged."     P.  Xi- 


EXALTATION  OF  CHRIST.  661 

respecting  the  beliefs  of  others,  has  also  unwittingly  conceded  this 
great  principle.  Sometimes,  perhaps,  these  phases  contain  only- 
half  truths,  but  when  did  classical  antiquity  or  the  skepticism  of 
the  previous  century  allow  as  much? 


Section  5.— From  Christ  Discarded  to  Christ  Honored. 

The  skepticism  prevalent  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  was  noted  for  its  scornful  rejection  of  Christ.  It  freely 
poured  out  aspersions  and  anathemas  upon  the  Redeemer.  *'  Crush 
the  wretch,"  the  favorite  motto  of  Voltaire,  with  which  he  led  the 
assaults  against  Christianity,  was  the  watchword  all  along  the  vast 
lines  of  the  infidel  hosts.  But  how  changed  now  the  style  of  allu- 
sion to  Christ  among  the  most  radical  skeptics!  And  even  where 
the  higher  claims  of  Christ  are  not  accepted,  how  much  of  lofty 
encomium  is  bestowed  upon  him,  and  how  studied  the  effort  to  exalt 
him  to  the  highest  possible  degree,  often  indulging  in  language  which, 
perhaps  sometimes  unwittingly,  acknowledges  his  Supreme  Deity! 

The  philosophers  have  attentively  studied  Christ  and  uttered 
remarkable  acknowledgments.  Rousseau  said,  "  If  Socrates  lived 
and  died  like  a  philosopher,  Jesus  lived  and  died  like  a  God  ; " 
Richter,  "  He  is  one  who  with  his  pierced  hands  rased  empires  from 
their  foundations  and  turned  the  stream  of  history  from  its  old 
channels;"  Kant,  "One  of  those  names  before  which  the  heavens 
bow ;  "  Fichte,  **  His  followers  are  nations  and  generations  ;  "  Schil- 
ling, "He  is  the  turning-point  of  the  world's  history ;  "  Hegel,  "The 
person  in  whose  self-consciousness  the  unity  of  the  Divine  and 
human  first  appear;"  Strauss,  "  He  is  the  highest  model  of  religion 
within  the  reach  of  our  thought ; "  Renan,  "A  matchless  man,  so 
grand  that  though  all  must  be  judged  from  a  purely  scientific  point 
of  view,  I  would  not  gainsay  those  who,  struck  with  the  exceptional 
character  of  his  work,  call  him  God;"  again,  "  Even  to-day  ration- 
alism does  not  look  at  him  closely,  except  on  its  knees;"  Chan- 
ning,  "  Jesus  is  not  a  fiction.  He  is  still  the  Son  of  God,  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  world;"  Parker,  "There  is  God  in  the  heart  of  this 
youth.  The  philosophers,  the  poets,  the  prophets,  the  rabbis — 
he  rises  above  them  all,"  and  De  VVette,  "Only  this  I  know;  in  no 
other  is  there  salvation  except  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified,  and  for  the  human  race  there  is  nothing  higher  than  the 
God-man  realized  in  him  and  the  kingdom  of  God  planted  in  him." 

Schilling,  after  years  of  ranging  between  the  idealistic  and  real- 


662  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

istic  systems,  near  the  close  of  his  life,  while  in  conversation  with  a 
friend,  said  he  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  give  to  the  world  a  treatise 
upon  the  harmony  between  Revelation  and  philosophy.  His  friend 
asked  what  would  be  the  key-note  of  the  harmony.  Taking  down 
a  copy  of  the  Greek  Testament  he  read  Rom.  1 1.  36,  "  For  of  him 
(Christ),  and  through  him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things ;  to  whom  be 
glory  forever.  Aj/ien."  "This,"  said  Schilling,  "is  the  foundation 
and  last  word  of  philosophy — the  key-note  of  the  harmony  between 
philosophy  and  revelation." 

Among  some  non-trinitarians  there  has  been  a  perceptible 
advance  toward  the  recognition  of  the  Deity  of  Christ.  While 
some  have  descended  to  purely  humanitarian  grounds,  others  have 
risen  to  higher  conceptions,  and  it  is  now  generally  agreed  that  the 
Arian  view  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  Its  former  advocates  have 
advanced  to  the  Sabellian  or  the  Logos  theories,  and  some  to  the 
orthodox  doctrine.  That  estimable  Unitarian  clergyman,  Rev.  E. 
H.  Sears,*  said : 

Essential  Divinity  in  Christ  is  not  a  person  separated  from  the  Father,  an- 
other person,  l)ut  consubstantial  with  the  Father,  and  revealing  the  whole  God- 
head in  one  glorious  person. 

Rev.  Samuel  P.  Putnam,  D.D.,  a  Unitarian  clergyman  of  the 
highest  character,  said : 

Not  much  is  accomplished  when  it  is  proved  that  Jesus  is  not  God.  When  we 
do  this,  he  ceases  to  be  a  central  fact,  a  leader,  a  Saviour.  Only  God  in  his  infini- 
tude can  be  these;  only  he  can  satisfy  our  innermost  needs.  No  finite  being, 
however  perfect  and  glorious,  can  do  it.  t 

Rev.  James  W.  Thompson,  D.D.,  of  the  same  class,  saidrij: 

Glorying  in  the  regal  majesty  and  dominion  of  his  Lord,  does  some  raptured 
saint,  with  his  ear  near  to  God,  hear  a  voice  from  the  excellent  glory  addressing 
the  Son  :  "  T/iy  throne,  O  God!  is  for  ever  and  ever  ;  a  scepter  of  righteousness 
is  the  scepter  of  thy  kingdom  ;  thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity  ; 
therefore  God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above 
thy  fellows"^f  Even  so.  Amen.  Laudate  Dominuin.  We  rejoice  ;  we  exult  ; 
we  give  thanks;  we  chant  our  response  with  the  Church,  and  say,  "God of  God, 
light  of  light,  very  God  of  very  God ;"  not  hotnoiousian  with  the  Arians,  but 
homooiisian  with  the  Athanasians,  and  none  shall  receive  a  heavier  meaning  from 
those  divinely  loaded  words  than  we. 

Rev.  J.  C.  Kimball,  §  another  able  minister  and  writer  of  the 
same  denomination,  said  : 

♦These  gentlemen,  it  should  be  said,  nevertheless  decidedly  dissent  from  trinitarianism.  Their 
utterances  are  introduced  in  no  controversial  spirit,  but  as  indicating  a  drift  of  thought  in  a  cer- 
tain class  of  minds.  +  Religious  Monthly  Magazine.     February,  1874,  pp.  134-136. 

X  Christian  Examiner,  March,  1856,  p.  185.  §  Christian  Examiner,  January,  1867. 


ETHICS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  663 

All  past  experience  shows  that  to  attack  the  Trinity,  or  what  is  now  becoming 
the  chief  point  in  the  doctrine,  the  Deity  of  Christ,  in  its  logical  side,  is  utteriy  in 
vain.  It  is  clung  to  in  the  face  of  the  clearest  demonstrations  of  its  untruth.  It 
somehow  feeds  the  soul,  gives  it  the  fullness  of  the  divine  nature,  and  what  avails 
it  to  prove  by  argument  that  food  is  dust  and  ashes,  when  millions  of  beings  are 
using  it  every  day,  and  finding  it  gives  them  grandest  health  and  strength  ? 


Section  4.— Prom  negative  to  BilDlical  Ethics. 

The  ethics  of  Christianity  were  never  before  so  widely  accepted 
in  the  current  Hterature,  the  common  belief,  and  the  actual  life  of 
the  race.  They  are  sifted  into  all  departments  of  knowledge.  New- 
Testament  morals  are  universally  conceded  and  dominant,  not 
because  of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  authority,  as  in  some  former  times, 
but  from  rational  convictions  of  their  essential  rightfulness.  And 
the  ethical  theory  that  man  has  a  religious  nature,  with  religious 
needs,  a  conscious  dependence  upon  the  Divine  Being,  and  a  neces- 
sity for  worship  ;  in  short,  that  in  the  constitution  of  man  there  is 
a  foundation  for  religion,  is  now  confessed  by  the  greatest  thinkers, 
as  the  result  of  careful,  scientific  analysis.  David  Strauss,  after 
years  of  wild,  destructive  criticism,  in  his  last  book  declared  that  in 
the  fields  both  of  positive  and  of  natural  theology  there  exist  valid 
grounds  for  the  deepest  and  purest  piety,  which,  "  under  its  twofold 
aspect  of  utter  dependence  and  utter  reliance,  constitutes  the  inmost 
core  of  all  the  manifestations  of  religion."  While  we  may  question 
whether  such  an  answer  can  be  given  from  his  stand-point,  we  never- 
theless rejoice  to  see  so  sturdy  a  critic  acknowledge  a  sure  ground 
of  personal  piety  and  spiritual  consolation.  It  was  the  ground  of 
Schleiermacher  in  his  great  and  successful  contest  with  the  mate- 
rialists and  pantheists,  and  on  which  we  hope  many  may  yet  be  led 
into  "all  truth." 

Thomas  Carlyle,  notwithstanding  his  avowed  Pantheism,  denial 
of  miracle,  authoritative  revelation,  etc.,  often  opened  his  heart 
widely  and  uttered  his  profounder  convictions  in  harmony  with 
great  truths  of  Divine  revelation.  On  one  occasion,  in  a  company 
of  scientific  gentlemen  who  were  airing  the  most  radical  views  of 
evolution,  they  challenged  him  to  give  his  opinion  of  the  origin  of 
man,  under  the  supposition  that  he  sympathized  with  them,  and 
was  not  trammeled  by  religious  scruples.  Gathering  himself  up  and 
speaking  in  a  tone  that  silenced  laughter,  Mr.  Carlyle  replied,  "Gen- 
tlemen, you  may  make  man  a  little  higher  than  the  tadpoles.  I  hold 
with  the  prophet   David,  '  Tliou  madest  him  a  little  lower  than  the 


664  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

angels*  "  He  stoutly  asserted  the  Divine  government  of  the  world, 
and  appealed  to  it  constantly  as  the  surest  reality  in  the  universe; 
he  emphatically  insisted  upon  the  moral  law  and  the  eternal  dis- 
tinction between  right  and  wrong,  and  gloried  in  himself  as  "  a 
preacher  of  the  kingdom  of  Divine  righteousness." 

George  Eliot  never  wholly  rid  herself  of  the  vital  truths  of  her 
early  religious  training.  In  her  earlier  revulsion,  which  was  very 
radical,  she  was  conscious  of  the  hollowness  and  insufficiency  of 
infidelity,  and  said,  "  It  is  the  quackery  of  infidelity  to  suppose  that 
it  has  a  nostrum  for  all  mankind,  and  to  say  to  all  and  singular, 
*  Swallow  my  opinions  and  you  shall  be  whole.'  "  A  little  further 
on  in  life,  while  in  the  heyday  of  her  unbelief,  she  wrote  to  Miss 
Hennel  that  she  should  like  to  work  out  a  paper  "on  the  superiority 
of  the  consolations  of  philosophy  to  those  of  so-called  religion." 
Still  later  she  distrusted  this  substitute,  and  shrank  from  all  attempts 
to  unsettle  the  religious  beliefs  of  men.  In  a  letter  to  Madame 
Bodichou,  in  1862,  she  said  : 

Pray  don't  ever  ask  me  again  not  to  rob  a  man  of  his  relijjious  belief,  as  if  you 
thought  my  mind  tended  to  such  robbery.  I  have  too  profound  a  conviction  of 
the  efficacy  that  lies  in  all  sincere  faith  to  have  any  negative  propagandism  in  me. 
In  fact,  I  have  very  little  sympathy  with  Free-thinkers  as  a  class,  and  have  lost  all 
interest  in  mere  antagonism  to  religious  doctrines. 

In  the  last  part  of  her  life  The  Imitation  of  Christ  was  one  of 
her  favorite  books,  read  and  re-read,  and  the  Bible  was  a  part  of  her 
daily  reading. 

Section  5.— Prom  the  PoYerty  of  Skepticism  to  the 
Wealth  of  Christianity. 

These  distinct  recognitions  of  the  fundamental  ethical  ideas  of 
Christianity  are  establishing  it  more  and  more  firmly,  and  no  skep- 
ticism, no  change  of  institutions,  no  revolution,  nothing  developed 
by  philosophy,  from  Descartes  to  Spencer  and  Hartmann,  can  change 
the  eternal  fact  inherent  in  man's  nature  of  utter  dependence  upon 
God  for  spiritual  repose  and  consolation.  Thus  is  Christianity  being 
continually  vindicated  on  some  new  basis,  according  to  the  changing 
phases  of  knowledge,  and  more  impregnably  established  in  candid 
minds. 

Some  of  the  more  courageous  skeptics  have  attempted  to  push 
their  theories  to  ultimate  practical  results,  in  order  to  show  that 
their  systems  are  capable  of  meeting  the  deeper  needs  of  humanity. 
But  their  efforts  have  only  led  to  constrained  or  implied  confessions. 


INSUFFICIENCY  OF  MATERIALISM.  663 

A  writer  in  the  Westminster  Review  for  October,  1872,  set  for  him- 
self the  task  of  estimating  the  capacity  of  the  current  materialistic 
philosophy  to  console  and  elevate  human  life.  Its  incentives  and 
comforts  to  cultivated  minds  were  portrayed  with  feeble,  vanishing 
touches ;  the  necessities  of  the  common  heart  of  humanity  were 
overlooked,  and  the  article  closed  with  seemingly  conscious  dissatis- 
faction. On  any  purely  materialistic  basis,  life  loses  its  noblest  aims 
and  ideals,  self-sacrifice  its  significance  and  impulse,  and  virtue 
becomes  an  empty,  unreal  thing. 

None  more  than  materialists  believe  in  "  the  order  of  things," 
but  they,  shrink  from  carrying  their  theories  to  practical  results. 
Thus  reduced,  the  theories  of  Schopenhauer  and  Hartmann  would 
eclipse  the  universe.  Their  direct  sociological  bearings,  so  deterio- 
rating and  destructive  in  practical  life,  have  disclosed  to  many  minds 
their  true  character.  Dr.  Strauss,  as  we  have  seen,  lived  to  see  the 
unsatisfactory  character  of  his  theories,  as  evident  from  his  "  Ein 
Bekenntniss  "  (A  Confession),  though  his  recantation  was  only  par- 
tial. Thoreau,  a  beautiful  writer  and  an  ardent  worshiper  of  Nature, 
in  one  of  his  peculiar  moods,  complained  of  the  failure  of  his  pan- 
theistic worship  to  satisfy  the  deepest  needs  of  his  consciousness, 
and  expressed  the  sadness  of  his  inner  life  in  these  plaintive  lines : 

Amid  such  boundless  wealth  without, 

I  only  still  am  poor  within  ; 
The  birds  have  sung  their  summer  out. 

But  still  my  spring  does  not  begin. 

With  characteristic  frankness,  Mr.  O.  B.  Frothingham,  one  of 
the  most  cultured  leaders  in  "  Free  Religious"  doubt,  said  of  the 
system  he  had  championed  : 

The  new  faith  cannot  compete  with  the  old,  in  what  are  commonly  called  "  benev- 
olent enterprises."  It  would  not,  probably,  if  it  were  as  rich  and  capable  as  the 
old  faith  is.  Not  because  the  Radicals  are  stingy,  as  has  been  over  and  again 
asserted,  but  because  they  cannot  accept  the  principle  on  which  these  exercises  are 
conducted,  and  no  other  principle  is  yet  in  working  order.  No  original  work  is  yet 
possible.  .  .  .  The  new  methods  of  charity — reasonable,  scientific,  practical — have 
not  yet  been  devised.  .  .  ,  The  new  faith  will  exhibit  its  charity  when  it  finds  an 
object  which  makes  to  it  a  commanding  appeal.* 

A  little  later  Mr.  Frothingham  terminated  his  labors  in  New 
York  city,  "  deliberately  announcing  his  dissatisfaction  with  his  own 
teachings,  whether  in  himself  or  in  others."  f 


♦  A  discourse  on  the  "  Living  Faith."     New  York  city,  1871. 
t  New  York  Evening  Post,  1879. 


666  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 

Full  of  significance  are  also  these  lines  of  Matthew  Arnold  : 

The  sea  of  faith 

Was  once,  too,  at  the  full,  and  round  earth's  shore 

Lay  Hke  the  folds  of  a  bright  girdle  furled. 

But  now  I  only  hear 

Its  melancholy,  long,  withdrawing  roar. 

Retreating  to  the  breath 

Of  the  night-wind  down  the  vast  edges  drear 

And  naked  shingles  of  the  world. 

Ah,  love,  let  us  be  true 

To  one  another !  for  the  world,  which  seems 

To  lie  before  us  like  a  land  of  dreams. 

So  various,  so  beautiful,  so  new. 

Hath  really  neither  joy,  nor  love,  nor  light. 

Nor  certitude,  nor  peace,  nor  help  for  pain  ; 

And  we  are  here,  as  on  a  darkling  plain. 

Swept  with  confused  alarms  of  struggle  and  flight. 

Where  ignorance  armies  close  by  night." 

Professor  Youmans,  eminent  as  a  scientific  evolutionist,  recently 
said,  that  while  there  were  $54,000,000  invested  in  churches  in  New 
York  city  : 

If  there  is  a  scientific  society  in  New  York  that  owns  a  roof  or  shelter  we  do 
not  know  of  it.  Religious  people  every-where  are  pouring  out  their  money  in 
behalf  of  all  manner  of  religious  enterprises,  in  quantities  that  are  without  prece- 
dent, and  that,  we  take  it,  is  very  solid  proof,  in  this  money-grabbing  age,  of  the 
reality  of  their  faith  and  the  intensity  of  their  enthusiasm.  The  churches  include 
within  their  ranks  the  large  majority  of  the  best  classes  of  citizens  ;  and  their 
teachings  are  accepted  by  thinkers  who  do  not  "advance  "  with  evolutionists,  but 
who  have  quite  as  much  learning,  quite  as  high  intellectual  capacity,  and  quite  as 
much  skill  in  determining  the  respective  values  of  the  new  doctrines.  The  religion 
that  the  advanced  thinkers  turn  over  to  the  antiquary  is  the  mainstay  and  bulwark 
of  our  civilization  ;  it  is  the  one  great  force  that  stems  the  tide  of  demoralizing  and 
disintegrating  influences  that  threaten  social  order,  and  it  is  the  sole  guarantee 
that  mankind  has  of  progress,  elevation  and  liberty  in  this  world,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  promise  it  makes  of  better  and  higher  things  in  the  impenetrable  hereafter. 

Frederick  Harrison,  who  has  ranked  as  a  distinguished  disciple 
of  Comte,  has  shown  the  inadequacy  of  the  agnosticism  of  Herbert 
Spencer  as  a  religion: 

"  In  the  hour  of  pain,  danger  and  death,"  says  Mr.  Harrison,  "  can  any  one 
think  of  the  Unknowable,  hope  any  thing  of  the  Unknowable,  or  find  any  conso- 
lation therein  ?  .  .  .  A  mother  wrung  with  agony  for  the  loss  of  her  child,  or  the 
wife  crushed  by  the  death  of  her  children's  father,  or  the  helpless  and  the  oppressed, 
the  poor  and  the  needy,  men,  women  and  children,  in  sorrow,  doubt  and  want,  long- 
ing for  something  to  comfort  them  and  to  guide  them — something  to  believe  in,  to 
hope  for,  to  love  and  to  worship — they  come  to  our  philosopher,  and  they  say, 
'  Your  men  of  science  have  routed  our  priests  and  have  silenced  our  old  teachers. 


CHRISTIANITY  COMPELS  RESPECT.  667 

What  religious  faith  do  you  give  us  in  its  place?'  And  the  philosopher  replies 
(his  full  heart  bleeding  for  them),  and  he  says,  '  Think  of  the  Unknowable  ! '  The 
same  objection  is  open  to  Comte's  religion  of  Humanity.  It  is  no  consolation  in 
the  hour  of  death  to  think  of  the  Impersonal  Humanity." 


Section  e.— From   Defiant  Discourtesy  to  a  Patron- 
izing Respect. 

Another  converging  tendency  is  a  manifest  change  in  the  dress, 
form  and  spirit  of  modern  skepticism,  showing  the  modifying  influ- 
ence of  Christianity.  The  defiant  spirit  of  the  Diderots  and  the 
Paines  has  almost  wholly  disappeared.  What  naturalist  now  spec- 
ulates like  D'Holback?  What  historian  discourses  likeVolney? 
And  what  metaphysician  dogmatizes  like  Helvetius?  Infidehty  has 
greatly  accommodated  itself  to  Christian  phraseology  ;  has  accepted, 
in  the  form  of  half  truths,  fundamentals  of  the  Christian  system 
which  a  century  ago  were  scouted,  and  has  become  more  rational 
and  religious  in  its  manner.  However  deceptive  its  attitude  in 
these  accommodated  forms,  the  fact  itself  is  a  substantial  conces- 
sion in  favor  of  Christianity  and  of  the  need  of  its  faith.  "  Infi- 
delity can  now  deny  a  personal  God,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  by  a 
double  consciousness,  breathe  out  the  devotional  language  of  the 
Bible  in  '  spurious  religiosity.'  It  adorns  itself  with  religious  sen- 
timents, and  with  '  words  which  belong  by  right  to  faith  alone.'  It 
talks  of  prayer,  permeates  literature  with  a  self-conscious  devout- 
ness,  breathes  heavenly  aspirations,  wails  languidly  over  the  evils 
of  the  world,  talks  wonderfully  of  the  All-Father,  and  even  sings 
David's  psalms."* 

What  a  peculiar  power  is  this  in  Christianity,  that  even  "  its 
deadly  foes  and  traducers  borrow  its  speech  and  trade  upon  its  cap- 
ital. This  borrowing  and  wearing  in  public  view  the  insignia  of 
the  divine  kingdom  obscures  somewhat  the  distinction  between  the 
body  of  faith  and  the  body  of  unbelief,  renders  Christianity  less 
conspicuous  by  reason  of  her  very  triumphs,  and,  forsooth,  perils 
somewhat  her  hold  upon  undiscriminating  minds."  f  But  it  is  her 
glory  that,  as  a  living  power,  she  has  so  wrought  upon  her  great 
enemy  as.  by  constraint,  to  change  it  so  far  into  her  own  image. 
The  solid  central  truths  of  Christianity  have  compelled  these  things. 
While  these  changes  have  been  going  on,  the  aggregate  of  skeptical 
gain  has  been  nothing.  Not  a  single  great  concession  has  been 
made  by  Christianity  to    unbelief;   but  "the  life  of  Jesus  is  still 

*  The  Light :  Is  it  Waning?     Boston,  1879.  i  Ibid. 


668  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

majestic  and  divine — the  insoluble  enigma  to  the  cold  critic,  but 
attractive  and  comprehensible  to  the  humble  believer."  "  It  would 
take  a  good  octavo  to  contain  merely  the  titles  of  the  works  that 
the  last  forty  years  have  produced  in  favor  of  the  divine  foundations 
of  Christianity.  The  war  has  been  carried  into  the  enemy's  camp, 
and  the  leading  skeptical  writers  are  more  busied  just  now  with 
defending  their  own  ground  than  with  advances  upon  the  Church."  * 
Nor  have  these  converging  tendencies  been  wholly  from  with- 
out the  fold  of  Christianity.  From  within  the  fold  of  "  orthodoxy  " 
there  have  been  movements  which  have  been  bringing  Protestantism 
nearer  the  center  and  core  of  truth. 


Section  7.— From  Scholastic  to  Vital  TrtLth. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  Christian  truth  has  formerly  been  too 
much  in  bondage  to  arbitrary  systems  and  dialectical  forms,  com- 
promising its  purity,  and  investing  it  with  qualities  which  do  not 
belong  to  the  truth  "as  it  is  in  Jesus."  A  liberating  and  purging 
process  has  been  greatly  needed,  delivering  it  from  human  construc- 
tions which  have  been  only  misconstructions,  and  presenting  it  in 
those  purer  and  simpler  forms  in  which  it  was  originally  presented 
by  the  Great  Teacher  and  the  apostles.  This  purification  of  theology, 
under  the  modifying  influence  of  modern  culture  and  the  increasing 
spirituality  in  the  churches,  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  disin- 
tegration and  decay.  But  the  changes  have  chiefly  related  to  out- 
ward expression,  not  to  central  truths  ;  while  some  things  once  mag- 
nified are  now  minified,  and  others  once  in  the  background  have 
been  brought  to  the  front.  A  rehabilitating  and  restating  process 
has  been  going  on,  not  only  in  theology,  but  in  medicine,  in  states- 
manship, in  political  economy,  in  education,  in  general  science,  and 
as  we  have  noticed,  even  in  skepticism.  While  there  has  been  such 
great  progress  in  all  departments  of  knowledge,  in  philology,  in 
biblical  interpretation,  it  would  be  positively  discreditable  to  the 
churches  not  to  make  restatements  of  Christian  doctrine.  That 
they  have  done  so  is  to  their  credit. 

And  how  greatly  has  theology  been  sweetened  and  made  attrac- 
tive and  helpful,  by  discarding  the  old  repellent  features  of  Cal- 
vinism. 

The  phrases,  "The  American  Theology,"  "  The  Theology  of  our 
Age  and  Country,"  occasionally  appearing  among  us,  imply  some- 

*  Rev.  Bishop  John  F.  Huret,  D.D. 


GROWTH  OF    VITAL    RELIGION.  669 

thing  peculiar  in  the  religious  thought  of  the  United  States.  It 
cannot  have  escaped  the  notice  of  wide  observers,  that  there  is 
apparent  in  the  current  religious  ideas  of  American  Christians,  what 
may  be  denominated  a  concensus  of  opinions  upon  the  more  practical 
and  experimental  views  of  Christianity,  in  strking  contrast  with  the 
concensus  of  religious  opinions  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
Then  it  was  Calvinistic.  now  it  is  of  a  decidedly  Arminian  type. 
It  would  not  be  possible  in  less  than  a  volume  to  trace  the  processes 
by  which  this  transition  has  been  effected  ;  but  so  prominent  a  phase 
of  religious  thought  must  not  be  wholly  omitted.  About  a  dozen 
years  ago  an  eminent  theologian,*  in  accounting  for  this  transition, 
said,  "  It  was  born  in  a  powerful  revival  of  religion  toward  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century.  It  may  be  dated  from  the  profound  and 
devout  speculations  of  the  pure  and  venerable  Jonathan  Edwards 
and  his  successors,  who  manfully  grappled  with  the  problems  of 
Christian  metaphysics."  To  this  he  added  that,  "  more  recent 
importations  of  vast  stores  of  European  learning,  etc.,  have  also 
contributed." 

This  is  ,all  true  so  far  as  it  goes.  Edwards  had  a  line  of  suc- 
cessors— Bellamy,  Smalley,  Backus,  Hopkins,  Burton,  Emmons,  etc., 
under  whom  Calvinism  of  the  olden  time  was  gradually  modified  in 
the  old  Puritan  churches  ;  but  the  doctrinal  revulsion  from  Calvinism 
was  manifold.  With  some  it  was  a  revolt  from  Christianity  to  infi- 
delity ;  with  others,  from  "  orthodoxy,"  as  evangelical  theology  was 
styled,  to  Unitarianism,  Universalism,  etc.,  already  sketched  in  this 
volume,f  and  falsely  called  in  the  last  century  "  Arminianism,"  but 
strictly  Pelagianism ;  and  with  others  still  the  broadest  and  deepest 
revulsion  led  to  Methodist  Arminianism. 

There  can  be  no  true  history  of  American  theological  thought 
without  the  recognition  of  the  Arminian  revolution  which  has  largely 
eliminated  the  Augustinian  theology,  and  which  is  of  permanent 
historical  interest,  because  it  has  been  attended  with  a  general  resus- 
citation of  spiritual  life  and  activity,  and  because  it  seems  destined 
to  give  permanent  character  to  American  religious  thought.  As  for 
the  Edwardean  metaphysics,  they  have  been  gradually  outgrown  and 
widely  repudiated,  and  the  Edwardean  "awakening"  was  local  and 
temporary.  The  latter  had  disastrously  reacted  before  Arminian 
Methodism  reached  America  and  began  its  work,  which  has  lasted 
and  grown  until  the  present  time.  Whitefield,  though  a  Calvinist, 
was  not  a  theologian,  and  labored  only  to  revive  the  life  of  the 
churches.     The  Arminian   Methodist   preachers  followed  closely  in 

*  Dr.  Philip  SchafT,  in  an  Inaugural  Address.  t  See  chapter  on  "  Diverse  Currents." 


670  CHRISTIAXITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

his  tracks,  revolutionizing  the  reh'gious  thought,  and  the  condition 
of  the  country,  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 

The  Calvinistic  reaction  commenced  before  the  introduction  of 
Methodism — a  sporadic  revolt,  personal  and  local,  from  the  "  horribile 
decretum" — with  tendencies  to  radically  opposite  and  dangerous 
heresies,  which  were  stigmatized  as  "Arminianism  " — distorting  and 
caricaturing  the  purely  evangelical  system  of  the  great  Dutch  the- 
ologian— a  mistake  exposed  at  a  later  period  by  Rev.  Professor  Moses 
Stuart,  D.D.  Meanwhile  the  Arminian  banner  was  successfully 
carried  forward  all  over  the  land,  in  a  series  of  moral  and  spiritual 
triumphs  and  transformations,  effectually  leavening  American  Prot- 
estantism. Calvin's  Institutes  are  now  seldom  accepted  as  a  the- 
ological standard.  The  religious  sentiment  of  the  country  recog- 
nizes Calvinism  as  effete,  notwithstanding  the  occasional  ratification 
of  the  Westminster  Catechism,  while  the  Edwardean  fatalism  has 
been  the  refuge  of  infidelity — Buckle,  Mill,  and  the  Materialists 
fortifying  themselves  with  it. 

An  eminent  Congregational  authority*  said  : 

There  has  been  a  prolonged  controversy,  commencing-  with  Edwards  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  and  ending  a  century  later  with  the  accepted  distinction 
between  the  "  Theology  of  the  Intellect  and  the  Theology  of  theFeelings."  Edwards, 
in  his  Treatise  on  the  Will,  established  the  faith  that  there  is  a  Divine  government 
which  plans  and  controls  all  events,  securing  in  the  realm  of  moral  beings  the 
certainty  of  results  without  natural  necessity — a  certainty  not  inconsistent  with 
freedom.  He,  as  a  theologian,  discriminated  between  general  justice  and  retribu- 
tive justice,  showing  how  the  former  may  be  sustained  while  the  latter  is  waived. 
Samuel  Hopkins,  born  about  a  score  of  years  later,  developed  the  idea  of  respon- 
sibility as  pertaining  to  character,  rather  than  to  our  nature,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word.  Then  followed  two  men  ot  opposite  extremes — Burton  and  Emmons — each 
having  his  disciples. 

Asa  Burton,  as  leader  in  the  advocacy  of  the  "Taste  Scheme,"  made  his  the- 
ology accord  with  the  poetry  of  Watts : 

"So,  on  a  tree  divinely  fair. 

Grew  the  forbidden  food  ; 
Our  mother  took  the  poison  there. 

And  tainted  all  her  blood." 

Nathaniel  Emmons,  denying  not  only  the  moral  character  of  passive  states,  but 
also  the  permanency  of  any  individual  choice,  sought  to  limit  responsibility  to  a 
succession  of  exercises. 

Then  followed  the  Old  School  and  the  New  School  war,  led  by 
Dr.  Taylor,  of  New  Haven,  and  Dr.  Tyler,  of  East  Windsor,  more 
recently  of  Hartford. 

•  Rev.  Christopher   Gushing:,    D.D.,  Editor  of  the    Congregational  Quarterly,  in  the  issue 
of  October,  1876. 


/ 


LIBERTY  RESULTING  FROM  CONTROVERSY.  671 

Dr.  Gushing  also  says : 

Our  controversy  with  the  Unitarians  served  to  fix  the  limitations  of  our  thought 
as  to  the  Divine  nature.  We  are  now  careful  to  state  that  we  do  not  use  the  word 
"Person"  in  its  relation  to  the  Trinity  in  its  ordinary  sense,  but  rather  in  a  tech- 
nical sense — not  as  synonymous  with  being,  but  rather  to  indicate  a  distinction 
which  the  Scriptures  reveal  but  which  they  do  not  analytically  explain.  We  avoid  the 
use  of  language  which  would  suggest  a  belief  in  three  Gods,  or  expose  us  to  the 
charge  of  believing  that  one  is  three  and  three  are  one.  While  rejecting  the  Sabel- 
lian  idea  of  a  modal  Trinity,  a  Trinity  of  mere  manifestation,  inadequate  to  explain 
the  representations  of  Scripture,  we  accept  the  triune  nature  of  the  Godhead  as  a 
revealed  fact,  without  attempting  to  decide  whether  the  Trinity  pertains  to  the  sub- 
stance or  only  to  the  attributes  of  the  Infinite  Being  whom  we  worship  as  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Careful  lest  we  seem  to  know  too  much,  we 
accept  the  scriptural  teachings  as  a  matter  of  faith. 

The  foregoing  controversies  were  all  of  the  gravest  character, 
involving  the  most  eminent  talents  and  engrossing  attention  to  a 
remarkable  degree  through  many  decades.  These  great  "  doctrinal 
crises,"  says  Dr.  Gushing,  "  have  been  attended  with  incidental 
evils,  but  on  the  whole  they  have  resulted  in  great  good,  giving 
definiteness  and  distinctness  to  our  views." 

As  the  result  of  our  controversies  we  have  gained  the  largest  liberty.  With 
these  philosophical  differences  the  oneness  of  our  faith  remains.  We  believe  in  a 
Divine  Governor,  revealed  as  a  Triune  Being  ;  that  he  controls  all  events  and  that 
he  sustains  his  law  by  infinite  sanctions ;  that  man,  while  possessed  of  amiable 
natural  virtues,  is  yet  by  nature  entirely  sinful,  and  as  such  is  exposed  to  the  pen- 
alty of  the  Divine  law;  that  through  the  vicarious  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ 
man  has  the  offer  of  pardon,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  sent  into  the  world  to  renew 
and  sanctify  the  soul ;  that  if  man  resists  the  Spirit  and  rejects  the  Saviour  he 
seals  his  own  doom,  and  if  he  yields  and  believes  he  makes  his  eternal  salvation 
sure.  Call  these  doctrines  Calvinistic,  Edwardean,  Scriptural,  or  what  you  please, 
they  are  the  doctrines  of  our  denomination,  and  they  are  in  some  respects  dis- 
tinctive. .  .  . 

From  all  the  doctrinal  contests  through  which  we  have  passed  we  have  come  out 
with  a  liberalized  faith,  but  with  the  faith  of  the  fathers  still,  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints.  It  is  not  the  minimum  of  truth  which  is  essential  to  salvation,  but  that 
glorious  system  of  truths  which,  in  its  consistency  and  coherence,  is  as  resplendent 
as  the  great  white  throne. 

•  From  various  causes  restatements  of  doctrine  have  been  numer- 
ous, all  indicating  progress  in  thought,  but  showing  a  tenacious 
adherence  to  the  old  vital  centers  of  truth.  The  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment is  still  firmly  held  by  the  body  of  evangelical  Protestantism 
as  vicarious  and  substitutional,  though  no  longer  preached  as  a  ran- 
som of  war  or  a  commercial  equivalent  ;  and  Ghrist  is  now  seldom 
portrayed  as  a  culprit  *'  shrinking  under  the  bolts  of  his  Father's 


672  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

personal  wrath,"  and  "sinking  to  the  misery  of  the  damned."  Lit- 
eral fire  and  brimstone  as  the  final  portion  of  lost  souls  is  now  gen- 
erally discarded,  although  held  by  restorationists  and  evangelicals 
alike  until  within  the  present  century.*  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
no  longer  savors  of  Tritheism.  The  six  creative  periods  are  now 
interpreted  by  only  a  few  scholars  as  six  literal  days.  The  theory 
of  literal  verbal  inspiration  has  few  advocates,  the  best  divines  hav- 
ing adopted  the  dynamic  view.  Very  considerable  modifications  in 
the  principles  and  methods  of  biblical  interpretation  have  taken 
place,  opening  more  natural  and  satisfactory  views  of  the  Divine 
Word.     These  are  a  few  of  the  more  noticeable  changes. 

With  these  modifications,  however,  the  central  thought  in  each 
doctrine  is  retained.  Take  the  great  working  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, strip  off  the  husks,  and  state  them  in  their  simplest  forms  : 
there  is  a  personal  Deity ;  God  is  the  supreme  Sovereign  of  the 
universe;  he  is  a  Being  of  infinite  perfections;  he  is  the  ultimate 
source  of  life  ;  a  mysterious  Threeness,  so  distinct  as  to  justify  the 
use  of  three  different  names  and  personal  pronouns,  is  united  in  the 
oneness  of  the  Godhead  ;  the  Bible  is  the  divinely  inspired  book ; 
it  is  so  inspired  as  to  be  the  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  practice ; 
the  soul  is  immaterial  and  immortal;  man  is  a  moral  being  and 
accountable  to  God;  he  is  so  depraved  and  weak  that  he  cannot 
save  himself  and  must  have  a  Divine  Saviour;  he  must  be  spirit- 
ually changed  in  order  to  rise  into  harmony  with  holiness;  whatever 
education  or  culture  may  do,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  efficient  agent 
in  effecting  this  change ;  supreme  Deity  was  embodied  in  the  person 
Christ  Jesus  ;  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  is  the  sole  basis 
of  pardon  and  ground  of  hope  for  sinners;  the  effects  of  faith  in 
Christ  are  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  and  a  new  life  ; 
Christ  will  personally  come  the  second  time  ;  he  will  raise  the  dead  ; 
there  will  be  a  day  of  future  general  judgment  and  a  state  of  fixed- 
ness of  character,  involving  endless  retribution  and  reward  in 
the  future  world.  These  vital  centers  of  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity are  held,  with  little  dissent,  by  all  the  denominations  of  evan- 
gelical Protestantism.  The  exceptions  are  rare  as  compared  with 
the  whole  number,  and  there  is  no  prospect  of  much  change  in 
these  .  essential  elements.  Christianity  is  losing  nothing  of  its 
inherentoriginalself— only  that  which  human  imperfection,  subtlety 
and  folly  have  attached  to  it,  trammeling  and  falsifying  it.  These 
modifications  and  restatements  have  invested  it  with  greater  power. 

*See  Discourses  on  the  Prophecies.      By  Rev.  Elhanan   Winchester.      1800.     Vol.   II,  pp. 
86,  131,  132. 


THE  SWEEP  OF    THE  PENDULUM.  673 

Section  5.— Vibratory  MoYements. 

In  all  these  discussions  we  should  not  overlook  what  Professor 
Austin  Phelps,  D.D.,  has  denominated  the  "vibratory  progress  in 
religious  beliefs."     He  says  : 

The  world's  advances  in  g^eat  ideas  commonly  imitate  the  movement  of  a  pend- 
ulum. Conquest  of  a  great  principle  is  rarely  made,  and  held  fast  in  its  healthy 
and  balanced  mean,  till  the  human  mind  has  swung  forth  and  back  between  its  cor- 
relative extremes.  Often  successive  vibrations  occur  before  the  popular  faith  grav- 
itates to  the  exact  truth  and  rests  there.  Indeed,  exact  truth,  rounded  with  astro- 
nomical precision,  without  an  excrescence  or  a  bulge  anywhere,  is  never  realized  in 
popular  thought  on  a  subject  vital  to  the  world's  progress.  Approximations  to  the 
perfect  crystal  globe  are  all  that  our  mental  laboratory  achieves.  This  vibratory 
phenomenon  has  been  amply  illustrated  in  the  history  of  religious  beliefs.  .  .  . 

In  some  things  the  extreme  begets  an  extreme.  Luther  and  his  compeers  swung 
loose  from  some  truths.  An  iconoclastic  faith  is  rarely  an  eclectic  and  well-balanced 
faith.  The  destructive  force  is  not  commonly  the  rebuilding  force.  In  the  vision 
of  St.  John  the  angels  who  were  commissioned  to  devastate  sea  and  land  did  that, 
and  nothing  else.  They  bore  in  their  hantls  nothing  but  the  golden  vials  of  the 
wrath  of  God.  Moral  revolutions  tend  to  the  same  insulation  of  service.  The 
men  who  pull  down  are  not  the  men  who  build  up,  and  with  the  evil  some  good  is 
left  in  ruins. 

After  speaking  of  the  remarkable  religious  and  missionary  activ- 
ities of  the  age,  he  mentions  some  adverse  tendencies  : 

Do  not  the  signs  of  our  times  indicate  that  this  busy,  mercurial  style  of  Chris- 
tian activity  needs  to  be  weighted  with  more  consolidated  thinking?  Central  doc- 
trines of  our  faith  seem  to  be  jostled  out  of  place  underneath.  Though  not  sunk 
out  of  sight,  they  lie  inert  and  loose.  They  can  support  none  but  a  rickety  super- 
structure. The  structure  we  are  building  leans  out  of  plumb,  like  the  tower  of 
Pisa.  It  is  not  their  fault,  but  their  misfortune,  rather,  that  our  laity,  on  whom  we 
rely  for  leadership  in  Christian  enterprise,  no  longer  hold  the  independent  convic- 
tions which  their  fathers  had,  the  fruit  of  their  own  theological  reading  and  reflec- 
tions. Said  one  of  them  at  a  juncture  of  affairs  at  which  his  official  position  called 
for  an  opinion  of  a  doctrine  in  theology,  "  The  clergv  must  take  care  of  that ;  I 
go  with  the  majority."  Did  he  not  represent  the  attitude  of  multitudes  of  intelligent 
and  earnest  laymen?  Yet  in  the  present  drift  of  the  age  what  other  attitude  can 
they  hold  ? 

We  all  need  the  constructive  and  tonic  influences  of  solitude.  So  much  solitude, 
so  much  character.  We  specially  need  a  new  infusion  of  theological  thinking 
among  the  leaders  of  our  laity.  We  need  a  class  of  laymen  who  will  take  time  to 
think  out  for  themselves  the  fundamentals  of  the  faith  they  profess.  Few  they 
might  be  in  numbers,  but  an  unconscious  aristocracy  in  power  over  popular  thought. 
Without  some  such  auxiliaries  to  the  clergy  to  steady  the  popular  faith,  we  may  by 
and  by  find  our  churches  quaking  in  secret  at  phantoms  of  doubt  which  they  dare 
not  speak  of,  and  yet  cannot  get  rid  of.  Tliis  is  the  peril  of  a  "  missionary  age," 
which  is  that  and  nothing  more.  Worse  relapses  follow  most  splendid  advances. 
Does  not  the  pendulum  now  need  the  touch  of  an  unseen  Hand  ? 
43 


674  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

But  we  need  not  quake  or  croak  with  pessimistic  fears.  The  tower  of  Pisa 
leans  a  long  while  without  toppling  over.  While  the  Church  remains  in  her  form- 
ative age,  the  look  of  her  condition  will  be  that  of  transitionary  movement.  Much 
of  her  vitality  will  go  to  rectifying  abuses,  repressing  inordinate  tastes  and  re-ad- 
justing mistaken  or  exaggerated  belief.  Opinion  will  traverse  wide  spaces  from 
extreme  to  extreme.  The  movement  will  often  resemble  the  ponderous  swing  o 
the  pendulum  of  an  astronomical  clock  of  huge  dimensions.  Her  character  will 
seem  to  consist  of  tendencies  rather  than  of  fixed  qualities  and  consolidated  prin- 
ciples. These  tendencies  will  be  variable,  now  to  one  extreme,  then  to  its  antipodes. 
The  popular  faith  may  never  appear  to  repose  securely  at  the  one  spot  at  which  lies 
the  exact  and  balanced  truth. 

Yet  such  a  look  of  things  should  quicken  the  courage  of  thinking  men.  It  is 
cheermg  to  know  that  no  extreme  has  the  inheritance  of  longevity.  Error  does  not 
belong  to  a  long-lived  species.  It  carries  in  its  bosom  a  momentum  toward  decay. 
Its  doom  is  to  die  in  the  process  of  the  popular  recoil  to  its  opposite.  Every  transi- 
tion from  end  to  end  may  bring  popular  thought  under  a  more  potent  magnetism 
from  absolute  truth.  Truth,  pure  and  simple,  is  the  resultant  of  intemperate 
advances  and  indignant  rebounds.  Only  by  such  oscillatory  progress  does  the  pop- 
ular mind  seem  able  to  achieve  final  and  complete  mastery  of  great  ideas. 

R^sumd. 

Instead  of  inferring,  as  some  have  done,  that  the  aforementioned 
modifications  indicate  an  alarming  decay  of  faith,  we  conclude  that 
faith  has  extended  her  empire  in  the  realm  of  the  highest  thought. 
Some  lights  have  flickered  and  others  have  gone  out,  but  vastly- 
more  lamps  have  been  lighted  where  they  never  burned  before. 
While  shedding  the  worn-out  garments  of  technical  expression  the 
Christian  standards  have  advanced.  Faith  in  humanity,  in  God,  in 
Christ's  supreme  Deity,  and  in  the  doctrinal  and  ethical  system  of 
Christianity,  is  increasing.  Rightly  interpreted,  the  phenomena  we 
have  considered  mean  that  Christian  ideas  have  so  grown  and 
developed  that  the  old  forms  and  terminology  are  no  longer  ade- 
quate to  express  them.  It  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  indications 
of  the  times  that,  under  the  progress  of  philological  study  and  bib- 
lie  il  interpretation,  the  "true  light  is  more  fully  breaking  out  of 
God's  word,"  and  that  the  rays  of  truth,  no  longer  refracted  by 
prisms  of  human  dialectics,  are  converging  in  beauteous,  self-authen- 
ticating forms — the  best  vindication  of  eternal  Wisdom. 


I 


Z  O  IL   E 


^mii^^-}^ 


EL  g    J  I  3?-   r  5  -sSS. 


■.  '. 

''S«>.tiu,-v    ■■ 

J? 


"■"•' 


.  "s*^ 

3B 


> 

Z  2 


^.aa 

1 

DIVISIONS  IN   THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.         673 


CHAPTER  V. 


LIFE   IN   THE   PROTESTANT   CHURCHES. 


Sec.  I.  Organic  Relations.     I  Sec.  3.   Revivals. 

•'      2.  Lay  Activity.  |  "      4.  Spirituality. 


Section  :Z.— Organic  Relations. 

DURING  this  period  the  schisms,  so  numerous  in  the  previous 
period,  were  few,  and  a  number  of  denominations  effected 
substantial  reunions  under  the  growing  spirit  of  true  cathoUcity. 
These  will  soon  be  noticed.     A  few  schisms  first  demand  attention. 

In  1858  the  New  School  Presbyterian  Church  experienced  a 
defection  of  its  Southern  adherents.  Owing  to  a  dissatisfaction 
with  the  action  of  the  Assembly  on  the  slavery  question,  the  pre- 
vious year,  the  complaining  parties  withdrew,  and  organized  what 
was  called  the  "United  Synod,"  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  April  2,  1858. 
It  consisted  of  100  ministers  and  about  200  churches,  widely  scat- 
tered over  the  Southern  States.  This  Synod  preserved  its  organ- 
ization until  August  24,  1864,  when  it  was  merged  into  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  organized  in  i86r. 

The  last  division  in  the  American  churches,  occasioned  by  the 
question  of  slavery,  was  effected  in  the  Old  School  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  character  of  this  agitation  has  been  already  set  forth, 
and  the  immediate  causes  of  the  separation  were  not  unlike  those 
already  described  in  other  schisms  of  this  class.  Neither  the  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  of  the  Northern  members  nor  the  pro-slavery 
sentiment  of  the  Southern  members  could  be  satisfied  with  any 
utterances  which  could  be  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly. 
Mutual  alienations  were  rapidly  accomplishing  their  work,  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  an  open  rupture.  In  this  condition  the  civil  war 
came  on.     Dr.  Gillett  says: 

A  very  considerable  portion  of  the  strength  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
within  the  limits  of  those  States  which,  in  i86r,  seceded  from  the  Federal  Union  ; 
and  upon  the  Assembly  of  that  year  the  long  deferred  question  of  slavery 
pressed  with  the  weight  of  an  avalanche.     The  General  Assembly  could  not  evade 


676  CHRISTIAXITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  issue.  It  might,  indeeil,  decline  to  recognize  loyalty  to  an  established  govern- 
ment as  a  Christian  virtue,  but  if  it  did  so,  its  course  would  be  repudiated  by  the 
great  mass  of  its  Northern  constituents.  No  longer  blinded  by  ze.nl  to  maintain 
its  Southern  alliance — the  prospects  and  advantages  of  the  continuance  of  which 
were  more  than  questionable — the  Assembly  vindicated  its  loyalty,  and  manifested 
its  repugnance  to  a  rebellion  initiated  in  the  interests  of  slavery,  by  appropriate 
resolutions,  which  were  passed  by  a  vote  of  156  yeas  to  66  nays.  The  result 
of  this  action  was  the  secession  of  the  Southern  churches  and  presbyteries, 
almost  in  a  body,  and  the  formation  of  the  Southern  General  Assem- 
bly. The  membership  of  the  residuary  portion  of  the  Church  was  thus  greatly 
reduced,  and  in  1863,  according  to  the  report  of  that  year,  the  Church  numbered 
only  127  presbyteries  and  227,575  members.  * 

This  was  a  decrease,  by  schism,  of  44  presbyteries  and  65,352 
members  since  i860. 

Tile  Reformed  Episcopal  Church   had   its  origin  in    New  York- 
city,  December  2,  1873,  in  the  withdrawal  of  Rev.  George  D.  Cum- 
mins, D.D.,  assistant  bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
Kentucky,  from  that  denomination.     Mr.  Cummins  was  elected  the 
first  bishop  of  the  new  organization.     This  denomination,  under  the 
leadership  of  broad  catholic  clergymen,  has  met  with  a  very  friendly 
recognition  by  all  denominations  of  Christians,  but  its  growth  has 
been  slow.     In  1858-9  a  small  secession  took  place  from  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal    Church  in   Western   New  York,  from   which    The 
Free  Methodist  Church  was   organized.      The    Colored  Cumberland 
Presbyterian    Church  was   formed  by   the   amicable    separation    of 
colored   members   from  the  Cumberland    Presbyterian  Church.     In 
1872  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church   was   formed   by  the 
peaceful  separation  of  the  colored   members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal  Church,  South.     The  movement  was   planned    in  a  perfectly 
friendly  way  by  the  white  portion  of  the  Church,  believing  that  the 
colored  people  would  be  happier,  and  work  more  effectively,  if  organ- 
ized   by    themselves.     The    Union   American   Methodist   Episcopal 
Church  (Colored)   has  very  recently  come  into  existence,  but  it  has 
been  impossible  to  collect  much   information  in  regard  to  it.     The 
Bible    Christians  in   two  forms — Hryanites  and   non-Bryanites,  but 
Methodists  in  theology — have  come  into  existence  here  since  1850, 
an  importation  from  En:5land,  where  they  originated.     There  are  a 
few  bodies  called  Independent  Methodists  and  Congregational  Meth- 
odists, sporadic  in  origin,  Arminian  in  doctrine,  but  Congregational 
in  polity,  with  only  slight  organic  relations,  existing  chiefly  in  Balti- 
more and  the  South.     They  have  come  into  being  since  1850. 

The  Christian  Union  Churches  were  organized  in   1864,  by  Rev. 

*  History  0/ the  Presbyterian  Church.     By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D.     Vol.  II,  p.  569. 


\ 


TENDENCY    TO    UNITY.  677 

J.  F.  Given,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Christian  Witness,  published  at  Cen- 
terburg,  Ohio.  Its  local  churches  are  independent  in  government, 
but  it  has  a  General  Council  which  meets  every  four  years.  It  recog- 
nizes no  creed  or  discipline  but  the  Bible,  and  practices  all  modes  of 
baptism.  It  now  claims  about  125,000  members.  It  exists  chiefly 
in  the  West.  The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists  have  been  brought 
here  by  emigration  chiefly  since  ^850,  and  have  organized  churches 
in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  elsewhere,  some  of  them  affiliating 
with  Presbyterian  and  others  with  Congregational  bodies.  The  Ger- 
man Evangelical  Synod  of  North  America  (Prussian  Union),  formed 
chiefly  of  German-speaking  people, has  appeared  in  this  country  within 
the  last  twenty  years,  numbering  now  65,000  members.  The  Friends 
of  the  Temple  (Hoffmann's  followers)  are  a  small  body  recently  or- 
ganized among  Germans.  The  Greek  Catholics  are  found  in  Alaska. 
The  Christians  have  recently  been  classified  among  the  evangelical 
denominations.  In  1854  the  American  Christian  Convention  passed 
resolutions  on  slavery  offensive  to  its  Southern  members,  who 
withdrew  and  organized  the  Southern  Christian  Convention,  Rev, 
W.  B.  Wellons,  D.D.,   President. 

Since  the  civil  war  the  Northern  and  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tions have  remained  separate,  the  Southern  Convention  declining 
at  first  the  fraternal  overtures  of  the  Northern  Convention  ;  but  of 
late  years  the  relations  have  become  more  friendly.  The  Southern 
Convention  censured  the  American  Baptist  Home  Missionary 
Society  for  arranging,  without  consultation  with  the  Southern 
Baptist  Boards,  to  appoint  ministers  and  missionaries  to  preach  and 
raise  churches  within  the  bounds  of  the  Southern  Associations,  and 
the  Virginia  Associations  advised  their  churches  to  decline  any  fel- 
lowship or  co-operation  with  such  laborers.  A  large  number  of 
colored  Baptist  churches  in  the  South  separated  from  the  Southern 
Associations  and  organized  independent  associations. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  separated  in  1844  on  account  of  slavery,  have 
remained  apart  since  the  close  of  the  war,  with  at  first  slight  recog- 
nition of  each  other,  but  with  more  friendly  relations,  and  even  quite 
active  efforts  for  reunion,  in  later  years.  The  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  promptly  entered  the  South,  as  the  field  was  opened  during 
and  since  the  war,  effecting  organizations  every-where.  At  the  same 
time  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has  grown  very  rapidly 
since  1865.  Warm  fraternal  relations  now  exist  between  the  two 
great  Baptist  and  the  two  great  Methodist  bodies,  North  and  South, 
and  a  deep  substantial  union  of  hearts  is  progressing. 


678  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Unification. 

During  the  latter  part  of  this  period  a  new  and  very  striking 
tendency  has  been  manifested  in  many  of  the  religious  bodies.  The 
spirit  of  schism  which  prevailed  in  the  previous  period  has  almost 
wholly  departed,  and  Christian  believers  are  rapidly  becoming  of 
one  heart  and  mind. 

The  first  movement  of  this  kind  took  place  between  the  Associate 
Reformed  and  the  Associate  Presbyterian  churches.  After  being 
separated  for  more  than  three  quarters  of  a  century,  in  May,  1858, 
they  united  upon  a  common  basis,  under  the  name  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America.  A  small  number  on  each 
side  protested  against  the  union.  In  i860  the  new  body  numbered 
4  synods,  43  presbyteries,  447  ministers,  674  congregations,  and  not 
far  from  60,000  communicants. 

The  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South  still  maintains  a 
separate  existence.  In  1875  a  plan  of  co-operation  with  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America  was  adopted,  but  no  steps 
were  taken  toward  union.  It  has  Erskine  College,  and  a  theologi- 
cal school  at  Due  West,  S.  C. 

The  Associate  Synod  of  North  America  consists  of  a  body  of 
Presbyterians  who  refused  to  enter  into  union  with  the  Associate 
Reformed  Synod,  in  1858,  in  the  formation  of  the  United  Presby- 
terian Church  of  North  America.  They  exist  chiefly  in  Iowa  and 
Indiana. 

In  1867  a  union  was  effected  between  several  of  the  smaller 
Methodist  bodies,  resulting  in  the  organization  of  The  Methodist 
Church. 

About  the  same  time,  the  subject  of  the  reunion  of  the  two  lead- 
ing Presbyterian  bodies,  the  Old  School  and  the  New  School, 
began  to  be  agitated,  ending  in  a  most  happy  reorganization 
of  the  two  in  one  large  and  prosperous  denomination,  after  thirty 
years  of  separation.  The  question  of  reunion,  after  pending  several 
years,  was  favorably  decided  in  1 869  by  the  almost  unanimous  action 
of  the  two  bodies,  and  in  1870  the  united  Church  numbered  259 
presbyteries,  4.238  ministers,  4.526  churches  and  4^6,561  *  commu- 
nicants.   The  impressive  occasion  of  the  reunion  was  thus  described  : 

It  was  a  sublime  scene  when  the  final  ceremony  of  the  occasion  occurred,  at 
Pittsburg,  on  November  12.  The  two  Assemblies  met  at  their  respective  places 
in    the    morning  for  devotional    exercises,  and  at  lust  formally  dissolved— ihus 

*  This  denomination  has  received  a  new  impulse  of  growth  since  the  happy  reunion,  having 
in  1S87,  28  synods,  5,654  ministers,  6,436  churches  and  696,767  communicants. 


GROWTH  OF  FRATERNAL  FEELING. 


679 


ending,  it  is  to  be  hoped  forevo-r,  their  separate  and  antagonistic  careers.  After  this 
act,  each  Assembly  fell  into  marching  order,  and  moved  in  procession  to  the  street 
fronting  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  where  the  Old  and  New  School  Commis- 
sioners greeted  one  another  and  locked  arms  amid  the  grateful  shouts  of  an 
immense  throng  of  people,  the  clapping  of  hands  and  waving  of  handkerchiefs. 
The  procession  then  matched  to  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  where  a  grand 
union  meeting  was  held.  Telegrams  flew  over  the  wires  to  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  to  the  Presbyterians  across  the  Atlantic.  At  the  meeting  the  Holy 
Scriptures  were  read,  prayers  were  ofifered,  hymns  of  joy  sung,  and  addresses  de- 
livered by  leading  men — the  two  moderators  of  the  late  respective  Assemblies,  Drs. 
Jacobus  and  Fowler,  clasping  each  other's  hands  in  the  name  of  the  reunited 
churches.  Not  only  chief  clergymen,  but  chief  laymen,  like  Judge  Strong,  Senator 
Drake  and  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  shared  in  the  addresses. 

The  relative  growth  of  the  two   bodies    during   the    period  of 
separation  will  be  seen  by  the  following  table : 


Presbyteries. . . 

Churches 

Ministers 

Communicants 


OLD    SCHOOt,. 


1839 


96 
1,823 

1,243 
128,043 


1869* 


143 

2,740 

2.381 

258,903 


NEW   SCHOOL. 


1839 


85 
1.286 

i.i8r 

100,850 


1869 


"3 
r.631 

1,848 
172,560 


Other  movements  toward  reunion  have  been  started  between  the 
reunited  Presbyterians  in  the  North,  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Reformed  churches  and  several  smaller  Presbyterian 
churches.  The  different  branches  of  Methodism  are  gravitating 
slowly,  but  surely,  toward  each  other,  and  the  great  Centennial  Con- 
ference at  Baltimore,  in  December,  1884,  comprising  representatives 
of  the  entire  Methodist  family  of  churches  on  the  American  conti- 
nent, clearly  foreshadowed  a  future  possibility.  The  Free  Will 
Baptists,  the  Christians,  the  Congregationalists,  etc.,  exhibit  strong 
tendencies  to  unite.  Among  all  of  these  bodies  the  spirit  of  fra- 
ternity is  improving,  and  the  prospect  of  organic  unity  brightens. 

Not  only  has  there  been  great  progress  toward  organic  unity, 
but  the  moral  unity  of  the  denominations  is  becoming  clearer  and 
stronger  every  year.  We  have  noticed,  during  the  first  fifty  years  of 
this  century,  twenty-two  schisms  in  the  churches  of  the  United 
States,  a  few  occasioned  by  departures  from  evangelical  theology,  and 

*  Besides  the  secession  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  in  1861. 


680  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a.  much  larger  number  caused  by  disagreements  on  questions  of  eccle- 
siastical polity  and  policy.  But  since  1850  a  new  tendency  has 
developed,  only  a  few  schisms  occurring,  all  quite  small,  and 
caused  by  questions  of  policy.  One  of  the  most  marked  indi- 
cations of  the  times  is  the  coming  together  of  religious  bodies 
in  Christian  fellowship  upon  a  common  platform  of  organization,  or 
of  labor,  or  both,  incalculably  increasing  the  moral  unity  of  Chris- 
tianity. Christians  are  learning  that  they  are  one  in  the  substance 
of  their  faith  and  in  the  spirit  of  their  endeavors;  that  all  else  is  of 
minor  consequence  ;  and  that  Christian  unity  is  not  so  much  outward 
uniformity,  or  the  utterance  of  the  same  scholastic  statement  of 
faith,  or  combination  in  one  visible  body  and  under  one  name,  as 
oneness  in  spirit. 

This  growing  unity  is  one  of  the  exponent  facts  of  the  age,  an 
expression  of  a  deepening  charity  and  growing  catholicity,  more  and 
more  apparent  through  Protestant  Christendom  in  each  decade  of 
the  century,  effecting  a  moral,  if  not  an  ecclesiastical,  unification 
of  Protestantism — a  real  "  communion  of  saints."  The  world  is 
learning  that  the  true  unity  of  Christianity  is  based  upon  spiritual 
character,  riot  upon  dogmas,  ordinances  or  ecclesiastical  forms. 
America  began  historically  with  many  colonizing  religious  sects, 
having  their  origin  in  Europe;  and  all  through  the  first  half  of  this 
century,  under  the  unrestrained  operation  of  the  exercise  of  the 
right  of  private  judgment,  the  disintegrating  tendency  wrought 
many  divisions,  over  a  score  of  new  churches  being  brought  into 
existence;  but  since  1850  we  have  reached  the  period  of  riper  and 
maturer  effects — the  development  of  the  spirit  of  unity.  This  aug- 
ments the  power  of  the  Church,  for  the  spirit  of  unity  and  concord  in- 
vites the  world  to  the  recognition  of  Christ.  It  was  this  that  led  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  Dorner,  of  Berlin,  when  in  this  country  in  1873,  to  say  that 
here,  "  Without  laws,  without  the  aid  of  worldly  power  (union  with 
the  State),  Christianity  has  won  for  itself  a  power  over  souls.  The 
proof  is  the  respectful  tone  in  which  the  American  press  speaks  of 
religious  matters." 


Section  ^.— Lay  ActiYity. 

Primitive  Christianity  infused  a  spirit  of  intense  activity  into  the 
laity  of  the  Church,  After  ten  days  of  continuous  joint  services 
of  the  apostles  and  the  laity,  the  morning  of  the  memorable  Pente- 
cost found  the  whole  body  together,  in  an  expectant  attitude,  and 
the  three  thousand  converts  of  that  day  were  steadfast  in  doctrine, 


^.    LAV  ACTIVITY.  *  681 

fellowship  and  service.  A  layman  was  the  chosen  agent  in  opening 
the  eyes  of  St.  Paul,  and  pious  women  were  commended  by  him  as 
"helpers  in  Christ  Jesus." 

In  the  course  of  time,  the  spirit  of  ecclesiasticism  dominated  the 
Church,  denying  that  the  laity  may  come  directly  to  God,  concentrat- 
ing all  spiritual  functions  in  an  imperious  hierarchy,  and  supplanting 
spiritual  life  with  imposing  forms  and  elaborate  ceremonials.  After 
long,  dark  centuries,  the  Reformation  broke  the  power  of  exclusive 
ecclesiasticism,  and  proclaimed  anew  the  apostolic  doctrine,  every 
man  his  own  priest.  The  deliverance  was  not  at  once  complete. 
Even  in  Protestant  bodies,  the  laity  remained  in  partial  bondage  to 
ecclesiastical  limitations.  Immature  at  first,  Protestantism  has  been 
a  growth,  under  embarrassments  from  within  and  from  without,  but 
in  each  succeeding  century  the  rigid  bonds  of  ecclesiasticism  have 
loosened,  and  the  laity  have  come  into  a  fuller  exercise  of  their 
spiritual  privileges. 

The  Friends  and  the  Moravians,  thrusting  out  their  members 
into  active  religious  labor,  contributed  new  impulses  to  this  move- 
ment ;  but  the  Wesleyan  reformation,  calling  out  all  converts  in 
testimony  for  Christ,  and  bringing  into  the  field  a  large  number  of 
lay  preachers  and  exhorters,  greatly  augmented  and  strengthened  it. 
The  new  life  imparted  to  the  American  churches  since  the  great 
revival  of  1800  has  brought  Christian  men  and  women  into  still 
greater  prominence  in  moral  and  religious  enterprises.  One  hun- 
dred years  ago,  and,  in  some  sections  and  churches,  until  some 
time  after  the  opening  of  this  century,  prayer-meetings  were 
rarely  held,  and  there  was  little  or  no  exercise  of  the  gifts  of  the 
laity  in  religious  meetings.  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs,  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  in 
his  semi-centennial  sermon,  said,  "  Meetings  for  prayer  among  the 
brethren  of  the  church  had  been  unknown  during  the  life  of  its  mem- 
bers." The  little  band  of  twenty-eight  redoubtable  champions  of 
"  orthodoxy,"  who  left  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  to  form  the 
Park  Street  Church,  in  1808,  met  several  times  for  consultation, 
before  one  of  them  had  courage  to  open  his  mouth  in  vocal  prayer 
in  the  midst  of  his  brethren.*  Rev.  John  Fiske,  of  New  Braintree, 
Mass.,  in  his  semi-centennial  discourse,  said  he  had  been  eleven 
years  pastor  of  that  church,  before  he  heard  the  first  word  of  prayer 
from  any  of  his  members,  and  that  this  was  not  an  uncommon  fact. 
Since  that  time  what  a  change !  The  prayer-meeting  is  now 
almost  universal,  and  holds  a  very  conspicuous  place  in  religious 
services. 

♦  Park  Street  Church  Memorial  Volume. 


682  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

City  Missions, 
in  a  previous  chapter,  were  noticed  as  one  of  the  agencies  which 
came  into  being  in  this  country  in  the  first  half  of  this  century. 
In  the  great  revival  of  1 830-1 832,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Har- 
lan Page,  in  New  York  city,  a  new  interest  was  awakened  in  per- 
sonal efforts  for  the  salvation  of  men,  out  of  which  came  into  opera- 
tion paid  and  unpaid  agencies,  "  Tract  Missionaries,"  etc.,  in  the  large 
cities.  Since  1850  City  Missions  have  received  a  stronger  impulse. 
Few  cities  are  now  without  these  agencies.  The  five  missionaries 
of  the  Boston  City  Missionary  Society,  prior  to  1850,  have  been 
multiplied  fivefold. 

Labors  and  Results  for  the  Year  1885. 

Missionaries 25 

Visits  made  by  missionaries 57.444 

Different  families  visited 13,210 

Visits  to  the  sick 7.723 

Funerals  attended 64 

Papers  and  tracts  distributed 204,356 

Bibles  given  to  the  destitute 485 

Testaments  given  to  children  and  others 956 

Persons  induced  to  attend  public  worship  on  Sunday 564 

Children  gathered   into  Sunday-schools 1,267 

Children  gathered  into  public-schools 30 

Chapel  and  neighborhood  meetings  held 2,196 

Persons  hopefully  converted 68 

Persons  furnished  employment 643 

Families  afforded  pecuniary  aid i  ,866 

Number  of  times  such  aid  was  afforded 8,304 

Garments  given  to  the  poor 9.289 

Temperance  pledges  obtained 103 

In  New  York  city  in  1850  a  well-devised  system  of  street  preach- 
ing was  arranged,  and  carried  on  for  some  time.  Then  followed  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  thrusting  out  young  men  in 
Christian  labors.  From  1857  onward,  noon-day  prayer-meetino-s 
became  common  for  business  men.  During  the  war  these  agencies 
multiplied.  In  1866  the  New  York  City  Mission  Society  entered 
upon  a  new  era  of  evangelization.  City  mission  documents  and 
papers  were  circulated,  followed  by  a  general  advance  along  the  lines 
of  religious  activity.  Within  six  years  over  $300,000  were  raised  for 
the  general  work,  and  $100,000  more  were  put  into  mission  chapels. 
There  now  exist  118  Protestant  missions  where  Sabbath-schools, 
preaching,  and  other  religious  and  moral  services  are  regularly  car- 
ried  on.     About    fifty    missions    are    permanently    established    in 


THE    VOLUME  ENTERPRISE.  683 

commodious  buildings.  More  than  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  have 
been  invested  in  mission  chapels.  The  city  missionaries  regularly 
employed  in  New  York  city  are  said  to  exceed  250,  whose  annual 
visits  have  been  reported  at  800,000.  Besides  these  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  unpaid  tract  visitors,  poor  visitors,  etc. 

Results  of  Fifty-eight  Years, 

Years  of  missionary  labor 1.440 

Missionary  visits 2,718,302 

Tracts  in  English  and  other  languages  distributed 53,676,740 

Bibles  and  Testaments  supplied  to  the  destitute 96,014 

Books  loaned  and  given 233.222 

Children  gathered  into  Sabbath-schools 122,577 

Children  gathered  into  day  schools 24,679 

Persons  gathered  into  Bible  classes 17.924 

Persons  induced  to  attend  church 283,704 

Temperance  pledges  obtained 60,286 

Religious  meetings  held 140,668 

Persons  restored  to  church  fellowship 3.295 

Converts  united  with  evangelical  churches 146,892 

The  total  amount  expended  in  fifty-eight  years $1,421,088  75 

In  addition  to  the  above  sum,  expended  in  the  regular  missionary  operations  of 
the  Society,  more  than  $200,000  has  been  raised  for  building  chapels  and  churches. 

A  high  authority  states  that  the  city  missionaries  of  New  York 
city  hold  more  than  one  thousand  prayer-meetings  every  week 
among  the  neglected  classes.  These  two  leading  city  mission  socie- 
ties are  given  as  typical  examples  of  the  work  going  on  in  all  our 
cities,  where  Christianity  is  grappling  with  the  great  evils  of  the 
world  in  their  densest  strongholds,  as  in  no  previous  century. 

Colportage. 

The  labors  of  this  agency  have  been  expended  among  non- 
worshipers  in  the  older  communities  and  in  the  sparsely  settled  dis- 
tricts of  the  South  and  West.  It  originated  with  the  American 
Tract  .Society,  as  a  union  measure,  with  no  denominational  limita- 
tions, and  founded  no  churches.  But  it  has  since  been  employed 
by  some  denominations,  for  the  circulation  of  their  literature  in 
connection  with  religious  labor.  The  salaries  have  offered  no 
worldly  inducements,  and  the  labors  performed  have  involved  such 
sacrifices  and  trials  as  only  deeply  consecrated  hearts  can  endure. 
Colportage  has  opened  a  great  field  of  lay  activity,  in  which  many 
not  of  the  first  order  of  talent  or  the  best  educational  culture,  but 
earnestly  desiring  to  do  good,   have  accomplished   grand  results. 


684  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

This  system  of  labor  commenced  in  May,  1841.  For  a  few  years 
previous,  what  was  known  as  the  "  Volume  Enterprise,"  an  opera- 
tion somewhat  similar  in  character,  had  been  carried  on,  but  it  did 
not  reach  the  destitute  classes,  and  tract  distribution  had  been 
chiefly  confined  to  the  large  towns  and  cities.  The  new  movement 
was  a  combination  of  both  of  these,  and  the  men  who  were  first 
employed  had  been  providentially  *  prepared  for  the  new  work  in 
the  "Volume  Enterprise." 

In  1850  the  eleven  colporteurs  of  the  American  Tract  Society, 
in  1841,  had  increased  to  508.  The  first  German  employed  in  this 
line  of  work  was  Legee  Ritty,  a  converted  Roman  Catholic.  Super- 
intending agencies  were  established  in  leading  commercial  centers, 
and  the  colporteurs  went  from  house  to  house,  selling  books  wherever 
practicable,  supplying  gratuitously  the  poor,  holding  religious  con- 
versation and  offering  prayer,  conducting  religious  meetings,  form- 
ing Sunday-schools,  promoting  temperance,  and  reporting  their 
work  systematically.  A  large  portion  of  these  colporteurs  were 
pious  students  fitting  for  the  Gospel  ministry.  The  American 
Tract  Society  gives  the  following  summary  f  of  colportage  for  forty- 
six  years : 

Time  employed,  months 67,881 

Number  of  volumes  sold 1 2,074,039 

Number  of  volumes  granted 3.083,974 

Number  of  public  meetings  addressed,  etc 449,389 

Number  of  families  destitute  of  all  religious  books  except 

the  Bible 1,1 24,890 

Number  of  Protestant  families  destitute  of  the  Bible 671,960 

Number  of  families  of  Roman  Catholics  visited 1,714,840 

Number  of  Protestant  families  habitually  neglecting  evan- 
gelical preaching 1,888,740 

Number  of  families  conversed  with  on  personal  religion 

or  prayed  with 7.550.895 

Number  of  family  visits 13,419,508 

*  When  colportage  was  introduced  there  were  those  who  looked  upon  it  with  fear  and  suspicion, 
sending  out,  as  it  did,  unordained  laymen  into  the  work  of  laboring  for  souls.  At  the  "  Delibera- 
tive Meeting,"  held  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  in  1842,  when  the  question  of  adopting  the 
system  of  colportage  was  under  discussion,  a  preacher  who  was  present  took  the  negative,  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  be  introducing  a  new,  untried,  and  irresponsible  class  of  laborers,  who, 
with  a  zeal  not  according  to  knowledge,  might  work  great  mischief  among  the  people  and  injure 
the  cause  of  Christ.  An  honored  pastor  of  New  York  city  was  passing  out  of  the  house  when 
the  su:^rgestion  was  made.  Waiting  till  the  close  of  the  speech,  he  returned  to  the  pulpit,  opened 
the  Bible,  read  the  reply  of  Moses  to  the  demand  of  the  impetuous  and  envious  Joshua,  that  he 
should  forbid  the  unlicensed  Eldad  and  Medad  from  prophesying  in  the  camp  :  "Would  God 
that  all  the  Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  his  Spirit  upon  them  ;  " 
and  without  a  word  of  comment  closed  the  book.  That  apt  reply  silenced  opposing  arguments 
and  gave  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  Scripture  to  this  eflort  to  bring  all  the  followers  of  Christ  into 
active  efforts  in  his  service.  t  See  Repo.  t  for  1887. 


YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS.  683 

The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  has  employed  colporteurs 
whose  aggregate  services  in  a  single  year  have  been  equal  to  1,329 
years.  During  seventeen  years  1,553,958  families  were  visited,  of 
whom  587,548  were  conversed  and  prayed  with.  In  thirty-one  years 
1,206.962  volumes  and  92,650.709  pages  of  tracts  were  given  away. 
The  Baptist  Publication  Board  has  performed  a  similar  work  by  its 
colporteurs.  This  system  illustrates  not  only  the  consecration  of 
lay-talent  to  Christian  work,  but  also  the  employment  of  the  press 
as  a  means  of  correcting  the  evils  of  a  corrupt  literature.  These 
tracts  and  volumes,  in  all  modern  languages,  have  been  the  first 
means  of  Christian  contact  with  the  throngs  of  emigrants  coming  to 
our  shores. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

These  institutions  had  their  origin  in  a  desire  to  promote  the 
spiritual  and  temporal  good  of  young  men  ;  to  rescue  them  from  the 
foils  of  evil,  to  shield  them  from  temptation,  to  furnish  them 
Christian  society  and  recreation,  to  impart  intellectual  stimulus, 
and  to  associate  them  together  for  religious  fellowship  and  evangel- 
istic effort.  The  beginning  of  these  organizations  was  quiet  and 
unostentatious — a  growth  from  certain  temporary  and  provisional 
arrangements  in  behalf  of  young  men  in  London.  In  the  heart  of 
that  city,  in  the  counting-house  of  George  Hitchcock  &  Co.,  drapers, 
was  a  young  man,  George  Williams,  who  came  into  their  employ 
from  the  tender  and  lovin^  influences  of  a  Christian  home  in  the 
country,  and  felt  the  need  of  moral  and  religious  aids  to  keep  him 
in  the  midst  of  temptations  incident  to  his  new  situation.  By  the 
consent  of  his  employers  a  half  hour  each  day  was  allowed  for  any 
of  the  clerks  to  meet  in  one  of  the  counting-rooms  for  mutual  im- 
provement. After  a  little  while  Mr.  Hitchcock  himself  attended 
their  meetings,  and  the  influence  for  good  was  so  manifest  that 
other  establishmenrs  were  invited  to  co-operate  with  them.  The 
promotion  of  personal  piety  was  the  distinct  object  of  these  meet- 
ings. 

On  the  6th  of  June,  1844,  young  men  from  several  business 
houses  came  together  at  No  yz  St.  Paul's  Church-yard,  and  re- 
solved to  organize  themselves  into  a  "  Society  for  Improving  the 
Spiritual  Condition  of  Young  Men  Engaged  in  the  Drapery  and 
other  trades."  Mr.  Williams  was  the  first  president,  and  subse- 
quently came  to  be  head  of  the  firm  in  whose  rooms  the  Association 
originated.  To  the  religious  character  of  this  Association  its 
founders  soon  added  the  idea  of  intellectual  improvement,  and  for 


686  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

that  purpose  established  libraries  and  instituted  debates.  They  also 
inaugurated  the  Exeter  Hall  Lectures  to  Young  Men,  since  famous 
throughout  the  world.  The  Society  also  instituted  Sunday  Bible 
classes,  and  employed  its  members  in  general  Sunday-school  and 
Ragged  School  work.  It  adopted  a  regular  system  of  tract  dis- 
tribution, and  in  1851,  the  year  of  the  first  universal  Exhibition,  its 
members  distributed  no  less  than  352,000  tracts  among  visitors  to 
the  World's  Fair,  and  held  1,550  public  and  social  religious  services 
in  the  metropolis. 

On  the  13th  of  December,  185 1,  the  first  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  was  organized  in  Montreal,  Canada,  and  on  the  1st  of 
the  same  month  the  first  in  the  United  States  was  founded  in  Bos- 
ton. Neither  of  these  two  cities  knew  any  thing  of  the  action  of 
the  other  until  both  had  secured  complete  organizations.  The  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  movement  in  Boston  were  as  follows. 
A  young  man  by  the  name  of  George  M.  Vanderlip  (since  a  director 
in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  New  York  city)  sailed 
from  Boston,  185 1,  for  an  extended  tour  on  the  Continent  of  Europe 
as  a  correspondent  of  the  Watchman  and  Rcficctor.  In  a  visit  to 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  London  he  was  impressed 
with  the  value  of  such  an  institution  for  America,  and  wrote  an  ex- 
tended account  of  it.  Captain  T.  V.  Sullivan,  a  ship-master,  and  a 
member  of  the  Harvard  Street  Baptist  Church,  in  Boston,  while  iu 
that  port  the  same  year  also  visited  the  Association  and  became 
interested  in  its  work.  On  his  return  home  he  talked  freely  of  this 
new  institution.  The  testimonies  of  these  two  gentlemen  awakened 
such  an  interest  in  the  subject  that  a  meeting  was  called  in  the  Old 
South  Chapel,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Boston  Asso- 
ciation. Hon.  Francis  O.  Watts  was  the  first  president.  He  has 
been  followed  by  Hon.  Charles  Theodore  Russell,  Hon.  Joseph 
Story,  Hon.  Edward  S.  Tobcy,  Hon.  Jacob  Sleeper,  Russell  Sturgis, 
and  others. 

Similar  associations  rapidly  followed  in  New  York  city,  Buffalo, 
Washington,  D.  C;  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  etc.  The 
first  National  Convention  was  held  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  June  7,  1854, 
thirty-five  delegates  attending,  and  a  voluntary  confederacy  was 
formed,  with  a  central  committee  and  annual  conventions.  During 
the  civil  war  these  associations  were  weakened  by  the  loss  of  the 
Southern  members,  and  the  destruction  of  some  branches  in  the 
North  by  enlistment.  After  the  close  of  the  war  they  grew  rapidly, 
and  the  annual  conventions  became  occasions  of  great  interest. 
Revivals  of  religion  often  followed  their  sessions.     Young    Men's 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION. 


687 


Christian  Associations  have  been  organized  on  all  the  continents. 
They  numbered  in  all  the  world,  in  1867,  966  associations;  in  1872, 

1,344:  in  1884,  2,896* 

The  membership  of  the  associations  in  this  country  is  generally 
larger  than  in  Great  Britain,  and  very  much  larger  than  on  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe,  having  here  taken  a  stronger  hold  upon  the 
popular  heart.  This  may  be  accounted  for  in  part  from  the  differ- 
ence in  the  social  relations  of  employers  and  employes  in  the  two 
hemispheres.  In  the  Old  World  the  employe  is  directly  under  the 
control  of  the  employer,  being  boarded  by  him,  especially  appren- 
tices and  minors,  while  the  American  employer  lets  his  employe 
loose  at  six  P.  M.  to  seek  such  influences  as  he  pleases.  Eighty-two 
associations  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  have  buildings 
valued  at  $3,532,855.  Six  hundred  and  eight  associations  reported 
their  current  expenses  last  year,  $687,  537-  There  are  191  associ- 
ations  in  colleges  and  academies.  As  many  as  three  thousand 
situations  have  been  found  for  young  men  in  one  year  by  a  single 
association  and  from  2,000  to  3.500  hopeful  conversions  have  been 
reported  in  one  year  by  the  National  Executive  Committee.  The 
Boston  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  distributed  eleven  tons 
of  Dublin  Tracts  in  one  year. 


The  Christian  Commission. 

The  following  summary  has  been  given : 

The  great  rebellion,  though  it  threatened  the  very  existence  of  the  confederacy 
of  associations  (Young  Men's),  was  really  the  occasion  of  marvelously  developing 
its  energy  and  usefulness.  The  convention  had  been  appointed  for  St.  Louis,  in 
the  spring  of  1861.  but  the  outbreak  of  the  war  prevented  its  meeting.     The  com- 


*  Europe. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland 5^5 

Austria 7 

France 7^ 

Germany 543 

Belgium 22 

Holland 3^2 

15 

16 

W 269 

.''."'.'... .•  43 

8 

'.'.'.'.'.... '9 

4 


Spain 

Italy 

Switzerland 

Denmark 

Russia 

Sweden 

Hungary 

European  Turkey. 


Asia. 


Asiatic  Turkey 
Syria 


Total. 


Africa. 


Madagascar... 
South  Africa. 


Total. 


OCEANICA. 


Total,  Continent. 1.381 

Asia. 


India . 
Japan. 


Australia 

New  Zealand 

Tasmania 

Sandwich  Islands. 


Total. 


South  America 

West  Indies 

United  States  and  British  America. 


19 


33 

4 

3 

929 


688  CHRISTIAXITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mittee  therefore  called  a  convention  in  New  York,  in  the  month  of  November,  to 
see  if  the  agencies  of  the  Association  could  not  in  some  way  come  to  tlie  aid  of  the 
country  in  that  fearful  struggle.  The  result  was  the  formation  of  the  Christian 
Commission.  AH  the  world  knows  the  history  of  its  labors,  which  gleam  like 
golden  broidery  on  the  ensanguined  robe  of  war,  like  the  silver  lining  on  the 
somber  clouds  of  fate,  irradiating  the  gleam  of  battle  by  glimpses  of  the  heavenly 
light  of  love  and  charity.  The  agents  of  this  Commission  carried  at  once  the  bread 
that  perishes  and  the  Biead  of  Life,  and  healed  the  wounds  both  of  the  body  and  the 
soul.  They  nursed  the  sick  back  to  life,  and  by  their  hallowed  ministrations  quick- 
ened in  the  soul  aspirations  for  that  higher  life  that  is  undying.  The  Christian  artil- 
lery of  the  battle  field — the  coffee-wagon  and  supply  trains  of  the  Coinmission — suc- 
cored many  a  wounded  warrior  whose  bruised  body  the  deadly  enginery  of  war  had 
well-nigh  crushed  to  death.  These  plumeless  heroes  of  Christian  chivalry  ex- 
hibited a  valor  as  dauntless  often  as  his  who  led  the  victorious  charge  or  covered 
the  disastrous  retreat.  By  their  gentle  ministrations  to  the  stricken  and  the  dying, 
amid  the  carnage  of  the  battle  field  and  in  the  hospitals,  they  have  laid  the  nation 
under  obligations  of  gratitude  which  should  never  be  forgotten.  From  November. 
1861.  to  May,  1866,  this  Commission  disbursed,  both  for  the  benefit  of  the  patriot 
soldiers  of  the  Union  and  for  the  reiiel  wounded  that  fell  into  our  hands,  the  sum 
of  $6,291,107.  We  employed  4,859  agents.  *  working  without  recompense,  an  ag- 
gregate of  185.652  days.  These  agents  held  136,650  religious  services  and  wrote 
92,321  letters  for  the  soldiers.  Tliey  gave  away  1,466,748  Bibles  (in  whole  or  in 
part)  1,370,953  hymn-books,  8.603,434  books  or  pamjihlets,  18,189,863  newspapers 
and  magazines,  and  30,368,998  pages  of  religious  tracts.  They  also  greatly 
assisted  in  the  opreations  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  which  expended  in  the  same 
time  $4,924,048,  making  an  aggregate,  by  the  two,  of  $t  1,215,155,  poured  out  as  a 
free-will  offering  by  a  grateful  country  for  the  moral  and  physical  welfare  of  its 
brave  defenders.  The  world  had  never  before  seen  such  an  example  of  colossal 
liberality."  t 

Woman's  Work. 

During  the  present  period  woman's  talent  has  been  more  largely 
employed  in  the  churches.  In  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church:}: 
thirteen  orders  of  sisterhoods  have  been  instituted,  the  oldest  in 
1865,  having  under  their  care  hospitals,  boarding  and  day  schools, 
infirmaries,  houses  for  the  aged,  shelter  for  reputable  girls  and  for 
babies,  dispensaries,  work-rooms  for  ecclesiastical  embroidery,  orphan 
asylums,  parochial  and  city  missionary  work,  visitation  of  prisons, 
etc.  Among  the  Lutherans  are  orders  of  deaconesses.  Much 
similar  work,  though  not  elaborately  organized,  is  performed  by  other 
denominations.  A  few  years  ago,  a  Methodist  Ladies'  and  Pastors' 
Union,  with  head-quarters  in  Philadelphia,  and  auxiliaries  in  several 
States,  was  organized,  but  it  has  since  been  merged  into  the  Woman's 
Home    Missionary   Society  of  the    Methodist    Episcopal    Church. 

♦  A  very  considerable  number  of  whom  were  laymen. 

t  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  Oct.,  1869.    Pp.  592-3.       \  Church  Almanac,  1886.    Pp.  29,  30, 


WOUK  OF  CHRISTIAN    WOMEN.  689 

Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  societies  now  exist  in  almost  all  the 
denominations,  and  women  constitute  more  than  half  of  the  foreign 
missionaries  of  the  American  churches.  Fifty  years  ago  the  female 
voice  was  heard  in  religious  assembles  only  among  the  Friends  and 
the  Methodists.  From  its  origin  Methodism  bade  woman  speak  of 
Christ,  and  in  a  few  instances  Methodist  women  have  appeared  as 
preachers  of  the  Gospel.  The  question  of  woman  in  the  pulpit  and 
the  pastorate  has  awakened  much  discussion  and  inquiry,  but  nature 
seems  to  settle  the  matter,  few  women  inclining  to  put  themselves 
in  these  relations. 

The  Young  Women  s  Christian  Associations  are  another  depart- 
ment of  labor  for  the  Christian  women  of  the  nation. 

The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  comprising  young  men  and 
women,  the  last  instituted  in  this  class  of  lay  agencies,  and  existing 
almost  entirely  in  the  Congregational  churches,  has  come  rapidly 
into  favor  and  become  extensively  organized.  It  has  reached 
national  proportions  and  is  proving  a  very  potential  instrumentality 
for  good.  It  enlists  the  members  in  religious  labor,  in  social  meet- 
ings, and  personal  effort  for  the  salvation  of  men. 

Lay  Preaching. 

This  subject  has  recently  assumed  considerable  prominence  in 
some  of  the  churches.  The  Methodist  denomination,  almost  from 
the  first,  has  favored  it.  The  first  formal  and  effective  organization 
of  lay  preaching,  as  a  recognized  branch  of  Christian  effort,  was 
developed  under  John  Wesley  in  an  early  period  of  the  great  relig- 
ious movement  which  he  inaugurated.  In  Methodism  it  comprised 
two  classes,  exhorters  and  local  preachers,  both  regularly  licensed 
by  specific  ecclesiastical  authorities,  the  one  only  to  hold  meetings 
for  exhortation  and  prayer,  the  other  to  preach  the  Gospel.  These 
classes  became  very  useful  in  England,  bringing  into  exercise  new 
gifts  which  developed  into  the  regular  ministry,  and  also  as  the 
agencies  through  which  religious  work  was  extended  and  introduced 
into  new  localities.  It  was  by  local  preachers  from  England  (Philip 
Embury,  Robert  Strawbridge,  and  Captain  Webb)  that  Methodism 
was  introduced  into  America.  In  all  parts  of  the  world  where  this 
denomination  has  extended  its  activities,  organized  lay  preaching 
has  been  a  leading  feature  of  its  evangelizing  movements.  Meth- 
odism in  the  whole  world  has  almost  80,000  local  preachers. 

Other  religious  bodies  have  favored  something  of  this  kind  as  a 
necessity  to  meet  the  religious  demands  of  the  times.  Lay  evan- 
44 


696"  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

gelists,  under  the  names  of  Bible  readers,  prayer  leaders,  colporteurs, 
etc.,  have  been  employed  in  very  considerable  numbers.  In  some 
churches,  in  which  formal  official  sanction  has  not  been  given  to  lay 
preaching,  earnest  Christian  laymen,  sometimes  of  high  rank  and 
culture,  actuated  by  convictions  of  duty,  have  gone  forth  holding 
religious  services  and  modestly  proclaiming  the  Word  of  Life 
wherever  congregations  could  be  gathered.  This  subject  occupied 
the  attention  of  a  large  company  of  lay  workers,  who  assembled  in 
a  convention  in  New  York  city,  Mr,  George  H.  Stuart,  of  Philadel- 
phia, presiding.  Series  of  "  lay  sermons  "  have  been  delivered  in 
some  churches  under  the  direction  of  the  pastor.  A  Congregational 
Association  in  Missouri,  in  1873,*  after  much  deliberation,  author- 
ized "deacons "to  preach,  approving  their  appointment  first  for 
local  work,  and  recommending  that  they  be  examined  by  the  pastor 
of  the  church  where  they  belong,  and  a  committee  of  the  District 
Association,  and  then  ordained  for  their  work.  Mr.  Dwight  L. 
Moody  is  the  most  conspicuous  example  of  lay  preaching  in  modern 
times. 

The  question,  as  to  how  far  the  laity  should  be  made  prominent 
in  the  various  departments  of  Christian  work,  has  awakened  some 
discussion.  Its  voluntary  and  spontaneous  character,  springing  out 
of  the  increasing  vital  forces  of  the  churches,  has  enlisted  for  it 
much  sympathy  and  respect,  leading  wise  and  thoughtful  men  to 
consult  as  to  the  best  methods  of  adjusting  the  churches  to  the  new 
demands.  Some  have  gladly  accepted  the  new  movements  of  lay 
co-operation  in  practical  religious  labors,  as  a  timely  and  desirable 
relief  for  the  over-burdened  pastorates,  while  others,  more  conserva- 
tive, have  feared  that  it  may  lessen  the  respect  and  the  demand  for 
an  ordained  clergy.  In  the  Presbyteriafi  Review,^  Professor  Mor- 
ris, of  Lake  Seminary,  in  an  elaborate  article,  met  this  clerical 
apprehension,  contending  that  the  necessity  for  the  Church,  the 
Sabbath,  and  the  clergy,  is  generic  and  permanent,  and  that,  there- 
fore. Christian  minds  will  always  gravitate  toward  them  by  a  natural 
law.  In  June,  1871,  the  Interior  (Presbyterian)  had  an  editorial  on 
*'  Lay  Preaching,"  in  which  it  said  : 

That  the  Church  must  have  some  direct  share  in  the  evangelization  of  the 
world,  other  thnn  that  which  it  has  through  the  ministers  ordained  and  supported 
by  it,  is  according  to  a  conviction  very  generally  entertained.  It  is  justly  felt  that, 
besides  exerting  a  heahhful  influence  in  society  in  a  general  way,  each  believer 
should  be  a  messenger  of  salvation  to  those  who  have  no  saving  knowledge  of 
Christ.     And  that  local  church  in  which  the  laity  have  no  impulsion  to  evangelistic 

•See  iV«<'  York  Observer^  May,  1873.  t  April,  1871. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS:  691 

labors  is  properly  regarded  as  coming  very  far  short  of  the  ideal  of  a  truly  Chris- 
tian organization.  This  current  idea  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  usage,  more  in  vogue 
than  formerly,  of  multiplying  prayer-meetings,  which  are  conducted  largely  by  the 
laity,  instead,  as  in  former  times,  of  multiplying  preaching  services. 

In  the  Methodist  Quarterly  Review  for  January,  1873,  Rev.  Abel 
Stevens,  LL.D.,  in  an  able  article  on  "  The  Priesthood  of  the  Peo- 
ple," declared  that  the  question — 

"  How  can  the  laity  be  brought  into  more  effective  co-operation  with  the  min- 
istry in  the  life  and  work  of  the  Church  ?  "  is  one  of  the  greatest  practical  problems 
of  modern  Christianity,  It  has  been  discussed  in  sessions  of  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance ;  it  was  the  chief  thesis  in  a  convention,  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
not  long  since,  in  New  York,  and  is  an  incessant  topic  in  our  religious  journals. 
Nearly  all  evangelical  denominations  seem  to  be  awaking  to  its  urgency.  In  the 
New  York  Convention  it  assumed,  perhaps,  a  somewhat  "radical  "  form.  Its 
supreme  importance  renders  it  desirable  that  it  should  be  cautiously  treated  ;  but 
any  just  treatment  of  it  from  the  stand-point  of  the  Reformers  and  the  Apostolic 
Church  will  appear  radical,  if  not  heretical,  to  the  confused  vision  of  our  times. 
We  cannot  fail,  however,  to  perceive  at  a  glance  that,  if  rightly  developed,  it  may 
become  an  epochal  idea  of  modern  as  it  was  of  ancient  Church  history. 

Sunday-Schools 

present  one  of  the  most  important  departments  of  lay  activity. 

The  Church  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  distinctly  apprehended 
the  truth  that  neither  theoretical  faith  nor  personal  religious  expe- 
rience can  be  safely  and  symmetrically  built  upon  a  foundation  of 
ignorance.  To  save  the  Church  from  an  unsightly,  abnormal  piety, 
from  infidelity,  superstition,  fetichism  and  priestly  impostures, 
a  broad  and  wisely  directed  religious  education  is  necessary.  The 
system  of  Sunday-schools  instituted  one  hundred  years  ago,  and  so 
widely  introduced  in  the  first  part  of  this  century,  since  1850  has 
received  great  enlargement  of  scope  and  a  fuller  development  of 
power.  It  has  been  crystallized  into  more  perfect  form  and 
embodies  more  vital  and  enduring  forces.  Changes  in  the  con- 
ditions it  is  intended  to  meet  may  open  new  avenues  and  call  for 
new  measures,  for  the  work  is  progressive,  and  so  also  must  be  the 
institution.  The  Church  and  the  Sunday-school  are  both  in  transitu^ 
advancing  toward  a  grand  consummation;  but  no  feature  of  the 
religious  record  of  the  present  century  is  more  marvelous  or  more 
commendable  than  the  Sunday-school  work. 

In  the  year  1826  the  American  Sunday-School  Union  recom- 
mended a  uniform  system  of  lessons,  but  denominational  fences  were 
too  high  to  allow  its  general  adoption.  Forty-six  years  of  struggle 
and  toil,  leveling  the  mountains  and  filling  the  valleys,  prepared 


692  •    CHRISrrANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  way,  in  1872,  for  this  millennial  achievement.  A  system  of  inter- 
change of  opinions,  comparing  measures,  was  necessary.  From 
1820  to  1832  local  Sunday-school  conventions  were  held  in  New 
England,  and,  at  the  latter  date,  by  the  instigation  of  the  American 
Sunday-School  Union,  a  non-denominational  convention  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty  delegates  was  held  in  New  York  city.  Another 
was  held  in  1833.  in  Philadelphia,  recommending  a  system  of  uniform 
lessons.  The  third  national  convention  did  not  meet  until  1859,  '" 
Philadelphia.  Others  followed,  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  in  Indian- 
apolis, Ind.  The  first  international  convention  met  in  Baltimore, 
in  1875,  followed  by  others  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  in  1878  ;  in  Toronto,  in 
1881  ;  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1884  ;  and  in  Chicago,  in  1887.  These 
conventions  have  aroused  enthusiasm,  dispelled  bigotry,  brought 
Christians  into  closer  affiliation,  and  shown  them  how  much  they 
have  in  common. 

The  uniform  system  of  teaching  is  believed  to  have  been  first 
projected,  in  1866,  by  Rev.  John  H.  Vincent,  D.D.  The  Berean 
Series  followed  in  1870,  and  the  International  in  1873.*  The  first 
Chautauqua  Assembly  was  organized  by  Dr.  Vincent  in  1874,  bring- 
ing together  teachers  and  workers  for  systematic  training,  pointing 
out  lines  of  work  and  study,  and  making  a  large  contribution  toward 
a  higher  popular  education.  It  is  the  parent  of  numerous  other 
assemblies,  from  Fryeburg,  Maine,  to  Monterey,  Cal.,  and  from 
Florida  to  the  Thousand  Islands.  Tens  of  thousands  of  Sunday- 
school  workers  have  been  inspired  and  instructed,  millions  of 
Sunday-school  scholars  have  been  touched,  and  the  Sunday-school 
work  of  the  whole  country  has  been  placed  upon  a  higher  plane  of 
thoroughness  and  efficiency  by  this  system  of  assemblies.  Thus  a 
new  era  of  biblical  study  has  been  inaugurated,  of  which  Dr.  Vin- 
cent is  the  instaurator  and  prophet. 

The  Sunday-school  has  attained  its  highest  development  in 
England  and  the  United  States,  these  two  countries  aggregating 
nearly  thirteen  millions  of  scholars,  or  more  than  four  fifths  of  the 
entire  enrollment  of  all  countries.  Continental  Christianity  has 
never  shown  much  interest  in  Sunday-schools,  because  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century  had  nearly  expended  its  force  when 
this  new  form  of  evangelism  appeared,  while  insular  churches  were 

•  A  special  committee,  consisting;  of  Revs.  John  H.  Vincent,  D.D.,  Edward  Eggleston,  D.D., 
and  B.  F.  Jacobs,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  having  been  appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  the 
Sunday-school  Convention  to  be  held  in  Indianapolis  in  1872,  met  in  New  York  city  in  1871 
and  decided  upon  a  uniform  lesson  system,  and  presented  it  to  the  Convention,  by  which  it  was 
adopted.  This  measure  has  given  a  vast  impulse  to  Sunday-school  literature  and  work  all  over 
the  world. 


DIAGRAM   L 

1780  [                ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OP  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

i 

PROGRESS. 

l\                                SUNDAY-SCHOOL   SCHOLARS. 

\  \                                         Statistics  for  1880  by  Mr.  E.  Payson  Porter. 

1800 

\\ 

1810 

3V)oV)00. 

1 

1 
1830 

i 

\        \  1.689.693. 

i.oig'eW.""' >.  

\ 

'570  .W. 

t 

1 

1 

\  \ 

X    A. 

3D 
1/) 

1 

33 

1- 

1680 

4.615.453.                               \ 

6.949 .454.                                         \ 

\ 

12.680.257.                                                           1. 115.360. 

1 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL  STATISTICS.  693 

just  awakening  to  new  life  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Wesleyan 
reformation  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Robert  Raikes  and  his 
coadjutors  did  not  dream  of  the  possibilities  of  the  germ  they 
planted.    The  mustard  seed  has  become  a  tree. 

Statistics  of  Sunday-School  Scholars. 


In  whole  world. 

In  British  Isles. 

In  United  States. 

In  rest  of  the  world. 

In  1780. . . 
1810... 
1830... 
1880. . . 

300,000 

1,689,693 

12,680,267 

1,019,693 
4.615.453 

570,000 
6,949.454 

100,000 
1,115.360 

1887... 

15,000,000 

No  such  religious  force  existed  one  hundred  years  ago.     It  is 
the  product  almost  wholly  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


Section  5.— Revivals . 

After  the  subsidence  of  the  Millerite  excitement  of  1840-1845, 
many  who  had  implicitly  accepted  the  dogmas  of  Mr.  Miller,  and  \ 
supposed  them  taught  in  the  Bible,  were  staggered  in  confidence,  and 
did  not  recover  so  as  to  become  reliable  for  Christian  service  ;  public 
confidence  outside  of  the  churches  was  impaired,  and  much  ridicule 
was  cast  upon  religion.  From  1843  to  1857  the  accessions  to  the 
churches  were  few,  in  more  than  half  the  years  not  equal  to  the 
depletion  by  death  and  discipline.  Spiritual  movements  were  slow, 
heavy  and  sluggish.  Only  a  few  isolated  revivals  could  be  cited  in 
these  twelve  years. 

In  the  winter  of  1857-8  the  tide  turned,  and  a  glorious  inflow 
was  realized.     Seldom  since   its  origin   has   Christianity  achieved 
equal  results.      Beginning  with    the  leading  city  of  the  Union  it 
extended  throughout  the  land,  leaving  few  cities,  towns  or  villages  , 
unvisited.     It  occurred  at  a  time  of  great  financial  distress,  in  which; 
the  worldly  hopes  of  many  had  been  frustrated  and  men  s  minds 
were  easily  turned  to  a  serious  consideration  of  religious  duties. 
The  revival  greatly  enlarged  its  scope  soon  after  the  opening  of  the 
year  1858,  but  the  way  had  been  preparing  through  several  previous 
months.     The  beginning  was  small  and  humble,  and,  as  in  all  divine 
operations  at  a  point  unlooked  for  by  human  wisdom.     Mr.  J.  C. 
Lanphere,'a  devoted  city  missionary  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church, 
in  New  York    city,  while    pursuing  his   regular  rounds  of  duty, 
inquired  in  spirit,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "     Imme- 
diately it  occurred  to  him  that  a  union  prayer-meeting  of  business 


694  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES. 

men,  from  twelve  to  one  o'clock,  midday,  would  help  the  cause  of 
religion  and  introduce  its  influence  into  important  circles.  He 
accordingly  made  the  arrangements,  and  announced  a  meeting  to  be 
held  in  the  vestry  of  the  Fulton  Street  Church,  on  the  22d  of  Sep- 
tember, 1857,  at  twelve  o'clock  M.  It  was  a  new  idea — the  little 
fire  that  kindled  a  great  matter.  *  Thus  began  a  radical,  far-reach- 
ing and  substantial  movement,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  revivals 
of  a  century  full  of  wonders  of  grace. 

The  "business  men's  prayer-meetings,"  "union  prayer-meet- 
ings," were  adopted  elsewhere,  in  other  churches,  in  New  York  city, 
in  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia,  Albany,  Boston,  and  in  all  the  cities, 
towns  and  villages  of  the  country.  The  interest  became  deep  and 
general.  Immense  numbers  professed  conversion.  The  revival  was 
the  universal  topic. 

For  the  first  time  in  history  the  secular  papers  published  whole 
pages  of  revival  intelligence,  such  was  the  popular  demand.  No 
extraordinary  agencies  were  employed.  The  revival  was  not  carried 
forward  by  flaming  evangelists.  No  sermons  were  preached  except 
at  the  regular  Sunday  services.  Prayer-meetings  and  lay  efforts 
were  the  chief  agencies,  and  the  exercises  were  of  the  most  simple 
and  direct  character.  It  was  estimated  that  in  one  week  50,000 f 
persons  professed  conversion,  and  that  during  the  whole  revival 
300,000  were  added  to  the  churches.  From  1857  to  1859,  38,000 
were  added  to  the  Congregational  churches,  and  from  November, 
1857,  to  November,  1858,  the  increase  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  136,036  communicants.  The  distinctive  doctrinal  phase 
of  this  revival  was  the  unity  and  the  priesthood  of  believers. 

After  the  revival  came  the  exciting  year  i860,  when  Abraham 
/Lincoln  was  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  South 
Revolted  from  the  Union,  followed  by  the  terrible  civil  war.  The 
attention  of  the  people  was  called  from  aggressive  religious  efforts 
and  engrossed  with  the  anxieties  and  duties  of  the  national  struggle. 
Large  numbers  of  the  communicants  of  the  churches,  in  the  North 
and  in  the  South,  called  from  their  homes  into  the  armies,  perished 
in  battle  or  by  disease,  or  were  demoralized  and  lost  from  the  churches, 
by  the  deleterious  influences  of  camp-life.  Many  churches  through- 
out the  vast  region  traversed  by  the  contending  armies  were  broken 
up  and  destroyed.  Numerous  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  those  regions, 
unable  to  hold  a  session  for  several  years,  were  seriously  disor^an- 


•  See  Power  of  Prayfr.     By  Rev.  Dr.  Prime,  late  editor  of  the  New  York  Oberver. 
+  Rep.rt  on  the  State  of  Religion  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Thurch    Mav 
1858.  '        '• 


REVIVALS.  69S 

ized  and  enfeebled.  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  suffered 
much,  as  did  also  the  Bi^ptist,  the  Presbyterian,  the  Methodist,  etc. 
The  statistics  of  that  period  show  a  great  decline  in  membership. 
The  territory  of  the  Baltimore  and  East  Baltimore  Conferences 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  traversed,  retraversed  and 
devastated  by  the  scourge  of  war.  In  i860  these  Conferences  re- 
ported a  church  membership  of  81,155,  but  in  1865  only  58,762— 
a  decrease  of  22,393  members.  From  i860  to  1864  the  communi- 
cants in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  whole  country 
decreased  66,127.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  lost 
several  hundred  thousand. 

After  the  war  came  the  demoralizing  influences  incident  to  a 
post  bellum  period.  Gross  immorality,  crime,  luxury,  extravagance, 
reckless  pecuniary  ventures,  intemperance,  etc.,  characterized  the 
period.  So  alarming  became  the  symptoms  that  the  newspapers 
often  spoke  of  the  "  Carnival  of  Crime."  But  the  war  taught  some 
good  religious  lessons.  It  was  noticed  that  some  rationalistic  tend- 
encies were  perceptibly  restrained  ;  that  a  deeper  sense  of  dependence 
upon  God  was  apparent  in  the  nation,  and  that  there  was  a  clearer 
recognition  of  God's  providence  in  the  affairs  of  nations  and  indi- 
viduals, in  minds  previously  skeptical  in  regard  to  such  matters. 

With  the  return  of  peace  there  soon  came  a  new  impulse  of 
spiritual  life  and  power  in  large  areas.  Revivals  of  religion  became  / 
more  common  than  in  former  decades,  and  in  many  individual  | 
churches  a  good  average  religious  interest  extended  quite  uniformly 
through  the  year,  and  year  after  year,  with  little  variation.  On  the 
whole,  in  a  large  number  of  churches,  the  spirituality  has  been  bet- 
ter sustained  than  formerly,  and  piety  less  spasmodic — one  of  the 
hopeful  signs  of  the  times.  Throughout  this  entire  period,  the  lay 
activity  of  the  churches  has  steadily  grown,  fostered  and  sustained 
by  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  introduced  into  this 
country  in  185 1,  by  the  peculiar  character  of  the  revival  measures 
of  1857,  '58,  and  by  the  Christian  Commission  during  the  war,  all 
of  which  have  been  bringing  back  into  the  actual  life  of  the  church 
universal  a  practical  realization  of  the  principle  of  the  priesthood 
of  believers. 

From    1874  to    1877  there   were  great   revivals  under  Messrs. 
Moody,  Sankey,  Pentecost,  etc.,  in   which  vast  assemblies  in  the     \ 
leading  cities  were  powerfully  swayed,  and  large  numbers  were  added      ' 
to  the  churches.      Considered  in  respect  to  the  dogmatic  aspects, 
Mr.  Moody's  revivals  were  characterized  by  the  doctrine  of  vnpiited 
righteousness,  in  some  hands  excessively  and  unfortunately  presented. 


696  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Mr.  Moody's  work  was  supplemented  by  the  religious  temperance 
reform,  under  Francis  Murphy  and  the  Reform  clubs,  and  by  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  unions — all  very  powerful  agencies 
and  all  together  widely  and  deeply  affecting  the  country.  As  a 
whole  the  decade  1870  to  1880  was  one  of  the  best  spiritually, 
judged  by  its  results,  in  the  history  of  American  Christianity.  The 
growth  was  actually  and  relatively  greater  than  in  any  other  decade 
— an  increase  of  3,392,567  communicants  in  the  evangelical  churches. 
In  the  two  previous  decades,  185010  1870,  the  increase  was  3,143,408  ; 
and  in  the  first  five  decades  of  this  century,  1800  to  1850,  it  was 
.3,165,116. 

!  From  1877  to  1882  was  a  period  of  some  spiritual  decline,  but 
.since  1883  there  has  been  an  improvement,  and  from  1884  to  1887 
jthe  churches  have  been  rapidly  advancing.  In  this  last  period  the 
most  distinctive  evangelistic  laborer  has  been  Rev.  Samuel  P.  Jones, 
of  Georgia,  more  recently  aided  by  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Small,  of  the 
same  State.  This  work  has  been  conspicuously  marked  as  not  only 
a  revival,  but  also  a  reformation.  Human  agency  and  responsibility 
have  been  pungently  emphasized,  and  the  ethical  phases  of  the 
Gospel  have  had  supreme  prominence.  The  dogmatic  peculiarity 
that  has  characterized  this  work  has  been  such  a  vital  union  with 
Christ  as  7vill  develop  from  within  outwardly,  not  a  putative,  but  a 
genuine  righteousness. 


Section  4.— Spirituality. 

As  compared  with  almost  the  whole  of  the  last  century  the 
present  shows  a  great  gain  in  spirituality.  Especially  during  the 
last  thirty-five  years,  the  churches  as  a  whole  have  exhibited  a 
considerable  advance  in  this  vital  element  of  religious  life.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  more  intelligently  and  widely  recognized  in  religious 
work,  as  the  efficient  and  necessary  dependence  of  the  Church,  than 
in  any  former  period  for  long  centuries.  As  a  consequence  there  is 
a  deeper  awakening  of  the  religious  consciousness,  a  wider  expan- 
sion of  religious  experience,  a  more  joyful  and  triumphant  type  of 
piety,  and  more  enduring,  heroic  zeal.  During  the  present  century, 
American  Christianity  has  fully  attested  its  deep  vitality  by  its  ex- 
traordinary self-organizing  power,  its  local  and  national  societies  for 
home,  foreign  and  city  missions,  for  the  publication  and  distribution 
of  Bibles  and  tracts,  for  promoting  Sunday-schools,  for  the  benefit 
of  seamen,  for  the  Sabbath  and  temperance  reforms,  for  the  advance- 
ment of  education,  etc.,  etc.;  comprising  all  conceivable  forms  of 


UNIVERSAL  PRIESTHOOD  OF  BELIEVERS.  697 

benevolence,  enlisting  an  array  of  workers  outnumbering  the  largest 
armies  of  ancient  or  modexn  times. 

The  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  witnessed  no  decline  in  these 
agencies,  but  rather  an  increase.  The  progress  of  pecuniary  benev- 
olence also,  so  much  in  advance  of  the  first  half  of  the  century, 
and  incalculably  transcending  the  previous  centuries,  both  actually 
and  relatively,  shows  the  overmastering  power  of  Christian  love  in 
human  hearts,  the  breaking  down  of  selfishness,  and  a  spirit  of  prac- 
tical  sacrifice   for  the  good  of  others— a  crucial  test  of  spiritual 

gain.  ,     . 

The  growing  expansion  and  practical  working  of  the  prmciple 
of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers— another  sign  of  increasing 
spirituality— has  been  noticed  at  length.  There  is,  indeed,  much 
superficiality  among  lay-workers.  In  the  almost  infinite  number  of 
these  way-side  laborers  it  is  not  strange  that  some  are  not  profound 
thinkers,  mature  saints,  or  discreet  actors.  May  not  the  same  allega- 
tions be  made  against  the  clergy? 

This  improvement  in  spirituality  of  which  we  speak,  in  the 
churches  as  a  whole,  is  not  without  drawbacks.  Some  local  com- 
munities have  suffered  religious  decline;  some  churches  have  died 
out ;  some  are  in  a  condition  which  occasions  anxiety  ;  cases  of  moral 
collapse  and  ruin  have  occurred  in  men  of  high  religious  position  ; 
some  attempts  at  reform  have  proved  futile  ;  some  abuses  survive 
the  most  faithful  denunciations ;  outbursts  of  religious  enthusiasm 
have  left  some  individuals  and  communities  almost  barren  of  spirit- 
ual fruitage,  and  the  spirit  of  worldliness  has  often  dominated 
churches.  All  these  things  and  many  more  exist  with  mischievous 
tendencies— imperfections  incidental  to  human  agents.  Some  won- 
der that  such  things  can  exist  in  connection  with  a  divine  and  holy 
religion ;  others,  that  imperfect  human  agents  do  not  exhibit  more 
of  these  defects ;  and  others  still,  that  Christianity  can  endure  so 
much  imperfection  and  still  stand  and  work  so  powerfully.  It  is 
because  of  its  inherent  conserving  power  and  its  divine  vitality.  ^  A 
healthy  body  throws  off  large  quantities  of  devitalized  matter,  resists 
malaria,  heals  wounds,  and  grows  strong  under  heavy  strains. 

There  is,  doubtless,  much  "  rootless  piety,"  some  excessive  cul- 
tivation of  sentiment,  a  sensational  popularization  of  sacred  things, 
and  "  floods  of  namby-pamby  talk ;  "  but  they  are  slight  blemishes 
on  the  great  mass  of  true  piety,  and  much  less  offensive  than  the 
whine,  the  nasal  twang,  the  cant,  the  rant,  the  abnormal  ecstasy,  the 
jerking,  the  selfish  exclusiveness,  the  superstition,  and  the  torpid 
inactivity  which    characterized  much  of  the  piety   of  other  days. 


698  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Religion  is  less  sanctimonious,  has  less  of  "  holy  tone,"  but  is  not 
less  genuine  and  worthy  of  respect — rather  more  so  on  that  account. 
There  is  relatively  more  "  well-noted  "  piety,  more  intelligent  relig- 
ious affection,  more  faithful  testimony  for  Christ. 

The  purely  voluntary  conditions  of  American  Christianity,  and 
the  plowing  and  sowing  of  the  common  soil  of  humanity  by  the 
churches  in  larger  areas  than  ever  before,  should  not  be  overlooked. 
Without  the  steadying  or  sustaining  influence  of  a  hierarchy,  or  a  civil 
power,  in  times  of  fluctuation  and  decline,  and  with  no  overshadow- 
ing formalism  throwing  its  concealing  mantle  over  irregularities, 
barrenness  and  defects,  we  have  a  type  of  piety  higher  in  elements 
of  personal  godliness  than  has  been  furnished  in  any  other  age  under 
prelatical  or  civil  dependence. 

Modifications. 

The  influence  of  religion  is,  doubtless,  less  marked  in  some  por- 
tions of  the  land  than  at  some  former  times  because  it  has  more 
fully  conquered  its  position,  and  the  contrast  between  the  Church 
and  the  world  is  less  perceptible  because  Christianity  has  largely 
transformed  Christendom  morally,  intellectually  and  socially ;  and, 
therefore,  it  does  not  look  so  bright  on  the  new  background  as  on 
the  old.  Christianity  greatly  "  has  softened  and  shaded  the  world 
to  her  own  likeness."  The  moral  change  in  American  society  within 
one  hundred  years  is  very  great. 

There  is  less  of  physical  demonstration  and  exceptional  spas- 
modic fervor;  but  such  phenomena  do  not  measure  Christianity. 
Paroxysms  startle  attention,  but  do  not  indicate  moral  progress. 
The  mind  of  Christendom  is  rising  and  going  forth  in  good  works. 
Never  before  was  the  moral  consciousness  of  the  churches  so  quick- 
ened or  their  exertions  so  fruitful.  A  century  and  a  half  ago  the 
outlook  for  Christianity  was  dreary  enough,  its  spirituality  only  a 
feeble  flame,  and  its  aggressive  power  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Since 
then  it  has  reached  the  greatest  known  maximum  since  the  apos- 
tolic age.  From  that  period  down  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
if  we  except  some  remarkable  examples  among  the  Moravians,  and 
short  periods  among  the  Puritans  and  the  Presbyterians  in  Scotland, 
all  in  very  limited  areas,  the  world  has  known  nothing  of  such 
spiritual  activities  as  have  been  developed  on  this  continent  within 
this  century,  and  chiefly  within  the  last  thirty-five  years.  Piety  has 
come  out  of  the  cloisters  and  gone  forth  among  the  masses,  in  imita- 
tion of  "  Him  who  went  about  doing  good."  No  previous  a^-e  can 
parallel  in  magnitude,  in  grandeur,  in  intelligent  apprehension,  the 


THE  LIVING  CHURCH.  G99 

religious  activities  of  this  age.  The  significance  is  a  deepening 
religious  vitality,  a  powerful  underlying  religious  force.  The  in- 
crease of  almost  twelve  millions  of  communicants  in  the  evangelical 
churches  of  the  United  States  in  eighty-six  years  is  a  convincing 
crucial  test. 

Words  of  Wise  Caution 

from  an  eminent  and  eloquent  thinker,  Rev.  Professor  Austin  Phelps, 
D.D.,  will  be  appreciated: 

Perils  are  looming  up  on  the  not  distant  horizon  which  are  the  natural  product 
of  an  age  of  vigilant  and  inventive  expansion.  We  are  lapsing  into  an  unthoughtful 
style  of  religious  life.  The  meditative  graces  seem  to  be  waning.  A  man  is 
estimated  by  what  he  gives  rather  than  by  what  he  is.  Wealth  is  assuming  an 
undue  importance  in  the  worth  of  individuals  and  of  churches.  Gold  is,  morally, 
as  well  as  by  troy  weight,  a  heavy  metal.  The  outlook  is  ominous  when,  in  any 
large  fraternity  of  believers,  the  leaders  take  their  leadership  by  right  of  property 
rather  than  by  right  of  mind.  It  is  never  so  in  heroic  ages.  We  need  to  learn  by 
heart  Sir  William  Hamilton's  aphorism,  "  There  is  nothing  great  in  this  world  but 
man,  and  nothing  great  in  man  but  mind."  From  such  a  condition  of  things  one 
peril  often  comes  without  premonition.  It  is  a  break,  one  or  many,  in  the  solidity 
of  that  groundwork  of  belief  which  must  always  underlie  permanent  growth. 
Great  action  must  be  built  on  great  thought.  Breadth  of  expansion  must  be 
grounded  in  profound  beliefs.  Diffusive  force  must  spring  from  concentrated 
character.  A  man  can  do  only  to  the  limit  of  what  he  is.  Beyond  that  all  is 
makeshift. 

Christ,  reigning  over  a  territory  hitherto  unrivaled  in  extent ; 
great  benevolences,  awakened  and  sustained  by  a  deeper  religious 
devotion  ;  rapidly  multiplying  home,  city,  and  foreign  mission  sta- 
tions, the  outcome  of  intelligent  consecration  ;  magnificent  depart- 
ments of  Christian  labor,  many  of  them  heretofore  unknown,  and 
none  of  them  ever  before  so  numerous,  so  vast,  or  so  restlessly 
active ;  the  great  heart  of  the  Church  pulsating  with  an  unequaled 
velocity;  the  fires  of  evangelism  burning  with  unwonted  brightness 
on  multiplied  altars  ;  and  a  religious  literature  such  as  has  character- 
ized no  other  age,  eminently  practical,  intensely  fervid  and  richly 
evangelical,  emanating  from  her  presses ;  all  conspire  to  show  that 
more  than  ever  before  God  has  a  living  Church  within  the  churches, 
towering  amid  them  all  in  its  mightiness — the  strength,  the  support, 
the  central  life  of  all ;  and  that  an  increasing  number  of  true  believers 
are  "  walking  with  him  in  white."  a  grand  constellation  of  light  and 
purity — a  bright  Milky  Way  from  earth  to  heaven. 


700 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


EVANGELIZING  AND  ILLUMINATING  AGENCIES. 


Sec. 


1.  Foreign  Missions. 

2.  Home  Missions. 

3.  Progress  and  Test  of  Pecuniary  Be- 

nevolences. 


Sec.  4.  Religious  Publication  Agencies. 

1.  Religious  Periodicals. 

2.  Religious  Publication  Houses. 
"      5.  Higher  Education  and  the  Churches. 


Section  1.— Foreign  Missions. 

THE  present  century  is  pre-eminently  "  The  Missionary  Age." 
For  long  centuries  little  distinctively  foreign  mission  work 
was  done,  and  the  territory  of  Christendom  was  not  much  enlarged. 
But  how  wonderful  the  enlargement  of  the  area  of  Christianity  and 
the  number  of  its  converts  during  this  century — one  of  the  brightest 
periods  in  the  history  of  God's  kingdom.  The  American  Foreign 
Missionary  societies  were  generated  by  the  quickened  spiritual  life 
pervading  the  churches  since  the  great  revival  of  1800.  In  their 
inception  Christian  missions  were  the  spontaneous,  impulsive  action 
of  vital  spiritual  forces,  manifested  first  in  isolated  efforts  of  indi- 
viduals and  local  churches,  before  the  great  national  societies  were 
organized.  The  work  has  wonderfully  expanded,  and  the  "  grain 
of  mustard  seed  "  is  rapidly  growing  to  a  tree  of  stately  proportions. 
Providence  has  wrought  in  friendly  co-operation  with  the  expand- 
ing zeal  of  the  churches,  and  openings  for  Christian  work,  never 
before  so  grand  and  inspiring,  have  been  entered  in  lands  only  nom- 
inally Christian,  and  also  amid  the  dense  shadows  of  utter  heathen- 
ism, large  harvests  every-where  awaiting  the  reapers. 

Notwithstanding  the  unparalleled  demands  for  Christian  labor 
in  our  own  rapidly-extending  domains,  in  our  multiplying  hetero- 
geneous populations,  the  churches  of  the  United  States  have 
recognized  their  obligations  to  the  whole  world,  and  Christian  work 
is  every-where  a  unit.  The  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  United 
States  has  given  our  foreign  missionaries  favor  in  the  eyes  of  all 
nations,  and  a  ready  access  to  lands  long  closed  to  Christ  and  his 
Church.     The   magnificent  continents  of  Asia  and  Africa  and  the 


WOMEN  IN  FOREIGN  MISSION    WORK.  701 

teeming  islands  of  the  Pacific  have  been  penetrated  on  all  sides,  and 
the  missions  of  American  churches  now  dot  the  map  of  the  world. 

Only  condensed  summaries  of  the  work  of  these  societies  can  be 
here  given. 

Women's  Foreign  Missionary  Societies. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  foreign  missionary'  movements  Chris- 
tian women  have  shared  in  the  toils  and  perils  of  the  work.  A 
carefully-prepared  table  of  missionary  statistics  in  the  Missionary 
Herald  of  October,  1870,  shows  that  the  number  of  female  mission- 
ary "helpers,"  American  and  European,  in  the  employ  of  the  vari- 
ous missionary  societies  of  the  world  was  2,267 — o^^X  thirty-seven 
less  than  the  number  of  male  missionaries.  From  1823  to  1872  the 
number  of  female  assistants  annually  employed  by  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  has  ranged  from  65 
to  205,  while  the  male  missionaries  sent  out,  ordained  and  unor- 
dained,  ranged  from  81  to  184.  The  statistics  of  other  societies 
also  show  that  Christian  women  have  borne  a  prominent  part  in  the 
labors  and  triumphs  of  the  missionary  cause.  Mount  Holyoke 
Female  Seminary  claims  among  her  graduates  150  foreign  mission- 
aries, and  Wellesley  College,  a  much  younger  institution,  claims  21 
missionaries. 

It  has  been  long  apparent  that  one  of  the  greatest  hinderances 
of  Christian  missions  in  many  pagan  lands,  particularly  in  Asia,  has 
been  the  rigid  customs  of  society,  restricting  and  depressing  women, 
so  that  few  female  converts  have  thus  far  been  won  to  Christianity, 
and  these  at  great  sacrifices. 

Pagan  women,  until  quite  recently,  have  remained  almost  wholly 
unreached  and  unblest.  Gradually  the  conviction  gained  ground 
that  efforts  specifically  in  their  behalf  must  be  put  forth,  and  that 
female  missionary  societies,  organized  for  the  purpose  of  sending 
Christian  women  into  the  foreign  fields,  would  be  promotive  of 
good  results.  This  rising  conviction  culminated  in  the  organization 
of  the  "  Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society,"  in  New  York  city, 
in  January,  1861.  As  its  name  indicates,  this  organization  was  com- 
posed of  ladies  from  various  religious  bodies.  It  has  zealously  and 
successfully  prosecuted  its  work.  Its  receipts  from  the  beginning 
have  amounted  to  $779,552.  The  next  in  order  was  the  "  Woman's 
Board  of  Missions"  (Congregational),  which  was  organized  October 
27,  1868,  and  was  followed  immediately  by  the  "  Woman's  Board  of 
Missions  for  the  Interior,"  another  Congregational  Society,  at 
Chicago,  on  the  7th  of  November,  1868.     These  two  societies  have 


702 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


been  multiplied  until  more  than  twenty  foreign  missionary  societies 
lies  now  exist  in  the  churches  of  the  United  States,  as  follows: 


of  ladi 


FROM  REPORTS  FOR  1885. 


Union  Missionary  Society 

Congregational  Board 

"  "      of  Interior 

"  "      of  Pacific 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  Woman's  Board 

"  "  "        South,  Woman's  Board. 

"         Protestant  Church  Woman's  Board 

Presbyterian  Woman's  Board 

"  "  "      of  the  North-west 

"  "  **      of  Northern  New  York. 

"  "  "     of  New  York  city 

of  the  South-west 


Baptist  Woman's  Board. 

"  "  "        of  the  West 

Southern  Presbyterian  Church  Board 

United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America  Board. 

Cumberland  Presbyteri.in  Church  Board 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Board 

Friends'  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  Board 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church  Board 

Free  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Bo.ird 

Mite  Society  of  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

United  Brethren  Board 

Disciples'  Foreign  M issionary  Society 

Lutheran  General  Synod 


Total  of  26  Women's  Missionary  Boards. 


t868| 
t868| 
J873 
i86a| 
1878I 
1879 
1870 
1870 
18721 
1870] 
1877 
1870 
1871 


1879 


1875 
1871 
1873 


1875 
1870 


52 
120 

1.275 

5° 

3,670 

1,406 

101 

1.327 

1,506 

102 

489 

294 

1,1" 

J. 363 

369 

469 

589 


5'4 


"3 

259 


303 
454 
302 


15,866 


528 
327 


3.454I  578!  785 


78 

209 

S8 


2,881 


S.772 
522 

47 


4.049 


151I65 


Total  Receipts  of  Women's  Foreign  Missionary  Boards. 


Woman's  Union 

Congregational,  East 

Congregational,  West 

Methodist  Episcopal 

Presbyterian,  Philadelphia 

Presbyterian,  New  York  city. . . . 

Presbyterian,  North- west 

Presbyterian,  Albany  and  Troy. 

Baptist,  East 

Baptist,  West 

Protestant  Episcopal 

Reformed  (Dutch)  Church 

United    Brethren 

Methodist  Episcopal,  South. . . . 


Total . 


Q  u> 


1861  $119,827 


1 863 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1870 
1870 
1872 
1870 
1871 
1871 
1875 
1875 
1S78 


20,495 


$473,221 
688,134 
169,364 
505.246 
.'567.394 
166,194 
207,560 

45.341 
281,100 
104.841 

67,278 

35-369 
15,000 
20,319 


$246,687 
841,781 
276,446 

1.066,338 
692,765 
208,771 
371,005 
55.165 
37S.753 
160,191 
115.005 
119,613 
69.755 
232.144 


$140.322'  $3.436.361  $4,834,419  $8,571,706 


$1,026,239 

1.550,410 

450,903 

1,661,585 

1,250,165 

374.966 

57S.565 

100,506 

659,863 

244.031 

182,283 

154.972 

84.755 

252,463 


Note.— There  are  about  a  dozen  other  woman's  boards  very  recently  organized,  a  statement  of  whose 
receipts  we  have  been  unable  to  obtain.  Most  of  the  above  receipts  are  included  in  those  of  the  various 
denominational  boards,  but  not  all. 


•  In  a  few  instances  the  receipts  are  limited  at  1885,  and  in  a  few  others  1887  are  included. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES,        703 

Eight  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  raised  by  the  women's 
boards  for  foreign  missions  in  the  brief  period  of  their  organization 
is  a  most  encouraging  fact.  An  exhibit  of  the  foreign  missionary 
work  of  all  the  churches  is  a  desideratum  ;  and  it  will  be  given  in 
such  a  way  that  the  inquirer  may  easily  ascertain  what  our  churches 
are  doing  on  each  continent  and  in  each  country. 


Foreign  Missions  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  the  United 

States. 

(Almost  wholly  from  reports  for  18S7.) 


EUROPE. 


Stations. 

Laborers. 

.a 
.5  ui 

i-g 

■M 

go 

ii 

0 "" 

0 

•0 

c    • 
«  J2 

>.§ 

'•3 

COUNTRIES. 

0. 
0. 

C 

3 

FOREIGN  i     ^,T.,v_ 

MISSION-'   „iyif, 

ARIES.     1   HELPERS. 

u 
0 

*« 
0 

DENOMINATIONAL 

-0 

'3 
"S 
0 

t 

•a 

_c 
'« 

■s 
0 

BOARDS 

Austria 

Austria-Hungary 

22 
10 1 

2 

3 

29 

2 

8 

3 

12 

10 1 

10 

I 

10 

12 

.58 

1,081 

89 

31 

1,243 

2,300 

109 

800 

59 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

Ani.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 

Disciples. 

Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 

DUciples. 

Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 

Evangelical  Association. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

United  Brethren. 

6 

4 

tt 

25 

4 

16 

23 

9 

4 

»3 

829 
24 

68 

21 

I 

18,710 

5,010 

8,83. 

638 

17 

7 
141 

1,081 
3 

306 

4,396 

211 

9,719 

602 

418 

100 

14.007 

31,064 

5,296 

8,489 

&i 

40 
59 

12 

8 
5° 

48 
log 
12 

Southern  Presbyterian. 
Protestant  Episcopal. 
Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n  y  Un. 
Am.   Bapt.  Miss'n  y  Un. 

13 

2 

I 

8 

23 

14 

37 

15 

'34 

10 
2 

85 
460 

24 

31 
4 

25 

Holland         

Italy             

20 

40 

2 

65 

3 

15 

70 

Italy 

78 
205 

Southern  Presbyterian. 
Southern  Baptist  Con. 
Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Am.  Bapt.  Mis.s'n'y  Un. 

Italy 

Norway 

27 

42 

Russia 

Am.  Bapt.   Miss'n'y  Un. 
Seventh-Day   Adventist. 

2 
2 

9 
33 

4 

ig6 

48? 

38 

29 

2 
61 

8 

6 

I 
58 

24 

3 
138 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

Spain   

Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 
.Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Am.  Bapt.  Miss'n'y  Un. 

14 

Evangelical  Association. 
Seventh-Day  Adventist. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

3 
10 

202 
483 

181 

Turkey  in  Europe 

Turkey  in  Europe 

16 
3 

5 

30 

4 

Total  Europe 

203 

3,125 

41 

34 

245 

396 

1,273 

"5,542 

1,123 

NoTB. — All  the  above  missions  credited  to  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  are  supported,  as 
they  have  been  for  some  years,  in  part  by  that  board.  All  of  the  above  missions  receive  pecuniary  aid 
from  the  churches  of  the  United-States.  Some  European  divines  object  to  the  classification  of  the  above 
missions  among  our  "  Foreign  "  Missions ;  but  they  are  evangelizing  movements  originated  and  fostered  by 
churches  in  the  United  States,  among  papal  and  lapsed  rationalistic  populations  not  reached  by  the  Euro- 
pean churches. 


704 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


ASIA. 


COUNTRIES. 


Western  Asia. 


Western  Turkey. . 
Central  Turkey. . . 
Eastern  Turkey. . 

Persia 

Syria 

Syria 

Syria  and  Turkey. 
Asia  Minor 


Total. 


Stations, 


Indi.\,   Burmah,    Siam 

KTC. 

Burmah 

Assam 

Siam 

India 

Telugus 

Maratha . . 

Madura 

Arcot,  Ami,  etc 

North  India 

South  India 

Repalli,  Guntur,  etc. . . . 

Ra^ahmundey,  etc 

Orissa,  etc 

Orissii,  etc 

Hurdar  and  Bilaspur. . . . 

Sialcot 

Gurdaspur,  etc 

Roorkee,  etc 

Risrampore,  East  Indies 
Ceylon . . 


Total. 


China. 


Hone  Kong 

Foocnow 

Shause 

North  China 

Bangkok,  etc 

Canton,  Peking,  etc 

Foochow,  etc 

Central  China 

North  China 

West  China 

Shanghai 

Shanghai,  etc 

Shanghai,  Suchow,  etc. . 

Amoy 

Shanghai. .    

Canton,  Shanghai,  etc... 
Canton,  Shanghai,  etc.. . 
Shanghai 


Total. 


Thibet. 


Korea. 
Korea. . 


64 


'3 

3'4 

86 

343 


Laborers. 


FOREIGN 

MISSION- 

ARIS.S. 


29 
61 
150 

5» 


n  o. 


NATIVE 
HELPERS. 


80 


47' 

74 

27 

218 

285 

214 

409 

186 

1,107 

153 
III 

63 
34 


333 
162 
251 

222 
215 

26 

5» 
6 


285 


3.785 


S 
44 
3 
55 
65 
179 
119 
•(6 

36 
6 


1,266 


686 

103 

62 

331 

375 

25^ 

456 

206 

1,225 

296 

127 

74 

39 


U  3 

=  CJ 
E  a 

u 


2,558 
3.400 
2,203 
2,052 
1,440 

30 
149 

3CX} 


6 
62 
7 
9 

102 
287 
177 
61 
57 
9 


1,126 


13,032 


26.374 

1,922 

676 

1,038 

27.487 

1,718 

3,000 

1,669 

6,626 

1,983 

S,8i6 

350 

557 


4,019 

30 

14 

175 

X.243 


84,897 


25 
3" 

"  899 

1,516 

4,306 

3,050 

445 

581 


359 
146 
802 
75 
677 


«3.3S8 


4,668 
3567 
5,018 

2,731 

5.»72| 

500 1 
506 
150 


DENOMINATIONAL 
BOARDS. 


22,312 


10,520 
1.277 
1,983 
9,671 
4,898 
1,898 
4,^32 
2,796 

14.852 

792 

2,594 

734 

3,345: 


83 

3,956 

60 


8,167 


A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A.  B.  C.  F,  M. 

Presbyterian  Church. 

Presbyterian  Church. 

Friends. 

Reformed  Presbyterian. 

Disciples. 


Baptist  Missionary  Un. 
Baptist  Missionary  Un. 
Presbyterian  Church. 
Presbyterian  Church. 
Baptist  Missionary  Un. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A.  B.  C  F.  M. 
Reformed  (Dutch)  Ch. 
Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Methodist  F.piscopal  Ch. 
Gen'l  Syn.  Ev.  Luth.Ch. 
Gen'ICouncilEv.Lut.Ch. 
Free  Baptist. 
Free  Methodist. 
Disciples. 

Un.  Pres.Ch.  ofN.  A. 
Friends. 

Gen'l  Syn.  R'd  Pres.Ch. 
Reformed  (German)  Ch. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 


71,958 


207 
328 


A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

121  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

196,  Baptist  Missionary  Un. 
1,983!  Presbyterian  Church. 
3981  .Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
439I .Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
202'. Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

I  Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

I  Disciples. 

1,026,  Protest.int  Episcopal  Ch. 

57M.  E.  Church  South. 

i4,rReformed  (Dutch)  Ch. 

240  Southern  Presbyter'n  Ch 

;  Southern  Baptist  Ch. 

Friends. 

Seventh-Day  Baptist. 


203 


5,443 


Moravians. 

Presbyterian  Chnrch. 
Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES.     70S 


ASIA  {Continued.). 

Stations. 

Laborers. 

.i 

2 
e   . 
Zn 

11 
0  a 

5u 

E.2 
0  f 
u 

1^ 
si 

M 

o.c 
""•5 

u 

a. 

COUNTRIES. 

1 

B 

.2 

FORBtCN 
MISSION- 
ARIES 

NATIVE 
HELPERS. 

e 

0 

"a 
0 

H 

DENOMINATIONAL 
BOARDS. 

•6 

V 

_c 
'5 
•E 

0 

4 

X 

■6 
c 

C 

rt_a. 

Japan. 
Kiota,  Kiha,  etc. 
Niigota,  North  lapan... . 
Yokohama,  Tokio,  etc.. 
Yokohama,  Tokio,  etc.. 

Tokio,  Osaka,  etc 

Tokio,  Osaka,  etc 

4 
I 

5 
5 

2 
2 
2 

50 

s 
17 

45 

4 
48 
32 

3 
3 

T 

2 

18 

3 

7 
»9 

12 

6 
9 
3 
3 

I 
I 

3 

I 

39 
3 
».^ 
24 
57 

22 

20 

99 

4 

51 

120 

97 
59 
26 

2.- 

11 

2 
f 

2 

3,465 
104 
529 

3,204 

2,178 

252 

837 
146 
275 
82 

300 
50 
175 

342 

56 

471 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

3 
6 

13 

28 
71 

15 

Baptist  Missionary  Un. 
Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Presbyterian  Church. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Cli- 

Nagasaki,  Yokohama.etc. 
Nagasaki,  Vokohama.etc. 

17 

4 
8 
I 
5 

Reformed  rDutch)  Ch. 

4 

12 

132  Evangelical  Association. 
'Cumberland  Presbyter'n. 

j  Friends. 

44' Methodist  Protestant  Ch. 

Tokio 

Reformed  (German)  Ch 

Tokio 

2' 

Associate  Reformed  Ch. 

Tokio 

Southern  Presbyterian. 

Akita                

5 

3 

i;       9 

35 

Disciples. 

Total      

29 

237 

210 

2,606 

89 

533 

173 
843 

5.)8 

10,597 

120, 8go 

1,087 
100,560 

Total  A.<iia 

632 

5.479 

AFRIC.\. 


West  Africa. 

Liberia 

Liberia 

Liberia 

Monrovia,  etc 

Monrovia,  etc 

Shaiugay .. 

West  Central  Africa. 

Benguela,  etc 

Congo 

Lagos,  Abbeokuta,  etc... 

Loanda  

Gaboon,  Corsica,  etc 

Sherbro.  etc 

Bendon,  etc 

E.\ST  Central  Africa. 
Mongue,  etc 

SotTTH  Africa. 

South  Africa,  East 

South  Africa,  East 

South  Africa,  East 

South  Africa,  West 

Zulu,  etc 

Egypt 

Madagascar 

Total  Africa 


6 
235'  138 


232 
119 


8i      57        78S 


277 
149 

257 

33 

1,184 


540 
2,656 


87 
284 


1,544 
50 


685 


2,256 
866 

3,042 

3,500 

15,426 


6571  Protestant  Episcopal  Ch. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

Baptist  Missionary  Un. 

122  Ev.  Luth.  Gen'l  Synod. 

157  Presbyterian  Church. 
United  Brethren. 


30  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

126;  Baptist  Missionary  L'n. 

284  Southern  Baptist. 

Methodist  Episcopal. 

Presbyterian  Church. 

431  United  Brethren. 
Bapt.  For.  Con.  Colored. 


3,029 
1,443 

5,263 

5,600 

16,920 


A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

Moravians. 

Free  Methodist  Church. 

Friends. 

Friends. 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

Un.  Pres.  Ch.  of  N.  A. 

Friends. 


POLYNESIA. 


New  Zealand 

Micronesia 

Sandwich  Islands*.. 

Total  Polynesia. 


45 


I 

3 
I 

33 

I 
7 

I 
66 

•3 

II 

35 

4,98.S 
5.741 

2,500 


5 

33 

8 

'3 

II 

35 

67 

10,852 

2,500 

Seventh-Day  Adventist. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A,  B.  C  F.  M. 


*  Here  inserted  because  the  direct  fruitage  of  missions. 


706 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


Stations. 

Laborers. 

Communicants  in   Mis- 
sion  Churches. 

T3 

C 
«      . 

Ik.'o 

in 

.5f 
-5 

a, 

COUNTRIES.  ETC. 

"a 

c 
a. 

c 
.0 

(J5 

J, 

a 

foreign      n.„ve 

1 

n 

0 

H 

DENOMINATIONAL 
BOARDS. 

Ordained. 

Lay 
Helpers. 

■6 

-a 

u 

0 

^1. 

I 
I 

6 
6 

.9.... 

43 
59 

62 
93 

449 
450 

Total 

3 

3 

I 

»5 

5 
5 
9 
I 
5 
11 
7 
5 
I 
I 
3 

SI 

93 

I 

; 

3 

t 
I 

I 
I 

12 

20 
71 

53 

8 

4 
15 
28 

I02 
15 

JS5 

23 

4 

83 
78 
56 
50 

17 
181 
8i( 

899 
103 

North    American    In- 
dians. * 
Delaw's,  Cherokees,  etc. 

Alaska 

Senecas,  Dakotas 1 

Chippewas,  etc ( 

Alaska ( 

38 
SO 

13 

»7 

1-74' 

'otg 

.^48 

1,868 

134 
8,417 
1,741 
4,713 

926 
76 

650 

990 

422 

1.958 
685 

675 

422 

2,000 

Pres.  General  Assembly. 

Ind.  Ter.,  Santee,  etc.  | 
Nebraska,  Dakota 

N.Y.,  Mich.,  Montana  1 
Wis.,  Wash.  Ter.,  etc.  f 

1  ndian  Territory 

Indian  Territory 

In  Eleven  Tribes 

Indian   Territory 

23 

9 

53 
24 

no 

77 

2 

47 
33 

21 

4 

66 

15 
18 

5 
I 
7 
6 

13 

21 

4 
"38 

4 
13 

8 

5 

"5 

■7 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Meth.  Epis'l.Ch., South. 
Southern  Presbyterian. 
Southern  Baptist  Con. 
Northern  Bap't  H.  Mis. 
U.  Pres.  Ch.  ofN.  A. 

Indian  Territory 

Warm  Springs,  Oregon. 

35 
1 
28 
34 
7' 

I 

21 
4' 

Indian  Territory,  etc.    . 

Yankton,  Santee 1 

Green  Bay,  etc f 

17 

28 

Cumberland  Pres.  Ch. 
Protestant  Epis'l  Ch. 

Total  Indians.... 

Chinese  in  California 
AND  Oregon.  • 

409 

3 
I 
5 

211 

I 
2 
2 
4 

169 

I 
6 

9 

S8 

239 

745 

2 
10 

3 
20 

34 

23,226 

24 

48 
386 
122 

6,162 

697 

779 
1.274 

U.  Pres.  Ch.  ofN.  A. 
Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
United  Brethren. 
Presbyterian  Church. 
American  Mis.Associa'n. 
Protestant  Epis'l  Ch. 
Reformed  Pres.  Cov'ter. 
Baptist  Home  Mis.  B'd. 

I 

I 
I 
7 

6 

I 

3 

I 

I 
8 

6 
II 

It 

377 

152 

2 

Total  Chinese  inAmerica 
Mexico. 

lo 

7 
3 

2 

1 

4 
6 
8 

5 
I 
1 
5 
S 

56 

I 
8 

«5 

17 

6 

63 

4 
40 
44 
36 

21 

6 

3J 

266 

14 

7 
4 

2 
8 
8 

9 

6 

25 

3 

9 
18 

86 

25 

10 

13 

139 

107 

43 

43 

'7 
3 
19 

5I 

1,018 

375 

42 

64 

1,437 

4.314 

1,573 

».77+ 

340 

350 

2.902 

40 
20 
1,192 
620 
140 
5'9 
"75 

100 

Baptist  Home  Mis.  B'd. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Presbyterian  Church. 
.Meth.  Epis'l  Ch.,  South. 
Meth  Epis'l  Ch..  South. 
Southern   Presbyterian. 

Southern  Baptist  Con. 

Cumberland  Presby'n. 

Friends. 

Asso'ate  Refd  Syn.,  S. 

Protestant  Epis'l  Ch. 

Northern  Mexico 

6 
3 
9 
12 

2 
... 

Western  Mexico 

Mexico,  Pueblo,  etc.  ... 
Southern  and  Northern. 
Border '. 

7 

27 

21 
II 

4 

8 

"5 
60 
II 

7 

Saltillo,  Rio  de  Grande, 
etc 

3 

3 
2 
I 
9 

I 

IT 

220 

'5' 

3.490 

600 

30 
379 

3 

5 
47 

Hidalgo,  Pueblo,  etc 

Total  Mexico 

Central  AMBRiCA.t 
Guatemala 

50 

73 

271 

484 

2 
40 

14,130 

12 

364 

3.81S 
26 

.Vloskito  Court 

10 

4 

18 

545 

Total 

9 

10 

2 

4 

18 

4'-' 

376 

57" 

•Among  p.igan  population  in  our  own  country, 
t  Among  population  originally  pagan  or  papal. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES.     707 


NORTH  AMERICA— CV7«/i««<r^. 


Stations. 

Laborers. 

S 

a    . 

c  u 

0  3 

0  ^ 

u 

•0 

-■3 

be 
e  c 

COUNTRIES. 

o. 

c 

•c 

c 
o 

« 
■Si 

FOREIGN* 

MISSION- 

AKIB.S. 

NATIVE 
HELPERS. 

1 

0 

DENOMINATIONAL 
BOARDS. 

c 
■3 

•s 
0 

Ik 

X 

C 

"3 

■^ 
0 

West   Indies.  ♦ 

Hayti 

Hayti 

2 
I 

I 

7 

47 

10 

26 

I 

61 

98 

55 
5' 

6 

858 

373 

734 

22 

15,851 

251 

750 

150 

11,613 

Protestant  Epis'l  Ch. 

s 

3 

29|        768 

African  Meth.  Epis.  Ch. 

Friends. 

East  and  West  W.  I.... 

Moravians. 

Total  West  Indies. 

II 

6i 

7 

30     780 

960 

16,980 

12,764 

Total  N.  America. 

i8i 

823 

447 

253    168     i,4ig 

2,472 

56,629 

26,214 

SOUTH 

AMERICA. 

Brazil. 

I 
9 

2 
I 
4 
3 

2 
I 
I 
I 

3 
I 

»5 

3 

37 
1.89s 
217 
175 
3u8 
'37 

898 

449 

25 

66 

293 
8,324 

sis 

148 
80 

125 

80 

1,204 
260 

59 

180 
1.94^ 

Seventh-Day  Adventist. 

6 
8 

4 

12 

8 

32 

3 

I 

2 
18 

10 

4 
5 
I 

6 

29 
4 

60 
II 
14 

7 
7 

"7 
29 

Presbyterian  Church. 

Rio  de  Janeiro 

M.  E.  Church,  South. 

Southern  Baptist. 

I 
3 

3 

5 
4 

IS 

Southern  Presbyterian. 

Southern  Presbyterian. 

Argentine  Republic. 
Chili 

4 

8 

10 

6 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ch. 
Presbyterian  Church. 

Chili 

Reformed  (German)  Ch. 

Columbia 

Guiana. 

2 
66 

3 

3 

5 
367 

10 

27 
433 

Presbyterian  Church. 
Moravians. 

Moravians. 

Total  South  America 

28 

84 

100 

37 

15 

454 

715 

12,724 

4-597 

RECAPITULATION. 


COUNTRIES. 


Europe 

A.sia 

Africa 

North  America. 
Souih  America 
Polynesia 


AgfcTegate. 


Stations. 


c/o 


2,125 
2,6o6 

255 

823 

84 

33 


5.926 


Laborers. 


.mission- 

ARIKS. 


j      N.^TIVE 
'1    HELPERS. 


1267 


«3 

X 


396 

5.479 
788 

l,4'9 

454 

35 

8,57' 


1.273 
7,690 
1,184 
2,469 
7'5 
67 


•3.398 


E  c 

o  ^ 
O 


"5.542 
1 20,890 
15.426 
56,629 
12.724 
10,852 


1,123 
100,560 
16,920 
26,214 
4.597 
2,500 


332,063,     I5«.9'4 


fJoxE. The  varied   methods  of  t.ibiil.iting  the  different  classes  of  laborers,  and  also  of  reporting  stations 

and  out-stations  by  the  various  missionary  boards,  make  it  impossible  to  combine  the  data  with  entire  satis- 
faction. Some  of  the  smaller  boards  do  not  report  these  Items  clearly.  But  the  above  may  be  accepted  as 
a  close  approximation  to  accurate  results. 

The  Moravian  missions  given  in  this  table  are  not  supported  exclusively  by  the  Moravian  churches  of 
the  United  States,  but  they  so  largely  participate  in  the  missions  as  to  require  recognition  in  the  table.  The 
Indians  and  Chinese  in  America,  though  not  in  foreign  Iand5,  are  nevertheless  legitimate  subjects  of  foreign 

mission  work,  being  pagans. 

*  Among  population  originally  pagan  or  papal. 


708 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


o22 


CO   r^O    ^r  »/^  CO 

m"  t-^  o'  c*  o"  r^ 
m  li^  -f  C^  •t'  w^ 

'TO   CO  O  1^  •♦ 

f<  a>  CT'  CO  -f  M* 


to  O*  i-l  N  N  N 
in  CO  '-'  CO  ^O 
O  p<  i/»  r^  r~  CO 


O  00 

"*  9.    ------    - 

'fr^-t'OO  coiriooo 
N  »n  CO  ui  c<  COCX3  ►"  O 
r^  ui  CO  r^O  O  -^  w  'T 


i-i   CO  »n  Tf  I 

1-    f<    N    N    1 

00  r^O  o"  • 

OO    C4    u->  M    ' 

Tt  CO  t^  a>  I 


I  vO  00   CO  «nO 
I   M   o^  O\uo   P« 

c^  o  ^r      "  « 


o      o 

r^  O  CO 


r^  r^  t^  M  i-(  ao 
CO  r^co  CO  -r  c< 
■1  o^oo  r>.  e«  "+ 

CO  CO  CO  O  "^  "^ 
t-  >«  r~  r^oo  o 
«  r»  r»  es  00  -t 


OOOOoo-rcir^ 
r^Q  Q  mc^r^cor^ 

M  inminc^coci  ro 
OO  l-1-Ooo  G^co 
r^  w  i-i  coo  t 


•     I     M   iH    uj  M   >n  ro         p-i^ 
—  CO        "  ?i 


I      CO     w  CO 


O         O 


O         £> 
CO  o   CO 


O         O^ 


'    M     l-l  M 


<->  CO  r~»  in  CO  CO 
w   O   "^  CO  r^o 

ao_>o   CO  TOO   f< 

O  "-  iri  cf  m"  o" 
TO  CO  >D  r^  r^ 
M   O  r^  ui  r^  (N 


r~  ui  coo  O  o 
r^O  ■-'  c<  uico 
e<c<  M  o  r^oo 

c"  (5  o"  C>  -f  u^ 
ino  CO  O  OO  O 
ir>  r^  CO  CO  t^ 


I-  o  coo  a> 

i/^  CO  O    '-'    CO 

t^  ei  Tco  o 

-f  i-i   "^  r^O 

CO   O  O^  rj  CO 
O   ir^  "-<   C4   ^ 


O  O 
CO  00 
T  r^ 


<.li  5  — 


U        c- 


;^ 


v/. 


•5- 


-  -  -—^  -x  tr  c: 


,2   a3  5 


Hn  W 


■~  a.  u 


^  ^  -     « !::^  ^  ?  -rt  i;  ii  a.  - 


V       C4 

^  "a 


.—        I,        Q 


_2  K  i- 

D  3  M 

>  "u  M 

2  =  OS 

—  —  s 

O  o  ^ 


=        ?        j; 


c)5:^2 


-2^3 

'/I     c      " 

<;    o    oj 


t-    «    rt 


tfl 

JS 

.i; 

c 

H 

e< 

E 

E 

o 

CO 

2 

■s 

^ 

CO 

o 

c 

-a 

r^ 

5 

u 

-3 

\n 

CO 

f' 

iH 

m 

O 

c 

o 

"o 

1^ 

1-^ 

2 
o 

00 
OO 

0 

c 

o  i: 

o    « 
"2  S 

> 
O    "3 


O     <^ 

'71  cd 

tfl     w  i; 

C    Q.  >, 

3    S  e     . 

— •     0)  U    sO 

I'    >-  >  o6 

t.  ii    00 

dj  flj    I-* 


"5   S   ij  .li  K 

"*      ^      U    -      «.      O 

_  ^  u  w  p  g 


w 


■u  O   o   S 

c  ^    OJ  — . 

•2  :!;h  > 

O  C  r-    u 

°  -.He/) 

^  *  -t-  ♦-» 


<^  J5  c 

c  JL  i 

■=  S  c 

■S  o  ^ 

V.  c  « 

fl<  "*  <— 

_  "5  0 

o  c  13 

■s  ^  — 

2  a,  IS 

g'S  I 

E  S  .5 

fe  S  '5' 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  EVANGELICAL   CHURCHES.     709 


Foreign  Missions  of  the  Churches  of  the  United  States. 
Comparative  Table. 


MISSIONS,   ETC. 


Missions 

Ordained  Missionaries    \ 

Foreign  and  National    | 

Lay  Laborers 

Total  Laborers.    , 

Communicants 

Scholars  in  Day  and  Boarding  Schools. 


lS50.« 


77 
438 


i88o.' 


129 
1.792 


829  4,167 

1.267  5.959 

47,2661  205.132 

29,2Io|  65,825 


1887. 


175 

2.395 

9.832 

13.398 
332.060 

151,914 


Comparative  View  of  Receipts. 


Total  average  yearly  receipts  in  each  decade,  1810-1819. 
"  "  "  "  1820-1829. 


$20,621 

74,571 
288,583 
508.792 
842,728 


Total  receipts. of  all  the  foreign  missionary 
societies  of  the  United  States,  from. . . . 


1830-1839 

1840-1849 

1850-1859 

1860-1869 1,307,412 

1870-1880 2,200,000 

1881-1887 f 3, 000,000 

1810-1887 +75,544.904 


From  the  foregoing  tables  it  appears  that  the  number  of  foreign 
missions  supported  by  the  churches  of  the  United  States  have 
increased  in  the  last  37  years,  1850-1887,  as  follows: 

Number  of  missions,  from  77  to  175,  or  more  than  twofold. 
Number  of  ordained  missionaries,  from  438  to  2,395,  or  over  fivefold  . 
Number  of  lay  helpers,  from  829  to  9,832,  or  twelvefold. 
Number  of  laborers,  from  1,267  to  13.398,  or  over  tenfold. 
Number  of  communicants,  from  47,466  to  332,063,  or  sevenfold. 
Number  of  day-school  scholars,  from  29,210  to  151,914,  or  fivefold. 

In  the  six  years,  1880  to  1886,  the  mission  communicants  have 
increased  126,931,  or  60  per  cent.;  the  mission  day-school  scholars 
increased  86,189,  or  130  per  cent.;  the  total  laborers  increased  7,391, 
or  124  per  cent. 

The  average  yearly  receipts  since  1880  have  increased  about 
one  million  dollars  over  the  average  for  the  previous  decade,  and 
they  are  nearly  seven  times  as  large  as  the  average  from  1840  to 
1850. 

*  For  tables  from  which  these  columns  are  derived  see  Problem  of  Religious  Progress.  By 
the  author  of  this  volume.     Phillips  &  Hunt.     New  York  city.     1881.     Pp.  580-582. 

t  Adding  what  some  of  the  women's  boards  and  other  boards  receive,  which  are  not  included 
in  the  totals  in  the  tables. 


710  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Section  ;^.— Home  Missions. 

The  unparalleled  increase  of  the  population  since  1790  has 
created  extraordinary  demands  upon  the  Christian  activity  and 
liberality  of  the  American  churches.  With  an  average  yearly  gain 
many  times  larger  than  that  of  any  European  country,  new  villages 
and  cities  springing  up  as  by  magic,  and  the  inhabitants  spreading 
out  over  an  immense  territorial  area,  it  has  been  incumbent  upon 
the  churches  to  furnish  these  new  communities  with  the  facilities  for 
religious  watchcare  and  instruction.  Large  masses  of  ignorant  and 
unevangelized  people  from  other  lands — Papists  and  Rationalists 
from  Europe,  and  heathen  from  Asia — have  crowded  to  our  shores, 
and  the  utmost  diligence  and  labor  have  been  required  to  preserve 
the  land  from  misrule  and  moral  ruin.  The  moral  and  religious 
necessities  of  the  country,  therefore,  have  been  very  great.  How 
have  they  been  met  ? 

The  great  revivals  of  religion  extending  throughout  the  land  at 
the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  followed  by  successive 
waves  of  spiritual  impulse  in  the  subsequent  decades,  prepared  the 
churches  of  the  United  States  to  appreciate  the  necessities  of  the 
situation,  and  inspired  them  with  the  requisite  spirit  of  self-sacrifice. 
In  a  previous  chapter  the  organization  of  numerous  home  mission- 
ary societies  was  noticed,  as  one  of  the  immediate  fruits  of  the  new 
revival  age.  As  the  years  have  passed  they  have  multiplied  and 
increased  in  efficiency,  and  thousands  of  localities  have  felt  their 
blessed  influence.  In  reviewing  the  century,  we  cannot  fail  to  rec- 
ognize the  profound  significance  of  those  movements  of  Providence 
which  prepared  the  way  in  the  American  churches  by  which  the 
nation  has  been  religiously  permeated  and  strengthened,  and  been 
able  to  bear  so  well  the  severe  strain  which  has  come  upon  it,  from 
the  large  exotic  and  heterogeneous  masses  that  have  been  absorbed 
in  its  population. 

The  close  of  the  late  civil  war  devolved  upon  the  American 
churches  new  duties  to  a  large  class  of  the  population,  which  had 
before  been  almost  wholly  excluded  from  their  efforts.  The  freed- 
men  of  the  South  became  the  beneficiaries  of  their  sympathy.  In 
emancipating  the  slaves,  the  nation  assumed  the  relation  of  guardian 
to  the  emancipated,  involving  the  obligation  to  provide  for  and 
protect  them.  In  this  important  relation  their  physical  wants  were 
to  be  cared  for,  their  civil  and  personal  rights  protected,  and  the 
means  of  intellectual  improvement  afforded.  This  work  was  first 
committed  to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau — a  provisional  measure  organ- 


WORK  AMONG    THE  FREEDMEN. 


711 


ized  by  the  United  States  Government,  which  subserved  a  valuable 
but  temporary  purpose.  In  the  suspension  of  its  functions,  the 
churches  of  Christ  recognized  a  providential  call  too  obvious  and 
imperative  to  be  unheeded,  summoning  them  to  supplement  its  work 
with  higher  and  more  spiritual  agencies.  All  the  leading  denomi- 
nations entered  zealously  into  this  work,  organizing  societies  or  boards 
through  which  their  benefactions  were  collected  and  appropriated. 

It  was  at  first  supposed  by  many  that  the  colored  population  of 
the  South,  paralyzed  by  the  terrible  sufferings  of  the  war,  would  be 
considerably  diminished  in  numbers.  But  the  Census  has  dispelled 
this  illusion,  showing  an  increase  from  4,441,750  in  i860  to  4,895,264 
in  1870,  and  6,578,151  in  1880— a  remarkable  gain.  A  race  which 
could  increase  so  rapidly  during  the  terrible  scourge  of  the  civil  war 
and  the  severe  hardships  following  it,  so  far  from  being  destined  to 
an  easy  extinction,  must  rather  be  regarded  as  entitled  to  high  con- 
sideration, and  to  the  most  intelligent  and  generous  provision  for  its 
pressing  needs.  These  few  facts  shed  floods  of  light  upon  the  im- 
portance and  urgency  of  the  educational  work  among  the  freedmen. 

The  full  record  of  these  labors  would  fill  many  pages  with  the 
most  significant  statistics  and  evidences  of  astonishing  results.  The 
toils  and  triumphs  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  societies  are 
without  a  parallel  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  They  are  here  pre- 
sented in  brief  summaries,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  his  Church. 

Work  of  American  Home  Missionary  Societies. 


HOME  MISSIONARY  BOARDS— 


American  Home  Mission  Society 
Presbyterian  Board   

"  "     Southern 

"  "     Cumberland.. 

"  "     Reformed 

"  "     United 

Methodi<it  Episcopal  Church  Domestic 

Mission •.  • 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  Domestic 

Mission — South .••;•• 

American  Missionary  Association 

Protestant  Methodist* 

Wesleyan  Methodist* 

Free  Methodist*.. .... ... ...  • .  •  •  •  • 

Two  African  Method't  Epis.Churches* 
Colored  Methodist* 


1.447 

1,435 

i8s 


0  I. 
o 

~  °  u 
Z-3W 


16 
9> 

2,508 

4'3 
"7 


Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society   ....|      7« 
'^.>        ••  "  Southern 


«8s 


2,990 

+2,113 

500 


16 

125 

+2,537 

+700 
124 


■2< 


HOME  MISSIONARY  BOARDS- 

1884,  1885. 


1.2  C7 

J^    O    4* 

£  'J     I  E  2  > 

zisSz-il 


1,628 
426 


Baptist— 

"     Free-Will* 

"     Seventh-Day* 

Protestestant  Episcopal  Church 

American  Church  Missionary  Society. 

Lutheran  Board 

Disciples .•  • ; 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association... 
American  Bible  Society 

"  Tract  Society 

Seamen's  Friend  Society 

.American  Sunday-School  Union 

Reformed  (Dutch)  Church   , 

"  (German)     '"       

Evangelical  Association  * 

United  Brethren  * 


Total 8,482  13,367 


492.     tsso 

40         126 

971        t2i 

80      +270 

$926 

359 

190 

40        $3' 


•  All  do  a  large  amount  of  Domestic  Mission  work,  but  no  exact  data  tabulated. 
+  Approximate  number,  the  exact  number  not  being  given  in  reports. 
J  Number  of  associations  reporting. 


712  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

The  following  partial  summaries  of  the  Home  Missionary  and 
Colportage  work,  full  of  instructive  significance,  will  be  pondered  with 
pleasure  and  profit : 

RELIGIOUS   VISITS. 

By  missionaries  of  the  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  in  forty-five 

years  (1840-1885) 2.367,1 5 1 

By  agents   or  colporteurs   of  Baptist  Publication  Society  in  sixty-one 

years  (1 824-1 885) 890.574 

By  colporteurs  of  American  Tract  Society  in  forty-five  years  (1841-85)  15.148,659 

By  colporteurs  of  American  Bible  Society  in  nineteen  years  (1866- 188 5)  12.291,460 

By  colporteurs  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  (1855-1885) 2.879,589 

Total  visits 31. 577.433 

PRAYER-MEETINGS   HELD. 

By  missionaries  of  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  in  forty-five  years 

(184(^1885) ; 520.051 

By  colporteurs  of  the  Baptist  Board  of  Publication  in  thirty-one  years 

(1854-1885) ■;.........  70.788 

By  colporteurs  of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  44  years  (i 841-1885),       439,247 

Total  by  agents  of  three  boards 1,030,086 

ADDITIONS  TO  CHURCHES    BY   PROFESSION    OF    FAITH. 

By  missionaries  of  American   Home  Missionary  Society  in  fifty-nine 

years  (182^1885) , ...        326,862 

By  missionaries  of  Presbyterian  Home  Mission  Board  in  fifteen  vears 

('87c^i885) -...^        „5  3o^ 

By  missionaries  of  A.  B.  H.  M.  Society  in  fifty-three  years  (1832-1885).         97,919 
Total  additions  by  agents  of  three  boards 545, 106 

YEARS   OF   LABOR    PERFORMED. 

By  missionaries  of  American  Home  Missionary  Society  in  fifty-nine  years  38.8  r  i 

By  missionaries  of  Baptist  H.  M.  Society  in  fifty-three  years  (incomplete).  7.357 

By  missionaries  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions  in  fifteen  years.  13.951 

By  colporteurs  of  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  in  thirty-five  years.  1*329 
By  agents  and  colporteurs  of  Baptist  Board  of  Publication  in  forty-five 

years  (incomplete) ^  ^^^9 

By  colporteurs  of  American  Tract  Society  in  forty-nine  years 5*550 

Total  by  agents  of  six  boards 67~r^ 

These  are  only  partial  exhibits  of  the  spiritual  activities  and 
benevolence  of  the  American  churches  during  the  century.  If  the 
full  statistics  could  be  gathered  they  would  thrill  and  amaze  us. 
What  we  have  here  gathered  are  highly  significant,  and  indicate 
religious  activities  of  incalculable  proportions,  almost  wholly  un- 
known until  within  the  last  eighty-five  years.  They  are  unmistaka- 
ble evidences  of  the  deep  spiritual  vitality  of  the  modern  churches 
and  their  ardent  aggressive  force. 


HOME  MISSIONARY  STATISTICS. 


713 


sr 


^ 

a 

^ 

> 

* 

c 
a 

rT  Z 

_- 

H 

sr 

r>    o 

s 

§ 

3 

s  1 

5' 

v; 

I? 

•5' 
5» 

O 

zl 

2, 

s--" 

h:o 

?! 

w    3 
O 

a  o 
55  5 

3 

S*3 

a   d 

T 

n  S 

=9  <* 


?  3 

O  n  -*■ 

■^  3. 

2,  (rt*  C, 

(»  <  2 

S  5  s.' 


(T>      O^ 


"H.  -> 


o  2: 

3-    r* 


5-H 

a  3 

s  ^ 


n 

EL 

50 
ft 

0 

3 

3* 

n 

3- 

3 
0 

3 

SI- 

fB 

0 

S' 

a 
(» 

Q. 

3> 
•< 

D. 
0 

3 

5 

5' 

3 

(n 

n 
3 

'n 

t 

0 

3 

c 

n 

fB 

0 

3* 

0 

rr 

C 

n 

3* 

U 

a 

S' 

«» 

m 

i 

3 

n 

3 

3- 

n 

H 

3i* 

ft 

^ 

n 

w 

0' 

-1 

i£ 

a. 

3 

iS 

^ 

>q 

ft 

> 


c:7S 
3  ft  (» 

ft  cr  =* 
"^^^ 

ft »    .^ 

i£.3  MS 
o  *. 


*iincrdO"<^CM>cf> 

2.  2  3.  " 

3 


^?5gl2. 


ETC.  ft   3   :-  -  G 

t  •    i-  ^  2^  2  "o 
•1       5  ft  ft  c  X. 

«»  M  "^  i  3       ft 

•"       ""  S  _  1  ■ 

g^p  ^rt  cr 


3.5  o 

=  g  S 
-Ci  S  fi 


o  o 

."^  n 

2  133 
-^.  p 


?3> 

a.3 


72>* 

o  ft  3 

"T   —  ft 


ft    > '    3    rj 
WS    3    ">    3 


.  .^    r^    "*  »^ 

C33  ft  £.  t**!!-, 

5^.  ft    («    «    3   ^ 


Si'  O 

C  o 

3  3 

-^  ft 

S^  r. 

o 

r: 


«   3  X 

3  o  o'Q-«;' 
p  s;  o  2 
3  >5-3 
•    Pt+2' 


3  o 

£1,3 

3"? 


is    ;:s 


p  i±p 

3    (/;    3  "i^ 

"■  "   .-        P' 

K  S  3 
.1-3  ^0 
"8  ^3  ^ 


2.  3- 


Ooo  g 


o  3 


■  3  £ 

'  ft  v^ 


o      w 


O   I-" 
O  OJ 


O  W  CO  O  vO    M  O 

.t-  -U   "   .  _p3  O  -Sk  .  O 

OLn   c^  •  ».^   00  to  •  Ln 

vC   W    O  •  CO  O  t>J  •  O 

^j  +.    1-1    .  .ti.    O  ii  •  vO 


§>-i  1-1  -t»  to  •  0^*k  00  •  .*». 
wio^^O*  M(Otn«  00 
(0    CC+.  ^J    •     0»    0>  kJ    •      M 


S>|  t30C>Ci0MKJLn4-W         O-^  ^    i-i   M 

o  ^cDO^ooOiH^j-io.ojootoio 

'►hI      •      •  •      •      •      •      '       ••jQ'jiOOQ'Mi^ji'-To-ljOo'lO 

n...  i-iQ'-"00-t»'-i   00   •     O  IH   ocn  00 

O         .     .     .  ...     •     •     •    -^   O   C^-f^   O  O  .b.   >o  O   •    .fi  4^  i>j   00  11 


^  ."^  "^  t>J     M     M     M 

1-1  OOOOCOO  M4-  ow*.  Otnon  m^4^jO 
~j_O*.^t^J0  000  00  MOJ4i  >-"Cn  00  p 
CjOoi'tOO    tobo^^J^CnoCn^oolsO 

(oOi-ii-ifoOQNO^  O^U  vO  O  O  ^J  '-'  <-" 
00>hOooOi-i04:>0\i-i4^^j^jO   co^j  -^ 


«© 


«  ui   00 
KJ    O  o 

f"  V^  ^ 

4-    ii    00 


10  Ji  OJ   O^ij   to   C^u\  C4   0C3  W  cn   000  "m  Cj 

O<-nC>Ui^JWivO004'C»l>>Oi-it0O'-'  !-■ 

0'^0    0<->JOoi>iO<>>Opoo~J— 4-^0  -U 

"to  1>  'O  "O  "O    M    to    O    w  «J  Cn  Ln  'o  -^    O^^jx  OJ 

oot.oO^JCC^jOQ'-'OCOi-iotowoo  to 

.^  OjiHOotoO    H^Qc^o   O^ui   O  O  4^  Ln  4*  ^1 


If 


«  ^4  0 

^j  O  "» 

1J>(^  .-1 

Cn  OJ  i. 
Lfl  LP     O 


rs)    ;_,->  (^    fji^ij  \ij     ^^  \j\  \j\  \t^   ^.^  \^.  ^^  \j\    t-f  \^    L004i 

M   >-iL>J4^<-n   00    Of^^P^OO  o^-»4  LO  ^  Ln  »j 

O  i"  O  -^  ^  "c»  Cr>    O  Cj    tJ    O  Cn    to  "c>  ">-i  ^  O   "oc  "to 

O  -O    Q  <~>i    000    Q    Q  O    to    i-i    C-I..J  o>  i-  tn    O  ±.    <-> 

tj«<-n04^000    000t/«   QN^  4^   OW  00*.   00  O 


^     I  ■^'  r. 


•^00  O      c> 


to  MM 

MM  f^                       i"             ^i^TT'^'Pi^^            M   Ji    _M     M 

W  "to  "co  ^J  "o  (>J  W    O    00  Cl    M  "■;>  Cn  'o  dj    O  Cn  vO  "m  -J  "m  Cn 

OO-*^  •t-0"^NO^Jtn^JC>C-OtoOtoi^OCC>3^00 

O  •vj  yi  ~j   M  OJ  4-    <7><^   to  i/i   M   00  ^  to   o   OUJ  LO    to  4-    O 

OooCo  OO.ubo"oMCjijbMCn"c>"oCn    i-iOO^Mtin'oo 

XkC/jM  l>JOtotO*»uiOO(.nto   —    0^<^X.i..4i(jJl>>0 

O^JIO  tniJi-jMvOiotOOC*'-'   0><-n  ui   to   to  -n   O^O    m 


M  00 
00  c 


?a 


714  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Comparative  View  of  Receipts. 
Total  average  yearly  receipts  in  each  decade : 

Inclusive.  Inclusive. 

1820  to  1829 $23,382         i860  to  1869 $2,101,571 

1830"  1839 234,271  1870"  1880 2,842,923 

1840  "  1849 306,235  I881  "  1887 4,000,000* 

1850  "  1859 808,010 

Total  receipts  of  all  the  Home  Missionary  Boards  as  per  pre- 
ceding table,  $100,019,308. 


Section  5.— Progress   and   Test  of  Pecuniary 

BeneYolences. 

It  is  not  possible  to  make  a  full  and  complete  exhibit  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  pecuniary  benevolences  of  the  American  churches. 
The  necessary  data  have  never  been  tabulated  and  probably  could 
not  now  be  collected,  but  we  know  enough  to  assure  us  that  there 
have  been  great  advances — triumphs  of  Christian  love  over  the 
natural  selfishness  of  the  human  heart — one  of  the  crucial  tests  of 
real  religious  progress.  Nor  can  we  now  appreciate  the  stern 
conflicts  with  covetousness  encountered  by  the  founders  of  the 
foreign  and  home  missionary  societies  in  the  first  half  of  this 
century.  How  low  was  the  standard  of  giving,  and  how  few  the 
number  of  the  givers!  The  story  of  the  penuriousness  in  those 
days  seems  almost  incredible.  Dr.  Harris's  magnificent  prize  essay 
on  "Mammon,"  published  in  1836,  opened  the  eyes  of  many  in 
regard  to  giving,  and  led  the  van  of  a  large  number  of  books,  sermons 
and  tracts  on  systematic  beneficence,  which  have  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  for  good.     But  the  battle  has  not  been  fully  fought. 

The  receipts  of  the  foreign  and  home  missionary  societies  which 
we  have  tabulated  in  the  preceding  pages  will  help  us  to  judge  of 
the  progress  which  has  been  made. 

Total  Average  Yearly  Receipts. 

Foreign  Missions.*  Home  Missions.t  Total. 

1850 $675,000       $557,123  $1,232,123 

i860 1,075,070      1,450,479       2.525,549 

1870 1,753,706  2,472,240       4,225,952 

1880  2,600,000  3,389,845       5,989,845 

1886 3,000,000  4,000,000       7,000,000 

*  Exactly. $3,936,667,  but  some  figures  which  could  not  be  obtained  would  make  the  amount 
fully  four  millions. 

+  As  given  in  preceding  tables  in  this  chapter.  There  is,  however,  very  much  money  expended 
for  domestic  mission  work,  for  city  missions,  etc.,  which  is  not  tabulated  or  included  above. 


CHRISTIAN  LIBERALITY.  7  IS 

Actual  Increase. 

Foreign  Missions.  Home  Missions.  TotaL 

1850  to  i860 $400,070  $983,356  1,293,426 

1860101870 678,636  1,021,767  1,700,403 

1870101880 846,294       917,604  1,763,893 

Relative  Increase. 

Foreign  Missions.          Home  Missions.  Total. 

1850  to  i860 59  per  cent.  160  per  cent.  105  per  cent. 

i860  to  1870 63  per  cent.           70  per  cent.  67  per  cent. 

1870  to  x88o 48  per  cent.           37  per  cent.  41  per  cent. 

We  look  with  much  satisfaction  upon  these  amounts  raised  for 
these  two  great  benevolences,  so  far  transcending  any  thing  of  the 
kind  ever  before  raised  for  such  purposes.  The  increase  of  the 
offerings  for  foreign  missions  in  thirty  years  was  about  four-fold 
and  for  home  missions  about  six-fold.  Since  1880  the  annual 
receipts  for  foreign  missions  have  reached  about  $3,000,000,  and  for 
home  missions,  $4,000,000,  making  a  total  of  $7,000,000,  against 
$6,000,000  in  1880. 

But  when  we  come  to  compare  these  figures  with  the  member- 
ship of  the  evangelical  churches  raising  the  above  amounts,  and  also 
the  wealth  they  represent,  we  see  no  occasion  for  boasting,  but 
rather  for  humiliation.     Let  us,  then,  look  at  two  pro  rata  tests. 

The  Membership  Test. 

Average  paid   for 
foreign  and  home 
Inhabitants       missions  for  each 
Members.        per  member.      member. 

1850 3,529,988  6.57  35  cents. 

i860 5.240,554  6.00  48      " 

1870 6,673.396  5.78  63      " 

1880 10,065,963  5.00  59J  " 

1886 12,132,000*  57to" 

That  our  gifts  for  foreign  and  home  missions  in  the  last  thirty- 
six  years  have  ranged  from  thirty-five  to  sixty-three  cents  for  each 
communicant  is  certainly  not  very  gratifying.  Many  have  given 
munificent  sums,  but  multitudes  of  communicants  have  given 
nothing,  or  only  a  few  dimes,  and  those  spasmodically.  The  average 
has  been  shamefully  small. 

The  total  wealth  of  the  United  States  has  been  officially  re- 
ported as  follows : 

The  Wealth  Test. 

1850 $7,135,780,228        1870 $30,068,518,507 

i860 16.159,616,068        1880 43,642,000,000 

*  Approximate  number. 


716  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

What  share  of  the  above  wealth  is  held  by  the  members  of  the 
evangelical  churches  represented  in  the  afore-mentioned  missionary- 
boards  ?  I  have  submitted  this  inquiry  to  many  thoughtful  persons, 
and  they  all  agree  that  it  should  be  estimated  at  their />r<7  rata 
share  numerically.  For  instance,  if  the  coromunicants  of  these 
churches  in  1880  were  one  fifth  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
country  their  wealth  may  be  safely  estimated  at  one  fifth  of  the 
total  wealth.  This  would  be  a  moderate  estimate;  probably  it  is 
too  low.  Dividing  by  the  afore-mentioned  figures,  6.57  in  1850,  6. 
in  i860,  5.78  in  1870  and  5.  in  1880  would  give  an  estimate  of  the 
wealth  of  these  churches  in  these  different  years,  which  cannot  be 
regarded  as  excessive,  as  follows: 

Total  Pro  Rata  Wealth  of  the  Evangelical  Churches. 

1850 §1,084,593.490         1870 $5,202,164,274 

i860 2,693,269,344         1S80 8,728,500,000 

Figuring  on  this  basis  how  infinitesimal  do  our  offerings  for 
foreign  and  home  missions  appear!  The  evangelical  Christians  of 
the  United  States  gave  for  foreign  and  home  missions,  in  1850, 
one  mill  and  one  tenth  ($0.0011)  on  a  dollar  of  their  aggregate 
wealth;  in  i860,  nine  tenths  of  a  mill  ($0.0009);  ^"  1870,  eight 
tenths  of  a  mill  ($0.0008) ;  in  1880,  six  and  one  half  tenths  of  a 
mill  ($0.00065). 

The  total  amounts  raised  for  these  causes  increased  from 
$1,232,123  in  1850,  to  $5,989,845  in  1880,  or  nearly  five-fold — an 
interesting  and  impressive  increase  ;  but  it  does  not  keep  pace  with 
the  immense  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  churches,  which  has 
advanced  a  little  over  eight  and  one  half  fold.  Even  if  these  offer- 
ings had  increased  as  much  relatively  as  the  aggregate  wealth,  and 
$10,500,000  had  been  raised  for  foreign  and  home  missions,  it  would 
have  been  only  at  the  rate  of  one  mill  and  one  tenth  on  a  dollar 
of  the  wealth  in  the  hands  of  these  churches. 

While  God  is  providentially  opening  the  world  for  the  Gospel 
as  never  before,  while  he  is  pouring  into  the  lap  of  his  Church  pecu- 
niary resources  as  never  before,  and  while,  as  never  before,  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  prompting  devoted  young  Christians  in  our  colleges  and 
seminaries  to  cry,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me"  into  the  field — making  a 
clear  case  of  large  opportunities  and  great  possibilities — neverthe- 
less, with  all  the  great  advances  in  the  aggregates  of  our  benevo- 
lent contributions,  we  are  relatively  dwindling,  criminally  falling 
short  of  our  high  calling.  Style,  and  luxury,  and  accumulations  have 
increased  manifold  more  than  the  benevolent  offerings ;    their  exac- 


THE  RELIGIOUS  PRESS.  717 

tions  have  been  allowed  by  Christian  people,  and  relatively  only 
paltry  pittances  have  been  doled  out,  to  advance  the  glorious  king- 
dom of  Him — the  rightful  owner  of  every  penny  and  every  rood  of 
our  possessions,  and  of  every  possibility  of  our  being.  When  will  the 
churches  appreciate  .the  rare  opportunities  of  these  times,  live  less 
selfishly,  and  take  a  larger  share  in  the  great  work  of  evangelization  ? 


Section  4.— Religious  Publication  Agencies. 

The  press  has  become  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  in  modern 
progress.  To  what  an  extent  has  evangelical  Christianity  recog- 
nized this  agency  and  employed  it  in  its  service?  The  answer  to 
this  inquiry  divides  itself  into  two  parts — periodical  literature  and 
volume  publication. 

I.  Religious  Periodicals. 

An  able  writer  has  said : 

Among  the  elements  which  determine  the  characteristics  of  a  people  no  branch 
of  social  statistics  occupies  a  more  important  place  than  that  which  exhibits  the 
numbers,  variety  and  difference  of  newspapers  and  other  periodicals.  Composing 
as  they  do  a  part  of  the  reading  of  all,  they  furnish  nearly  the  whole  of  the  reading 
which  the  greater  number,  whether  from  inclination  or  necessity,  permit  them- 
selves to  enjoy ;  and  it  was  in  virtue  of  this  fact  that  the  most  philosophical  of 
British  statesmen  signalized  "newspaper  circulations"  as  a  more  important 
instrument  of  the  popular  intelligence  than  was  generally  imagined  in  his  day. 
The  writers  of  these  papers,  he  added,  "are  indeed,  for  the  greater  part,  either 
unknown  or  in  contempt,  but  they  are  like  a  battery  in  which  the  stroke  of  any 
one  ball  produces  no  effect,  but  the  amount  of  continued  repetition  is  decisive. 
Let  us  only  suffer  any  person  to  tell  his  story  morning  and  evening  but  for  a 
twelvemonth  and  he  will  become  our  master." 

And  if  such  was  the  idea  of  Burke  respecting  the  influence  of  the  public  press 
it  is  equally  true  that  the  quality  and  dissemination  of  its  fugitive  sheets  may  be 
said  to  stand  as  an  exponent  at  once  of  the  intelligence  and  domestic  economy  of 
our  people.  It  was  in  this  view  that  Lord  John  Russell,  in  his  great  speech  on 
Parliamentary  Reform,  delivered  in  the  year  1822,  cited  the  multiplication  and 
improvement  of  newspapers  as  gratifying  evidences  of  the  augmented  wealth  and 
expanding  culture  of  the  middle  classes  of  Great  Britain.  And  it  was  in  this  view 
also  that  a  great  Greek  scholar  was  accustomed  to  say  that  a  single  newspaper 
published  in  the  age  of  Pericles  (had  that  age  produced  any  such  phenomenon) 
would,  if  handed  down  to  us,  be  a  better  index  of  Athenian  life  and  manners  than 
can  now  be  found  in  any  existing  memorials  of  the  Grecian  civilization. 

The  newspaper  and  periodical  press,  now  covering  so  wide  a  field  of  activity  in 
every  department  of  thought,  has  won  its  way  to  the  commanding  position  it 
occupies  from  very  small  beginnings.  Taking  its  origin  in  Italy,  and  under  a 
form  bearing  some  resemblance  to  that  of  modern  times,  capable  of  being  traced 
to  the  sixteenth  century,  the  newspaper  has  in  our  day  enlarged  equally  the  area 


7  18  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

of  its  diffusion  and  the  character  of  its  contents,  while  the  celerity  with  which  it  is 
disseminated  equalizes  throughout  large  tracts  of  country  the  conditions  of  that 
popular  intelligence  which  makes  up  an  enlightened  public  opinion.* 

Criticism. 

Most  of  the  religious  newspapers  maintain  a  high  religious  and 
intellectual  character,  and  aVe  very  potential  in  their  influence  upon 
the  public  conscience.  That  some  of  them  are  not  liable  to  the 
criticism  of  being  '*  gossipy,  scrappy,  volatile,  with  extensive  shal- 
lows of  watery  and  tepid  romancing,  neither  cold  nor  hot  in  a  lit- 
erary or  a  Christian  sense,"  we  would  not  dare  to  affirm.  They 
often  have  "paying  and  paid-for  attractions,"  and  may  or  may  not 
be  worse  for  that.  And  if  they  have  some  *'  semi-secular  and  quasi- 
religious"  articles,  instead  of  those  exclusively  devotional  and 
spiritual,  it  must  be  confessed  they  show  practical  wisdom,  and  will 
be  quite  as  well  adapted  to  help  their  readers  in  the  religio-secular 
affairs  of  life.  Too  often  articles  curious  and  nondescript,  flagrant 
and  saucy,  ill-tempered  and  slanderous,  frolicsome  and  foolish,  and 
others,  olipods  of  almost  anything  remotely  related,  if  at  all  related, 
to  Christianity,  have  appeared  in  the  religious  journals,  impairing 
their  influence,  lowering  their  dignity,  and  suggesting  the  query 
whether  some  professedly  religious  papers  ought  not  to  designate, 
by  special  captions,  the  departments  intended  to  be  considered  as 
religious.  Nevertheless,  allowing  for  healthy  criticisms,  the  religious 
journalism  of  the  United  States  is  confessedly  one  of  the  most 
powerful  and  beneficent  agencies  of  moral  and  religious  progress. 

In  no  country  has  the  influence  of  the  press  been  more  sensibly 
witnessed  or  more  widely  extended  than  in  the  United  States. 
The  earliest  newspaper  on  the  continent  of  North  America  was  the 
Boston  News  Letter,  whose  publication  commenced  April  24,  1704. 
In  1720  there  were  seven  newspapers  in  the  American  colonies;  in 
»775»  35;  in  1800,  about  200;  in  1810,  359;  in  1840,  1,631;  in  1850, 
2,526;  in  1870,  5.871;  in  1880.  11,314.  Of  the  latter  8,633  are 
published  weekly. 

An  account  of  the  origin  of  the  religious  periodicals  has  been 
elsewhere  related.f  In  1828  there  were  34  religious  newspapers ; 
in  1835,  90;  in  1850,  191  ;  in  1870,  4o7 ;  in  1880,  553. 

The  United  States  Census  gives  the  number  of  religious  period- 
icals of  the  country,  but  does  not  specify  the  denominations  to 
which  they  belong. 


♦  United  Slates  Census  Report,  iS6o.     Vol.  on  Mortality,  etc.,  p.  319. 
t  See  Period  II,  Chapter  III,  of  this  volume. 


DEDUCTIOXS.  719 

Periodicals  and  Newspapers. 

1850.      1870.  1880.  1887. 

Religious 191                  407  553  691 

All  others 2.526              5.464  10.761  M.orS 

Total 2,717  5.871  II. 314  14.706* 

Copies  Published  in  a  Single  Year,  f 

''..                                                                     1850.  1870. 

Religious 33,645.484  125,950,496 

All  others  392. 764.492  1.382.597.754 

Total 426.409,976  1,508,548,250 

Regular  Circulation  in  a  Single  Year. J 

1850.  1870. 

Religious .• 1,071,657  4.764.358 

AUothers 4,111.360  16.078. T17 

Total. 5. 183,017  20,842.475 

Deductions. 

In  1850  there  were  1.45  copies  of  religious  periodicals  issued  for 
each  inhabitant;  in  1870  there  were  3.26  copies.  In  1850  there 
were  16.93  copies  of  all  other  periodicals  issued  for  each  inhabitant; 
in  1870  there  were  35.85  copies.  The  latter  increased  in  per  cent, 
relatively,  and  the  religious  periodicals  125  per  cent,  relatively. 

This  gain  may  not  seem  large,  and  yet  it  is  a  very  considerable 
averao-e  increase  for  every  inhabitant,  against  all  others — secular, 
scientific,  medical,  educational,  etc.,  etc.  And  it  should  not  be  over- 
looked that  the  issues  of  the  secular  pre.ss  are  largely  daily,  twice 
daily  (morning  and  evening),  tri-weekly  and  semi-weekly,  repeating 
themselves  two,  three,  six,  seven,  and  even  twelve  times  each  week, 
and,  therefore,  count  very  largely  against  those  of  the  religious 
press,  none  of  which  are  published  oftener  than  once  each  week.§ 
The  relative  gain,  then,  of  the  issues  of  the  religious  periodicals 
over  the  others  has  not  been  small.  The  next  advance  movement 
must  be  what  has  already  been  loudly  called  for  in  some  quarters- 
daily  religious  newspapers. 

Taking  next  into  consideration  the  circulation  of  these  papers, 
or  the  number  of  regular  subscribers,  we  find  a  still  greater  rela- 
tive   increase  of   the  religious  periodicals.      In    1850  the  circula- 

*  American  Newspaper  Directory.     New  York.     George  P.  Rowell  &  Co.     1887.     Preface, 
t  For  these  items  we  have  no  later  data.  \  Ibid. 

§  The   daily,   tri-weekly   and   semi-weekly  issues  of  the  secular   press,  in  1870,  amounted  to 
856,384,338,  leaving  only  526,213,316  of  the  weekly  issues. 


720  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tion  of  the  secular  periodicals  was  one  for  5|  inhabitants,  in  1870 
one  for  2\  inhabitants.  In  1850  the  circulation  of  the  religious 
periodicals  was  one  for  2 if  inhabitants,  in  1870  one  for  Sy^  inhab- 
itants. The  increase  in  the  circulation  of  the  secular  press  was  2.86 
per  cent,  from  1850  to  1870,  while  the  increase  in  the  circulation  of 
the  religious  press  was  3.45  per  cent.  It  is  not  a  small  gain  for 
twenty  years.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  in  the  year  1800 
there  were  200  secular  papers  in  the  country  and  not  one  religious 
paper.  That  the  religious  public  are  now  sending  out  more  than 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions  of  copies  of  religious  period- 
icals annually  in  the  United  States  is  an  occasion  for  encourage- 
ment and  devout  thanksgiving  to  God. 

The  number  of  the  periodicals  positively  arrayed  against  Chris- 
tianity is  very  small — less  than  thirty — with  a  circulation  not 
amounting  to  125,000,  or  one  twenty-fifth  as  large  as  the  total  cir- 
culation of  the  religious  press.  The  Roman  Catholic  periodicals 
number  76,  with  a  circulation  of  586,058,  or  about  one-sixth  part  of 
the  circulation  of  the  whole  religious  press.  The  Methodist  press 
alone  numbers  JJ,  with  a  circulation  of  591,605. 

Besides  this,  it  has  been  an  occasion  of  frequent  remark  within 
a  few  years  that  Christianity  is  now  commanding  the  attention  and 
respect  of  the  secular  press  as  never  before,  notwithstanding  their 
occasional  sneers  at  religion.  Not  many  years  ago  religious  matters 
were  almost  wholly  ignored  by  the  secular  press.  When  the  lead- 
ing papers  in  New  York  city,  the  Times,  Herald,  IVor/d  a.nd  Tribune, 
\\\  the  great  revival  of  1857  and  1858,  reported  whole  pages  of  revival 
intelligence,  it  awakened  surprise  and  remark.  But  the  papers  only 
met  a  demand  in  the  public  mind  and  showed  how  deep  and  gen- 
eral was  the  religious  interest.  Since  that  time  reports  of  the  most 
spiritual  movements  of  the  churches  have  been  more  common. 
Revivals  of  religion,  the  number  of  conversions  and  baptisms, 
abstracts  of  sermons  and  whole  sermons,  m.issionary  intelligence, 
and  reports  of  conferences,  associations  and  assemblies,  are  gath- 
ered up  by  eager  reporters  and  crowded  into  the  columns  of  the 
secular  papers.  Whole  columns  of  religious  intelligence  are  com- 
mon in  the  Saturday's  and  Monday's  issues.  These  things  all  show 
that  Christianity  is  identifying  itself  with  the  advancing  intelligence 
of  the  age,  and  that  Christ  is  fast  ascending  the  thrones  of  power 
and  influence  the  world  over. 

The  American  Newspaper  Annual*  for  1885,  which  contains  the 
list  of  all  the  periodicals  in  the  United  States  which  insert  advertise- 

*N    W.  Ayer  &  Son,  Newspaper  Advertising  Agfents,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


RELIGIOUS  PUBLICATION  HOUSES. 


721 


ments,  gives  522  religious  periodicals  of  this  class,  which  we  have 
collated  and  tabulated,  with  the  circulation  of  each  as  given  in  that 

volume : 

Religious  Periodicals. 


DENOMINATIONS. 


ZS 


Atheist  (The  Investigator) 

Advent 

Baptist,  all  kinds 

Christian 

Congregational 

Disciple. 

Episcopalian 

Evangelical  .Association ....... 

Evaneelical  and  non-sectarian. 

Friends 

Jewish 

Lutheran,  all  branches 

Mennonite 

Methodist,  all  branches....    .. . 

Moravian 


a.-=  I 


O 


S.420 

6,175 

378,981 

6.550 

141,2   , 

105,168 

86,696 

48,500 

527,92' 
27,100 
84,000 
37,717 
16,300 

591,605 
2,750 


DENOMINATIONS, 


Mormon 

Presbyterian,  all  branches. 

Roman  Catholic 

Reformed  Dutch  Church. . . 

Reformed  German  Church. 
[Radical.     (Index) 

Shakers 

Spiritualist 

j  Swedenborgian 

I  United  Brethren 

■  Unitarian 

i  Universalist. 

WInebrennarian. ...    


Aggregate . 


Classified. 


Non-Christian   2q| 

Roman    Catholic 761 

Non-Evangelical 19 


133,320       7  Evangelical 

501,6051     ii|' 
63,679! !  Total  Protestant. 


e 

i| 

'"  3 

3 

c'3 

0 

Z.= 

3,850 

204,536 

3 

586.058 

II 

38,850 

I 

30,950 

I 

2,650 

3,500 

37,400 

4 

6,716 

20,550 

I 

12,133 

34,800 

3,750 

3,051,906      82 


2,263,302     64 
2,326,981!     64 


2.   The  Religious  Publication  Houses. 

The  publication  houses  of  any  country  exert  a  great  influence 
upon  its  character.  The  sphere  of  a  publisher's  influence  is  not 
restricted  to  the  limits  of  a  parish  or  a  literary  club,  or  the  precincts 
of  a  college,  or  the  boundaries  of  a  nation.  "  The  ancient  Roman 
Empire  was  not  so  broad  as  the  field  traversed  by  the  books  of 
many  modern  publishing  houses.  They  sway  an  amount  of  mind 
which  cannot  be  estimated,  and  under  their  control  have  been,  in  no 
inconsiderable  degree,  private  character,  public  institutions,  govern, 
ment,  law,  religion,  and,  indeed,  all  the  dearest  and  most  profound 
interests  of  society." 

Will  the  churches  of  Christ  subsidize  this  engine  of  such  immense 
power,  and  employ  it  in  the  service  of  his  kingdom?  This  pro- 
found 'inquiry  once  engrossed  the  attention  of  far-seeing  men  and 
led  to  frequent  anxious  consultations  as  to  the  means  and  measures 
for  its  accomplishment.  It  has  now  been  in  a  good  degree  favor- 
ably answered.  ,      ,.  .        ,      ,     j     • 

The  increase  in  the  circulation  of  religious  books  during  the  last 
century  has  been  incalculable.  The  impulse  which  has  contributed 
46 


722  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  this  result  has  been  threefold — improvements  in  the  art  of  print- 
ing, the  increase  and  more  general  diffusion  of  wealth,  and  the  new 
spirit  of  religious  enterprise  that  has  pervaded  the  churches.  The 
principal  advance  has  been  within  the  last  sixty  years.  The  extent 
of  the  book  trade  in  this  country  seventy-five  years  ago  may  be 
judged  from  the  following  fact :  The  paper  manufactured  and  used 
{qx  book  printing  in  1810  was  about  70,000  reams,  equal  in  weight 
and  size  of  that  now  used  to  about  30,000  reams,  a  considerable 
part  of  which  was  used  for  spelling-books  and  other  small  books.* 
Estimated  at  $3  50  per  ream  it  would  amount  to  $245,000,  and  its 
weight  was  about  630  tons,  which  is  about  the  quantity  now  used 
in  a  single  year  by  two  great  religious  houses — the  American  Bible 
and  Tract  societies.  In  the  year  1826,  17  religious  books  were 
noticed  in  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Observer,  under  the 
head  of  "New  Publications;"  in  1835,  the  number  was  24;  in 
1 841  the  number  was  125  works  published  by  the  trade,  besides 
those  issued  by  the  religious  houses;  in  1848  there  were  168  of 
this  class.  Now,  besides  religious  publication  houses,  there  are 
numerous  and  extensive  establishments  of  an  individual  and  pri- 
vate character,  engaged  in  sending  forth  almost  exclusively  relig- 
ious publications. 

These  religious  publication  societies  are  intimately  connected 
with  the  missionary  work,  both  foreign  and  domestic.  They  have 
been  characterized  as  "  the  right  arm  of  the  missionary  enterprise." 
The  domestic  missionary  who  wisely  pursues  his  work  will  avail 
himself  of  their  aid.  He  will  employ  Bibles,  tracts,  Sunday-school 
books  and  other  religious  publications  as  appropriate  means  both  of 
salvation  and  edification.  A  part  of  these  societies  have  carried  on  a 
system  of  missionary  colportage,  in  which  the  distribution  of  relig- 
ious books  and  tracts  has  been  united  with  personal  religious  con- 
versation and  prayer  in  the  families  of  remote  and  destitute  local- 
ities. To  furnish  a  religious  literature  to  the  world  in  an  age  like 
ours  is  a  stupendous  undertaking,  and  has  required  large  wisdom, 
steady  zeal  and  great  liberality.  The  work  has  been  nobly  begun, 
with  sublime  determination  that  an  evangelical  literature  of  sterling 
worth,  in  the  English  language,  shall  be  made  "  the  heritage  of  the 
reading  world,"  and  that  both  way-side  and  fire-side  preaching, 
through  oral  and  printed  truth,  shall  supplement  the  more  formal 
proclamation  of  the  Gospel.  We  here  give  a  summary  of  the 
pecuniary  receipts  of  these  agencies  : 


*  History  of  the  Art  of  Printing.    By  Isaiah  Thomas. 


RELIGIOUS  PUBLICATION  SOCIETIES. 


1'2.^ 


% 

•go 
a.  n 

_.    n   I 

JO  u>  O 

n    -      r» 
S     »>    »• 

o    g  <? 


>  0  rt    o 


(T     3 


3-=  &? 


2    ?S 


^  p 

t«    in" 


p    re  ^ 


iV:  - 

3  »• :      " 

fB    5    i         0> 


2  r-  c  - :?  g-- 

-"  ">  5  3  2,0  c 
o  C-?  -3  ^q 

:?!  =  =  5 


.^s5,as^i-:?s.E 


*Tj; 


■3  O 


^O; 


5  ."! 

,  O  _..  rti  53.  ~ 
C  t/;  I/;  1^  :j' 
—  -  ST  O  m 
'^  *^ 
p  P 
<   - 


.-I  M  a.  •:«'  n  t=  7  i 
n  -  ??  •    O  li  P  ; 


5-n  3  ?i2. 2.  ^3  3  3 
■   ""   P  ?•??  "  " 


n   o 

=r  P 

c  3 


3?>p 


COT 


CO  I 


:  c.  ^  3  §  3  I  2:  ^  H  H  :Z  e  Cd 
;  ^  >  D-  J,  '   %.  ;:■  3  p  p  !«  £  § 

"  5"  «  p       CA)"^  ^s  o  o  —  o  o 


£-.  CO  o   -      —  —  ^ 

3  -    PS 
M  S>«  ^ 


to  -t' 


r/1 

-1 
0 

0 

3 

11: 

.-1 

M 

00 

p 

^ 

p  :r. 

p 

0 

^  c 

3 

^ 

0  S^ 

c 

i? 

jr  "• 

r.i 

•     n 

fB 

3 

> 

3 

3" 

g" 

rb 

P 

3 

i 

s. 

0 

J* 

CO 

3 

rr 

•n 

> 

p 

m 

*  ' 

C 

JOT 

0 

3 

n 

^ 

n 

p 

Q. 

3r 

3 

p 

re 

p 

3 
0 

p 

p  ! 

3 

cr 

r 

hS 

p 

3 

31 

3 
n 

^1' 

re 

S 

H-3' 

n 

3 

13 

P 

30  i 

0 

0 

C    P    1 

=^^"  3  K 
o  5i  2  P  ^ 
3  P  :r.  g  r  • 


4© 

i-H  0  -t*   cocn   CO  O 
C  O  ^-n  ^-"  ^J  "^    O 

W  '-n   0^4   O   M   Q 


8^ 


O  00  1-1  o  ^>i 
O  O  -t-  CO  fo  ^j  O 
^i  O  4^  ^4  yj  _tO  p 
M  00  C  Cj  O  ^  "0 
I-   1-1   004^  <^   C   Q 


O  -t--    M  O    *^  P   ^ 

Cj  00  CO  Ci  0  "o  ~J 
»o  ^j  M  (jJ  1-4  ui  4- 
CDO    kJ  ui  4^   CO  "< 


mC<-J   QO00K3   M   ooo-^<^   cococo 
OO-t^  vO    to  *.    KJ^J    >-it/i(jJvO    OO^J 


j-i        1-1  ji  10  w  ■-<       *:"  p 

i-iCOtnWw"ooj"Mii^o'tO   M   oCi 
Q  4-  <-"   CD  10  »j   O-O    00  <-"  <^   000    O 

C--^    coo    O  W    1-1    O  "^    CO  00  W    00 


O»00O    oo-tr.   o  c^Ln   O  O  COtJ'  ■^  <ji   O 


-h  I 


S    „    Q,    S    3-  j 


—     'P  it: 

"    <  5 

P     3  o 

E^  2 


^3 
•J -a 


s. 


C/5 


>-i    >-i  M        to      4^    1-1  i^ 


to  »-  to 
^*i  l^  Ui 

O    C^^J  ; 

4.  Co  4^  ' 
■^  ^^^  *^n  ■ 
J^nco  O^  ■ 


00  UJ    Q  <-"    "-I    to 

m  t-n    O  4-  4*  ^J 
O    00  to    01-14- 

O  en  -J  ^j  ^j  OJ 
C^  «  ^4  <-n  ^J    11 

to   to   O    O  O    CO 


4»      11  O  i-o   11  01 

to     O  *•  i-  ~J  »-" 

t>j      to  to  co^j  CO 

O      O  -<  1>1  U)  (^ 

t>j  OJ  4«  (^    O 


o  o 
o  to 


^j  CO 


oj  4-  ""  to  11  ^— o  -e>.       00  CO 

to  U}  4^    00    1^   01    O    to    O  4. 

O  l^  4.  O    n    c*»-J  (J    00  CO  Lr> 

OCC-JiiO3O"J0<j0  <>> 

Otoo<^4»ntooo4-4-  Ln 

O  4«    n  vO  4>    r*  en  -JMvO  4» 


to  K) 

-      >— ( 
00  ^J  00   ^  to 
n  en  O    '^    NN 
p^  en   O  ^  n 

b  «  «  3  Ca 
4i.   O  O    O  w 

Oen   O  r*   c> 


O}  eo 

O  CO 
en  en 
eo  ^4 
"to  en 


Mej_«eo    ^    opOio>-(^ 


00  e.»  4i  en  CO 
en  o  4k  CX>en  en 
•vj  p  en  vj   coui 

en  o  •vJ  000  Ci 
^J  O  O  to  ej  n 
to  00  00  o  ^4  ^i 


1  to  4.    C>^4    to    to 

n  —  4»  en   n  ^4  4»  > 

^  4^  4»    to   to  %C  eo  • 

en  'to  en   Q  'coCj  Cn 

^4  to  >j  o  ""  to  eo  . 

vo  en    o  ^4  4-    3    -. 


3^ 


M  > 

w  c 

Cfl  en 

-  m 

?=  o 


^^ 

o 

5 
(/) 

o 
•I) 

X 
B 


724  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Comparative  View  of  Receipts. 
Average  Annual  Receipts  in  Each  Decade. 

Inclusive.                                                                             „J"*='"^'''Sv  » 

1800101829 $79,505  1860101869 $3,011,959 

1830  "    1839 453.909  1870  "   1880 3.833.624 

1S40  ••    1849 718.740  1881    "   1887 5,000.000 

1850  "   1859 1,838,231 

The  exact  figures,  in  the  last  period,  as  per  table,  are  $4.343'4-6 ; 
but  the  large  publishing  house  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  the  twelve  Lutheran  publishing  houses,  the  Reformed  (Ger- 
man) Church",  the  Disciples,  the  Second  Adventists,  etc.,  etc.,  are 
not  included  in  the  column  for  1881-1887,  being  given  only  in  the 
aggregate.  The  total  yearly  average  for  1881  to  1887  cannot  fall 
below  $5,000,000,  but  would  probably  considerably  exceed  that  sum. 
Some  amounts  given  in  response  to  our  inquiries  have  been  given 
only  in  aggregates. 

Grand  total  for  all  the  decades,  $144,392,068. 


Section  5.— Higher  Education  and  tlie  Cliurclies. 

In  our  sketches  of  the  Colonial  Era  the  origin  of  the  educa- 
tional institutions  of  the  country  w^as  narrated,  showing  that  these 
great  agencies  of  enlightenment  and  culture  grew  out  of  the  relig- 
ious life  of  the  people,  and  largely  as  direct  results  of  the  organ- 
ization of  the  churches.  The  influence  of  the  churches  upon 
scholarship  and  culture,  and  the  share  of  the  churches  in  founding 
and  maintaining  institutions  of  learning,  is  a  topic  so  directly  related 
to  the  history  of  Christianity  as  to  call  for  extended  notice  in  these 
pages.  A  religion  that  fails  to  identify  itself  with  intelligence, 
science  and  the  best  progress  of  the  age  can  have  no  hold  upon  the 
future.  It  is  the  mission  of  Christianity  to  enlighten.  It  has  been 
freely  asserted  of  late  that  the  churches,  especially  the  evangelical 
churches,  are  perceptibly  losing  their  hold  upon  the  intellect  and 
scholarship  of  the  age ;  that  few  young  men  in  the  colleges  are 
Christians  in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the  term  ;  that  denomina- 
tional colleges  are  relatively  declining,  and  that  they  are  destined 
to  be  superseded  by  State  universities  and  other  large  institutions 
founded  by  individual  munificence.     What  are  the  facts? 

By  referring  to  pages  436-7  the  reader  will  find  statistics  of  the 
colleges  for  1830  of  the  most  reliable  character,  from  which  the 
following  table  is  compiled  : 


DATA   CONCERNING  COLLEGES. 


725 


Colleges  in  the  United  States  in  1830. 


DENOMINATIONS. 


Congregational 

Presbyterian  

Baptist 

Protestant  Episcopal 

Reformed  (Dutch  and  German) 

Methodist  Episcopal  * 

Unitarian 

Roman  Catholic 


Total  Denominational 
Non-denominational. . 


Aggregate. 


3.582 


Here  are  49  colleges  in  1830,  with  275  professors  and  3.582 
students.  From  1800  to  1830  the  colleges  increased  28,  of  which 
number  20  were  denominational  and  8  undenominational.  In  1800 
the  denominational  colleges  were  71.5  per  cent,  of  the  whole;  in 
1830  71  5  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  and  at  the  latter  date  these  de- 
nominational colleges  had  74-6  per  cent,  of  all  students  in  colleges. 

For  the  data  concerning  the  colleges  in  i884,t  the  latest  availa- 
ble we  are  indebted  to  the  very  able  reports  of  General  Eaton4  Com- 
missioner of  Education  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Collating  from  his 
report  we  have  a  satisfactory  basis  for  a  comparison  with  the  year 
1830-a  sufficiently  long  interval  to  indicate  quite  clearly '  the 
educational  tendency  of  the  century. 

Changing  the  phraseology  for  the  reasons  indicated  below,  and 

•  These  two  colleges,  under  Revs.  H.  B.  Bascom  and  Dr.  Martin  Ruter,  did  not  become  per- 
manent Methodist  colleges.  The  Wesleyan  University,  founded  at  Middletown,  Conn.,  m  183., 
was  the  first  permanent  Methodist  college.  ,.      ,   .  „  »„  k„  „=^h   In 

t  The  author  regrets  that  the  report  for  1885  did  not  come  to  hand  m  season  to  be  used  m 

this  comparison.  ,, 

t  In  using  General  Eaton's  reports  we  have  discarded  the  terms  "sectarian  "  and  "  non-sectanan 
sometimes  used,  because  not  expressing  what  they  are  intended  to  express,  and  consequently  put- 
UnTmost  of  the  colleges  in  a  false  light.  It  is  well  known  that  no  eccles.ast.cal  tests  m  e.ther 
admiurng,  disciplining  advancing  or  graduating  students  are  used  by  any  of  the  colleges,  unless 
ft  S  in  some  of  the  Roman  Catholic  colleges.  In  all  the  colleges  of  the  Protestant  churches  no 
questions  are  asked  in  regard  to  religious  belief,  and  students  are  at  hberty  to  select  the  place  of 
woihip  which  accords  with  their  denominational  predilections  just  as  freely  as  m  purely  State 
cZgl  Harvard  College,  reported  as  "  non-sectarian,"  is  no  more  so  than  over  two  hundred 
othe«  reported  as  sustaining  denominational  relations;  for  Harvard,  dur.ng  more  than  half  a 
cem^ry  ^  been  under  the  direction  of  a  "  Board  of  Fellows  "  all  o  whom  have  been  UnUanans 
excepZ^ne  elected  within  a  few  years  ;  and,  besides,  the  Theological  School  of  Harvard  College 
is  usually  memioned  in  the  Unitarian  Year  Book  as  a  Unitarian  mst.tut.on.  \  ale,  Columbia, 
Wlliams  and  man  v  other  colleges  also  reported  by  General  Eaton  as  ' '  non-sectanan  '  recently  were 
reported  as  Congr'egational,  Episcopal,  etc.  But  there  has  been  no  severance  m  their  denomma- 
tional  relations. 


726 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


using  the  terms  denominational  and  undenominational,  we  have  on 
the  one  hand  the  colleges  of  the  churches,  comprising  those  closely 
related  to  the  churches  in  origin,  sympathy  and  patronage,  some  of 
which  are  organically  held  by  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  those  which  sustain  no  denominational  relations.  This 
classification  fully  and  fairly  covers  the  question.  What  are  the 
churches  doing  for  collegiate  education,  and  how  far  are  they  iden- 
tified with  advanced  intellectual  culture  ?  In  carrying  out  this 
classification  the  advantage  of  any  doubt  in  regard  to  institutions 
not  fully  known  is  given  to  the  undenominational  list. 

Of  the  6i  colleges  classified  in  the  following  table  as  undenomi- 
national, 23  are  State  institutions,  some  of  them  founded  before 
the  disruption  of  the  union  between  the  Church  and  State ;  four, 
city  institutions;  three,  military ;  two,  agricultural;  one,  deaf  mute; 
and  the  remainder  are  not  clearly  indicated  as  to  their  character. 
Nearly  half  of  the  latter  are  under  the  presidency  of  evangelical 
divines.  Eight  of  the  State  and  city  institutions  have  clergymen 
for  presidents,  and  many  of  the  professors  and  students  are  active 
evangelical  communicants.  General  Eaton's  report  for  1883-4  gives 
370  colleges  and  universities.  In  1870  he  gave  a  large  number  ;  but 
he  has  probably  since  that  time  found  that  some  of  them  should  be 
classified  in  a  different  table.  With  the  aid  of  the  Year  Books  of 
the  denominations  we  have  carefully  examined  the  list,  and  as- 
signed to  the  churches  those  marked  "  unsectarian  '*  which  are 
properly  denominational  in  their  origin,  affiliation,  patronage,  etc. 
We  give  the  following  carefully  classified  table : 

Colleges  and  Universities  in  the  United  States— 1884. 


DENOMINATIONAL  RE- 
LATIONS. 


Baptist  (all  kincla) 

Congregational    

Christian  and  Disciple  *   

Episcopal 

Evaneelical  Association 

Friend 

Hebrew 

Lutheran 

Methodist  (all  kinds) 

Mormon 

Presbyterian  (all  kinds) 

Reformed  (German  and  Dutch) 
Seventh-Day  Advent 


2           II 

0 

IE 

ZCL, 

Students  in 
the  Collegia 
Course  for 
A.  H. 

45 

26 

'7 
11 

332 
317 
140 

90 

3,7"8| 

'A 
807 

2 

5 

14 

4f 

'37 
331 

I 

7 

I02 

11 
860 

<'3 

534 

4.938 

46 

39 

4,060 

7 

7 

449 



.  -_' 

-  -  -  *     L' 

DENOMINATIONAL  RE- 
LATIONS. 


S5U 


Swedenborgian.. . 
United  Brethren. 

Unitarian 

Universalis! 


3  2    =  JJ  o   • 


4'  n 

19!  238 

58-  1,040 

41!  260 


Total  Non-Roman  Catholic. . !  252!  2,215' 

Roman  Catholic |     57!     i 

Total  Denominational 309'  2,215 

Undenominational 61  782 


21,301 
4.647 


25.948 

6,3  r<) 


Aggregate ]  370!    a.^^yl   t32,767 


*  The  practice  of  the  Di.sciples  in  taking  to  theniselves  the  designation  "  Christians."  which 
for  three  quarters  of  a  century  has  been  held  by  another  religious  denomination,  so  confuses  the 
statistics  that  it  is  necessary  to  combine  the  two  bodies. 

t  When  General  Eaton  gives  65,522  students  in  the  colleges  he  comprises  those  in  the  prepara- 
tory as  well  as  the  collegiate  departments. 


DIAGRAM   IL 


COLLEGES,  DENOMINATIONAL 
AND  UNDENOMINATIONAL. 
STUDENTS  IN  COURSE  FOR 
DEGREE  OP  A.B. 

Each  Une  measured  from  the  perpendicular  line  on  the  left. 


CLASSIFIED    TABLE  OF  COLLEGES. 


727 


Comparison  of  1830  with  1884. 


Colleges. 

Students. 

1830.           1       J  884. 

1830. 

1884. 

35 
14 

49 

309 
61 

370 

2,66g 
913 

25.943 

Undenominational 

6,819 

Total 

3.5S2 

32.767 

Incre.\se  from  1830  TO  1884. 
Population 335  per  cent.        Denominational  Students.  . . .  872  per  cent. 


Denominational  Colleges., 
Undenominational 


783 
335 


Undenominational 


653 


In  1830  the  denominational  colleges  were  71.5  per  cent,  of  the 
whole;  in  1884  they  were  83.5  per  cent.  In  1830  the  students  in 
the  denominational  colleges  were  74.6  per  cent,  of  the  whole  ;  in 
1884  they  were  79.2  per  cent. 

Of  the  students  in  denominational  (Colleges 

In  1830. 

The  Baptists  had 73  per  cent. 

"     Congregationalists 38.8    "       " 

"     Episcopalians 7.6    "       " 

"     Methodists 6.4*"       " 

"     Presbyterians 19,3    "       " 

"    Roman  Catholics None  reported.f 

"    Non-Evangelical  Churches. .. .  g. 2  per  cent. 
"    Evangelical  "         ....  90.8    "      " 

The  Year  Books  of  some  of  the  religious  denominations,  within 
a  few  years,  have  furnished  carefully-prepared  tables  of  all  the 
higher  educational  institutions  of  the  churches,  including  theolog- 
ical seminaries,  colleges  and  universities,  female  colleges,  classical 
•seminaries  and  academies.  Many  denominations  give  no  such  in- 
formation in  any  tabulated  form  ;  but  such  as  have  been  prepared 
and  published  we  give,  that  the  relation  of  the  churches  to  the 
higher  education  may  be  more  fully  seen  and  appreciated. 

Stall's  Lutheran  Year  Book  for  1886  gives  the  following : 

Lutheran  Educational  Institutions  in  the  United  States.^ 


In  1884. 

14.3  per  cent. 

II. 9    " 

3-1    " 

19.0    " 

15.6    " 

17.9    " 

5.1    " 

94.9    " 

"2. 2 
•6  - 

Students. 

Not  Report- 
ing. 

Students  Hav- 
ing Ministry 
in  View. 
Not  Report- 
ing. 

Professors  and 
Teachers.    ^ 
Not  Report- 
ing. 

Volumes  in 
Libraries 
of  Institu- 
tions. 

a 

0  ti 
Z.5 

Endowment. 

r 

a 

u 
0  two 

z.5 

Value  of 
Buildings 
and  Grounds. 

1 

0  M 

Z.5 

Theological  Seminaries... 
■Colleges 

19 
24 
27 
II 

81 

431  2 
2,532  3 
1,864        4 

722        2 

5.549      '• 

431I       21     58 
7<591       51   15' 
119      19I   103 
82 

1,319      26    394 

. .       46.975 
I     101,660 
4      55,350 
I         3,300 

I  $157,000 
5    577-000 
14      65,000 
4 

9 
9 
17 

35 

$330,000 

1,101,000 

308,500 

186,000 

5 

2 

Classical  Seminaries  ..... 
Young  Ladies'  Seminaries. 

8 
3 

Total 

6!   207,285 

24I   709,000 

$1,925,500 

18 

*  These  institutions  did  not  become  permanent.   All  the  Methodist  colleges  now  existing  were 
founded  after  1830.  +  Four  colleges,  but  students  not  reported. 

\  For  fuller  summary  exhibit  see  page  123  of  the  Year  Book. 


728 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES, 


The  Disciples  (Year  Book,  1885.*)  give  less  full  information,  but 
they  report  42  institutions;  30  bearing  the  name  College,  4  University, 
the  rest  Institutes,  etc.,  with  4,709  students  regularly  matriculated. 

From  the  Baptist  Year  Bookf  for  1886  we  condense  the  follow- 
ing table: 

Regular  Baptist  Institutions  (North  and  South). 


1         ^ 

Value  of      ^f 

W             lc.5 

2  c 

CLASSIFICATION. 

k.  0 

■c. 
8 

0  u 

■3  0 
3  a 

Us. 

tutio 
eport 

0  z 
Buildings    '^  5 

nt  of 
ment. 

tutio 
eport 

es  in 
ary. 

tutio 
eport 

F- 

s;o< 

^  ;-^ 

and          ^« 

gs        :^x 

g.S     5:«: 

3  s 

0 

l-i  0 

1   ^-0 

|-  = 

°  0             c  ^ 

3  J    ^^3 

cu 

z 

i/i        z 

Grounds.    |     Z, 

<                 1       Z. 

>       i    ^ 

Theological  Seminaries.    . . . 

6 

45 

445  ... . 

$6o8,S77  ■••• 

81,603,251 

97,250  .... 

Colleges  and  Universities. . . 

2Q 

277 

I 

4,4821        I 

3,520,039  .... 

4,348,683 

3 

235,859      I 

Seminaries  for  Female  Ed'n. 

27 

261 

2 

3.238           2 

1.620,200 

I 

5^0,000 

2T 

33,7°o        5 

Seminaries  and  Academies.. 

44 

262 

I 

4,841 

I 

1,274,200 

2 

548,336 

29 

26,981       14 

Institutions  for  Colored  and 

1 

Indians 

19 
125 

15' 

3.420 

I 

690,500 

I 

206,000 

14 

18,230:        5 

Total 

996 

.* 

16,426 

5 

$7,713,716 

4 

412,020;     25 

' 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

4 

tJO 

=  .5 

Value  of 

-  5 

c 

<S  = 

CL.ASSIFICATIOX. 

-9  ^ 

0 
0 

"-  0 

udents. 

Institutio 
ot  Report 

Buildings 
and 

5  z 
'~  0 

3  a 
.s  « 

"=^ 
—  0 

S  E 
E-a 

.2  t: 

••  0 

=  a 

—  u 

—  0 

3—  M 

^E-i 

rt  0.= 

.2  " 
5  5 

—  0 

O. 

z 

c« 

/Z 

Grounds. 

Z 

< 

z 

z 

Theological  Seminaries 

9 

45 

I 

545 

1 

$410,500 

3 

$653,500 

4 

3,092 

I 

Colleges  and  Universities... 

43 

649 

12,420 

4,179,710  .... 

5,083,921 

10 

146,451 

hemale  Seminaries  and  Col  s 

2S 

203 

2,500 

895,500  .... 

35,700 

21 

25,749 

9 

Classical  Academies  and 

67 

422 

2 

11,026 

2 

1.391,950        8 

212, 7C0 

52 

227,590 

5 

Total 

144 

i,3>9 

3 

26,491 

3 

16,877660      " 

$5,985,821 

87 

402,882 

■" 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.§ 


All   Institutions  for   Higher 
Education 


f" 


$2,393,700 


$978,000 


Both  Meth.  Episcopal  Church  and  Meth.  Episcopal  Church.  South. 


Total  two  Methodist  Bodies. 


•$9,271,360 


$6,963,821 


Summary. 


denominations. 

Z.- 

1 

s 

■n  t' 

C.5 
0  ^ 

■-  0 
3  a 

2« 

—  0 

Z 

-c 

3 

c.E 

0  z 
■3  0 
3  a 

'1^ 

c  _ 

—  0 
Z 

Value  of 
Property 

and 
Grounds. 

■r   i" 

°  t: 

3  a 

?;« 

—  0 

z 

.Amount  of  F.n- 
dowments. 

■J,  ^ 
=  5. 

y. 

81 
42 

394 

6 
42 

4 
33 

5,540 

4.7O) 

16,426 

3 '-337 

II 
II 

5 
•9 

$1,925,500 

7.7'3.7'6 
9,271,360 

18 

42 

4 

23 

$799,000 

Disciples 

.,5 

Baptist.  Regular,  North  and  South 

M.  E.  Church  and  M.  E.  Church,  South.. 

125        996 
2'7|    1,579 

7.2:56,270 
6,963,821 

60 

'49 

Total 

405 

7C       eR  n.>. 

46 

118,910.576 

87 

♦  14,999,09' 

"  ' 

Page  152. 
t  Methodist  Centennial  Year  Book,  1884,  pp.  191-195. 


+  Pp.  102-105. 
%  Ibid.,  p.  2ig. 


DIAGRAM    III 


1830 


DENOMINATIONAL  COLLEGE 
STUDENTS,   1830-1884. 

Each  line  measured  from  the  perpendicular  line  on  the  left. 

BAPTISTS,  all  kinds. 
METHODISTS,  all  kinds. 
PRESBYTERIANS,  all  kinds. 


ADVANCED  EDUCATIONAL    WORK.  729 

In  the  above  denominations,  representing  63  per  cent,  of  the 
total  communicants  of  the  evangelical  churches,  are  465  institutions 
for  higher  education,  with  2,969  professors,  58,021  students — 46,  or 
one  tenth,  of  the  institutions  failing  to  report  this  item  ;  educational 
property  and  grounds  valued  at  $18,910,576 — 87,  or  one  fifth,  not 
reporting,  and  $14,999,091  of  endowment  funds — 295,  or  64  per  cent, 
of  the  institutions,  not  reporting.  The  total  property  and  endow- 
ments, amounting  to  $33,909,667  with  no  report  from  so  large  a 
number,  shows,  nevertheless,  a  strong  financial  basis  for  this  work. 
In  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  from  1865  to  1883,  the  educa- 
tional property  increased  143  per  cent.,  and  the  institutions  of  this 
denomination  report  402,882  different  students  who  have  been 
instructed  in  them  from  the  beginning,  a  period  of  about  sixty  years 
since  the  first  Methodist  academy  was  founded.  If  the  remaining 
denominations,  representing  37  per  cent,  of  the  evangelical  com- 
municants of  the  United  States,  and  the  unevangelical  churches 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  should  report  their  educational 
statistics  as  fully  as  those  tabulated  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
there  would  be  found*  not  far  from  175,000  youth  in  the  more 
advanced  educational  institutions  of  the  churches. 

That  the  churches  are  doing  so  much  advanced  educational 
work  in  a  country  so  liberally  provided  with  public  high  schools, 
academies  and  colleges  is  a  fact  worthy  of  consideration.  It  is  too 
apparent  to  be  intelligently  or  honestly  denied  that  the  churches 
are  not  losing  their  hold  upon  the  intellect  of  the  age,  and  are  the 
most  active  promoters  of  the  most  advanced  scholarship  and 
culture. 

The  Theological  Seminaries 

also  indicate   great  educational  progress,  as  will  appear  from  the 
following  table : 

•This  will  appear  from  the  following  facts:  In  tables  VI,  VII,  VIII  and  IX,  of  General 
Eaton's  report,  1S83-4,  comprising  the  best  educational  institutions  from  the  grade  of  high 
schools  and  academies  up  to  colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  we  find  that  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  (all  branches)  have  176  institutions;  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  133;  the  Con- 
gregational churches,  91;  the  Friends,  58;  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  229;  and  several 
smaller  bodies,  105 — total,  792.  Deducting  the  46  institutions  in  the  preceding  table  not  rejwrt- 
ing  their  students  from  the  465  leaves  419,  which  reported  58,021  students.  Adding  the  46  to  the 
792  from  General  Eaton's  reports,  we  have  838  institutions.  Proceeding  upon  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  838  average  as  many  students  as  the  419,  we  have  for  the  1,257  church  insti- 
tutions 174,063  students  out  of  the  total  272,072  reported  in  the  afore-mentioned  tables 
of  General  Eaton.  Besides,  doubtless,  a  large  number  of  those  specified  as  non-sectarian, 
and  many  of  the  315  not  specified,  sustain  similar  denominational  relations  with  those  reported 
as  Methodist,  Congregational,  or  Episcopal  institutions,  and  are  in  direct  affiliation  with  the 
churches. 


730 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Theological  Seminaries. 


CLASSIFICATION. 


Evangelical  Churches 
Unitarian  Churches.. . 
Universalist  Churches 
New  Churches 

Total  Protestant. 
Roman  Catholic 

Aggregate 


1830.^ 


Seminaries.     Students 


631 

73 


709 


709 


l883-4-t 


Seminaries. 


120 
2 

3 

2 


127 
19 


146 


Student.-. 


3,972 
33 
55 
II 

4.076 
1. 214 

5.296 


The  theological  students  of  the  Protestant  churches  in  1884 
were  3.3  as  many  as  those  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  In  1830  the 
Protestant  theological  students  were  i  in  18,146  inhabitants;  in 
1884  one  in  13,739  inhabitants.  While  the  population  increased 
335  per  cent,  the  theological  students  of  the  Protestant  churches 
increased  474  per  cent.  ^ 

It  has  been  sometimes  asserted  that  the  influence  of  evangelical 
religion  upon  educated  young  men  is  declining.  It  is  not  possible, 
perhaps,  to  obtain  exact  data  for  fully  testing  this  matter,  but  we 
have  a  class  of  statistics  which  go  far  to  settle  it.  The  number  of 
students,  in  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the  highest  grade,  who 
are  "  professedly  religious,"  or  members  of  evangelical  churches, 
is  certainly  one  good  test.  These  we  have  in  a  tolerably  complete 
form,  covering  a  period  of  over  fifty  years. 

Percent.\ge  of  College  Students  Pious. 


DATE  OF  STATISTICS. 


1S30. 

1855. 
1865. 
1870. 
1872. 
i83o. 
1335. 


J3 

CT3  3 

5  2.2 

3 

StrtO, 

•^ 

a. 

693     26 

per  ce 

1.727     38 

3.380    46 

3.162     40 

941      50 

6,051!    50 

7.361 

48* 

*  See  American  Quarterly  Register,  May,  1831. 

t  Report  of  General  Eaton,  Commissioner  of  Education,  1883-4,  p.  clxix. 

\  In  this  list  are  9  State  colleges,  4  State  normal  schools,  2  agricultural  and  mechanical  insti- 
tutions, I  polytechnic  department,  1  medical  and  i  militar>-  institute.  See  table  in  report  of  Y. 
M.  C.  A.  ot  United  States,  1885. 


IDENTIFIED    WITH  HIGH  CULTURE.  731 

The  opinion,  current  in  some  quarters,  that  the  colleges  arc 
degenerating,  morally  and  religiously,  and  that  skepticism  and  dis- 
sipation are  setting  at  naught  the  better  influences  of  other  days, 
is  disproved  by  the  foregoing  statistics,  and  by  many  concrete  testi- 
monies* which  cannot  be  inserted  in  these  limited  pages.  All  the 
foregoing  facts  show  the  strong  and  enduring  progress  of  Christian- 
ity in  the  United  States ;  that  it  is  identified  with  the  highest 
educational  culture  of  the  age ;  that  the  cfenominational  institu- 
tions are  incalculably  leading  in  number  and  students  all  the  unde- 
nominational colleges,  and  that  the  great  principles  and  blessed 
experiences  of  Christianity  are  being  voluntarily  and  intelligently 
adopted  by  a  far  larger  proportion  of  college  students  than  ever 
before. 

♦See  article  by  Rev.  C.  F.  Twining,  D.D.,  in  Sunday  Afternoon,  September,  1878. 


732 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


GROWTH  OF  "EVANGELICAL"  PROTESTANT   CHURCHES. 


Sec.   I.  The  Actual  Growth. 
"      2.  The  Population  Test. 

1.  The  Large  Cities. 

2.  In  New  England. 

3.  In  the  Whole  Country. 


Sec.  3.  The  Interdenominational  Test. 

1.  The     "  Evangelical "     and     the 
"  Liberal "  Churches. 

2.  The  Evangelical  Protestant  and 

Rom.  Catholic  Bodies  Compared. 


THOROUGHLY  tabulated  statistics  of  the  churches  of  the 
United  States  have  long  been  regarded  as  a  desideratum.  So 
new  is  much  of  the  ecclesiastical  life  in  America,  so  multiform  the 
organizations,  so  numerous  the  schisms  and  the  reunions,  so  many 
the  changes  in  the  names  of  the  religious  bodies,  and  so  immature 
the  methods  of  collecting  and  classifying  the  data  in  some  denom- 
inations, that  many  who  have  undertaken  to  gather  this  information 
have  either  given  up  the  work  in  disgust  or  have  prematurely  con- 
tented themselves  with  only  partial  and  imperfect  results,  supposing 
their  work  complete.  The  results  of  many  years  of  research  by  the 
author  of  this  volume,  given  to  the  public  in  his  book,  The  Problem 
of  Religions  Progress,'^  were  received  with  great  favor  by  representa- 
tive persons  in  all  the  denominations,  and  indorsed  by  the  best 
ecclesiastical  experts.  No  unfavorable  criticism  of  the  tabulated 
data  came  to  the  author's  attention.  Since  that  time  he  has 
extended  his  researches  with  conscientious  care  and  brought  his 
tables  down  to  the  latest  date. 

In  every  case  the  best  available  statistics  have  been  tabulated, 
gathered,  as  far  as  possible,  from  official  sources — the  Minutes, 
Almanacs  and  Year  Books  of  the  denominations — though  in  some 
cases  only  estimates  are  given  ;  but  even  these,  in  almost  every 
instance,  are  made  by  prominent  officials  of  the  denominations. 
The  principal  statistics  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  Unitarians,  Uni- 
■^ersalists,  and  some  other  bodies  are  given  in  the  chapters  where 

•  Phillips  &  Hunt,  805  Broadway,  New  York  city,  N.  Y.     1881. 


EARLY  STATISTICS. 


733 


their  history  is  sketched.  By  reference  to  foot-notes  the  author 
gives  his  authorities.  We  have  now  to  do  with  the  growth  of  the 
Evangelical  Protestant  Churches,  which  will  be  tested  by  compari- 
sons  with  the  population,  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  etc. 


Section  J.— The  Actual  Growth. 

The  statistics  for  1775  will  be  found  on  page  256,  from  which  it 
will  appear  that  there  were  1,918  churches  and  1,435  ministers  in 
the  evangelical  denominations  at  that  time,  the  number  of  the  com- 
municants unknown.  In  the  very  unfavorable  period  (1775  to  1800), 
the  churches  made  some  progress,  and  we  have  the  following  exhibit 
for  1800: 

Churches,  Ministers  and  Communicants,  i3oo. 


DENO>riXATIO\S. 


Baptists,  Regular- 

Baptists,  Free- Will  * 

Congregational ' 

Friend' 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ciuucli 

Presbyterian  ^ 

Protestant  Episcopal ' 


SMALLER  BODIES. 

Lutheran,  Dutch,  and  German  Reformed,  Seventh- 
day  Baptist,  Six-Principle  Baptist,  Mennonite, 
Moravian,  etc.,  estimated 


Church 
Organiza- 
tions or 
Congrega- 
tions.' 


1,500 
810 


500 
320 


Total. 


,030 


Ministers. 


Communi- 


1,200 

600 

287 
300 
264 


2,651 


100,000 
3,000 
75,000 
50,000 
64,894 
40,000 

'11.973 


364.S7: 


'  In  some  cases  the  congregations  are  given.  "^Christian  Retrospect  and  I\e^ster,  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Baird,  p.  220  ;  also  article  on  the  "  History  of  the  Baptists,"  by  Rev.  Rufus  Babcock,  D.D.,  in  American 
Quarterly  Register,  1841-42.  '  Appleton's  old  Encyclopedia,  article,  "Free-Will  Baptists."  ^Historical 
Sketches  oy  Congregationalism,  hy  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Clark,  D.D.,  and  Dr.  Baird's  Christian  Retrospect 
and    Register,    p.    220.         *  Estimated.  •  General    Minutes   of   the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

'  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  D.D.         *  Episcopal  Record,  i860.         »  Dr.  Baird,  in   Report  to   Evangelical  Alli- 
ance, 1850,  set  the  number  of  communicants  at  16,000  in  1800. 

We  have  noticed  that,  in  1800,  our  country  began  to  emerge 
from  the  troublesome  period  of  the  closing  decades  of  the  previous 
century.  The  national  constitution  had  been  adopted,  the  acrimony 
of  the  debates  incident  to  its  adoption  and  the  starting  of  the  fed- 
eral government  was  subsiding,  and  the  nation  started  into  this 
wonderful  century  with  a  great  revival  of  religion,  which  inaugu- 
rated a  new  spiritual  era  of  numerous  revivals,  transcending  in 
frequency,  power  and  beneficent  results  those  of  any  former  period. 
The  first  five  decade.s  of  this  centuiy  have  been  noticed  as  charac- 


734 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


terized  not  only  by  great  revivals,  but  also  by  great  moral  agitations 
and  reforms  and  the  inception  of  numerous  benevolent  and  evan- 
gelizing agencies.     What  is  the  exhibit  of  the  churches  for  1850? 

Churches,  Ministers  and  Communicants.  1850. 


DENOMINATIONS. 


Church 
Organiza- 
tions or 
ConRreea- 

tions.' 


Ministers.' 


Communi- 
cants.' 


Baptist,*  Regular.    North*. 
Baptist,  Regular,  South'.  . 


Total. 


Baptist,  Free-Will » 

Baptist,  Seventh-day  ' 

Baptist,  Seventh-day  German  *. 

Baptist,  Six-Principle  * 

Baptist,  Anti-Mission* 


Total  Baptist. 


Congregational  * 

Disciple,  or  Campbellite  * 

Dutch  Reformed  ' 

Dunker  * 

Episcopal,  Protestant'" 

Evangelical  Association  " 

Friend  (Evangelical)  (estimated  by  Friends). 

German  Reformed  * 

Lutheran  * 

Mennonite  * 

Moravian  * 


Methodist  Episcopal " 

Methodist  Episcopal,  South  '* 

M^ethodist  Episcopal,  African ''.... 
Methodist  Episcopal,  African  Zion  '*. 

Methodist  Protestant  '* 

Methodist  Wesleyan  " 

Methodist  Primitive  '* 

Methodist  Reformed  " 

Methodist  Stillwellite  " 


3.557 
4.849 


8,406 

1,126 
71 

21 
2.035 


11,659 


.971 
,898 
286 

.350 
200 

600 

,603 

400 

31 


2,665 
2.477 


296,614 
390.19s 


5.142 

867 

58 

4 

25 

907 


686,807 

50,223 

6.351 

400- 

3,586 

67.845 


7.003 

T.687 
848 
299 
160 

1,595 
195 

260 

1,400 

240 

27 

4.129 

1.556 

127 

71 

807 

400 

12 

50 


815,212 

197.197 
iiS,6i8 

33.780 
7.849 

89.359 
'■^21,374 

70,000 

70,000 
163,000 

25,000 
3.027 

"693,811 

"514.299 
'■'22,127 
'■'4.817* 
'^65.815 

'*2I,400 

'*r,ii2 

'^2,050 

200 


Total  Methodist 16 


17,000    \    "7,152    I '*r, 325, 631 

•  In  some  cases,  probably,  congreg.itioni  are  reported  instead  of  Church  organizations.  «  Local  preach- 
ers and  licentiates  not  included.  '  Some  Churches  include  baptized  children,  but  not  many.  «  Baptist 
Almanac,  1851.  »  Divided  on  the  basis  of  the  two  General  Conventions  which,  since  the  schism  in  1845, 
have  not  affiliated,  as  is  also  the  case  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches,  North  and  South,  and  the 
Presbyterian.  "Free-Will  Baptist  Register,  for  1851.  'Seventh-day  Baptist  Manual,  for  1852.  '^Chris- 
tian  Almanac,  1850,  and  Dr.  Raird's  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register.  »  Christian  Retrospect  and 
Register,  by  Dr.  Baird.  '»  Church  Almanac.  i>  Official  document,  number  of  churches  estimated. 
"  .Ministers  added  with  members  to  make  the  total  communicants,  as  with  the  Methodist  bodies  because 
of  peculiarities  of  Church  polity.  "  Minutes  0/  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  1850.  ><  According 
to  the  polity  of  the  Methodist  Churches  it  is  necessary  to  add  the  number  of  preachers  to  the  number  of 
members  in  order  to  get  the  total  communicants,  becau.se  they  are  not  reckoned  into  the  number  of  com- 
municants in  the  local  churches,  as  with  other  denominations.  >»  Fox  and  Hoyt's  Ecclesiastical  Regis- 
ter.  ■«  The  Methodist  Minutes  do  not  report  the  number  of  Church  organizations.  The  United  States 
Census  for  .850  gave  .4.86.  church  edifices  (all  kinds  of  Methodists).  The  organizations  or  societies  con- 
siderably exceed  the  edifices,  hence  the  above  number  is  partly  estimated.     >'  Besides  10.599  local  preachers. 


EVIDENCES  OF  GROWTH. 


733 


Churches,  Ministers  and  Communicants,  \%-^o.— Continued. 


DENOMINATIONS. 


Presbyterian,  Old  School ' 

Presbyterian,  New  School  * 

Presbyterian,  Reformed  General  Synod  of,  in  North 

America.' 

Presbyterian,  Reformed  Synod  of,  in  North  America'. 

Presbyterian,  Associate  * 

Presbyterian,  Associate  Reformed  * 

Presbyterian,  Cumberland  * . . . 

Presbyterian,  other  small  bodies  (estimated) 


Total  Presbyterian. 


Second  Advent ' 

Schwenkfelder  * 

United  Brethren'' 

Several  small  bodies  (estimated) . 


Aggregate 43.072 


Communi- 
canis. 


3.529.9SS 


^Minutes  0/  General  Assembly.  Old  School,  1850.  ^Minutes  0/  General  Assembly^  New  School. 
1850.  3  Rev.  R.  Baird,  D.U..  in  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  vol.  II,  pp.  77,  78.  *  Fox 
and  Hoyt's  Ecclesiastical  Register.  »  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,  by  Rev.  Robert  Biird,  D.D. 
*  Estimated  by  Revs.  J.  Litch  and  J.  V.  Hines.  '  Official  sources.  Number  of  churches  estimated. 
I*  Having  a  polity  like  the  Methodist  churches  it  is  necessary  to  add  the  number  of  preachers  to  the 
number  of  members  in  order  to  get  the  total  communicants,  because  they  are  not  reckoned  into  the  number 
of  communicants  in  the  local  churches,  as  with  most  other  denominations. 

We  have  here  evidence  of  remarkable  growth  of  40,000  churches, 
23,000  ministers,  and  nearly  3,200.000  members  in  fifty  years,  or  800 
churches  and  600,000  members  annually.  The  next  period  takes  us 
to  1870,  through  the  revulsion  following  the  Millerite  excitement, 
the  severe  spiritual  distractions  and  the  demoralization  of  the  civil 
war,  the  trying  period  of  foreign  immigration,  and  the  insidious  and, 
to  many  minds,  fatal  influence  of  Spiritualism  and  other  forms  of 
skepticism.     What  do  the  statistics  for  1870  show? 

Churches,  Ministers,  and  Communicants,  1870. 


DENOMINATIONS. 


Church 
Organisa- 
tions '  or 
Congrega- 
tions. 


Baptist,'  Regular,  North  '. 
Baptist,  Regular,  South'.. 
Baptist,  Regular.  Colored '. 


5.857 

10.777 

811 


Total  North  and  South ,    *I7.445 


Ministers.' 


4. 112 
6.331 

375 


10,818 


Communi- 
cants.' 


495.099 

790.252 
125,142 

1.410,493 


'  <M:e  references  (i,  «  3)  under  previous  table.  *Baftist  Year  Book.  1871.  *  For  the  division  see 
explanation  under  table  V,  reference  5-  "  In  .870  the  United  States  Census  reported  3.061  less  church 
organizations  of  the  Regular  Baptists  than  their  Year  B^k  gave.  See  Compendium  c/  Census,  ,870. 
p.  517.  note. 


736 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Chlkches.  Ministers  and  Comml'nicants,  li-jo.— Continued. 


DEXOMINATIONS. 


Baptist,  Free-Will ' 

Baptist,  Free-VVill,  minor  bodies  ' . 

Baptist,  Seventh-day  * 

Baptist,  Seventh-day,  German  '. . . 
Baptist,  Six-Principle  ' 


Total  Baptist. 


Congregational  *   

Disciple,  or  Campbellite*. 

Dunker' 

Episcopal,  Protestant  *. . . 
Evangelical  Association*. 
Friend,"  Evangelical  . .. . 


Lutheran,'*  General  Synod 

Lutheran,  General  Council 

Lutheran,  General  Synod  of  North  America. 
Lutheran,  other  Synods 


<i9,o94 

3.I2I 

'2,478 
300 

'2.752 
9315 
392 

'997 

998 

214 

1. 183 


Total  Lutheran. 


Mennonite  '*. 
Moravian  '*. . 


Methodist  Episcopal " 

Methodist  Episcopal,  South  '* 

Methodist  Episcopal.  African  " 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  African  Zion  '^ 

Methodist,   Protestant " 

Methodist,  Wesleyan  " 

Methodist,  Free  '* 

Methodist,  Primitive" 

Methodist,  Welsh  Calvinistic  '» 

Methodist,  Reformed  ' 

Methodist.  Congregational  '* 

"The  Methodist  Church  "^^ 


3.392 

270 
72 


Total  Methodist 1    » 


Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 
Presbyterian, 


General  Assembly  ^' 

General  Assembly,  South  ■' 

United  of  North  America" 

Reformed,  Synod  *'' 

Reformed,  Synod,  Genenl  ** 

Reformed,  .^.ss.  Synod  of  South'-'. 

Cumberland  " 

Free  Synod  -' 

minor  bodies' 


25.27S 

4.526 

1,469 

729 

87 

60 

1,600 


Total  Presbyterian 8,471 


Commuai- 
cants. 


12,040 

3.194 

2,200 

250 

2,803 

587 


591 
527 
121 

686 


1.925 

325 
66 

9.193 

2,922 

560 

694 

423 

250 

128 

20 

20 

100 
766 


15.076 

4.238 
840 

553 
86 


i,it6 
60 


6.893 


1,497.256 

306,51s 
450,000 

40,000 
207,762 
'"73.566 

57.405 

91,720 
129,516 

16,662 
150,640 


"388,538 

39,100 
7,634 

"1.376,327 
'"598.350 
"*2oo,56o 
'"164,691 

'"72.423 

'"20,250 

'"7,866 

"•2.020 

2,000 

3,000 

6,000 

'"54.562 


"2,499,052 

446,561 

82,014 

69,805 

8,577 

6,000 

4.500 

80,000 

6,000 

10,000 


713.457 


'  Free-Will  B.iptist  Re^strr,  1871.  a  Official  statement  to  the  author.  '  Estimated.  «  United  States 
Census  gave  15,829  Baptist  Churches  of  all  kinds.  »  Congregational  Quarterly,  1871.  «  Estimate  of 
leading  officials.  Number  of  churches  from  United  States  Census,  1870.  ''Congregations  or  parishes. 
"  Church  Almanac,  187..  '  United  States  Census,  ,870.  •»  Ministers  .idded  with  members  to  make  the 
full   number  of  communicants.     See  explanation  under  ubles   III   and  V  ^^  Friends'    Review     1871 

■»  .Ve^  Vorii  Obser^-er  Vear  Book,  187..  >»  Includes  baptized  children  in  some  synods.  >♦  Professor 

Schem  .867.  '»Offici.-»l  statement.  ^* Annual  Minutes,  iZjo.  ^^ Methodist  Almanac,  ^^^u  ^Apple- 
ton  s  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1870.  "  .V.^.,  York  Observer  Year  Book,  1871.  -^KMinutes  of  said  Church. 
1871.        »'  O/ftcial  Minutes,  1870.         »»  For  i366. 


MORE  RECENT  GROWTH. 


12,1 


Churches,  Ministers  and  Communicants,  \%-]o.— Continued. 


DENOMINATIONS. 

Church  Or- 
ganizations 
or  Cong'ns. 

Ministers. 

Communi- 
cants. 

Reformed  Church  (laie  Dutch)  > 

464 

1,179 
225 

*i,445 
400 

493 
526 

8S1 
350 

(Si  /J^^ 

Reformed  Church  (late  German)  ' 

Second  Advent ' 

96,728 
56.000 
10,000 

Second  Ativent,  Seventh-day* 

United  Brethren  ' 

*ii8,936 
30,000 

20,000 

Winebrennarian,  or  Church  of  God  * 

MINOR    bodies   not   WELL    KNOWN. 
Bible  Christian,  Schwenkfelder,  German  Evangelical 
Church  Union,  River  Brethren,  Bible  Union' 

Aggregate 

70, 148 

47,609 

6,673,396 

*  New  York  Obser-ver  Year  Book,  1871.  '  Estimated  by  Revs.  J.  I. itch  and  J.  V.  Hines.  '  Official 
statement  to  the  author.  ^United  States  Census,  1870.  *  Ministers  added  with  members  to  make  the  full 
number  of  communicants.     See  explanation  under  tables  III  and  V.      *  Baptist  Year  Book.      'Estimated. 

In  the  two  decades  (1850-1870)  the  number  of  the  churches 
increased  nearly  37,000;  the  ministers,  22,000,  and  the  communi- 
cants over  3,100,000,  or  about  as  much  as  in  the  previous  fifty  years 
— a  most  surprising  fact.  We  are  now  prepared  to  see  what  will 
be  the  progress  from  1870  to  1880. 

Churches,  Ministers  and  Co.mmunicants,  1880.' 


evangelical  denominations. 


Baptist,'  Regular,  North'.. . 
Baptist,  Regular,  South'... 
Baptist,  Regular,  Colored'. 


Church  Or- 
ganizations 
or  Cong's. 


6,782 

13,827 

5,451 


Total. 


Baptist,  Free-Will  ♦ 

Baptist,  Free- Will,  minor  bodies* 

Baptist,  Anti-Mission  ^ 

Baptist,  Seventh-day ' 

Baptist,  Seventh-day,  German  (estimated). 
Baptist,  Six-Principle ' 


Total  Baptist 


Congregational  (Orthodox)* 

Disciple '' 

Dunker' 

Episcopal.  Protestant ' 

Episcopal  Reformed  '" 

Evangelical  Association" 

Friend,  Evangelical  *  (partly  estimated). 


26,060 
1,432 

900 
94 
25 
20 


Ministers. 


5,280 
8,227 
3,089 


Members  or 
Communi- 
cants. 


608,556 

1,026.413 

661,358 


16,596 

1,213 

400 

no 


28.531 

3,743 

5,100 

250 

3.000 

1.477 
392 


18.331 

3,654 

3,762 

200 

3,432 

TOO 
200 


2,296.327 

78,012 
25,000 
40,000 

8.539 
3,000 
2,000 


2,452,87s 

384,332 
591,821 

60,000 

338,333 

9.44S 

112. 197 

60,000 


'The  Year  Books  for  \?Z\  cont.3\n  the  statistics  for  1880.  but  some  of  the  Annual  .tfinutes  oi  the 
churches  give  the  statistics  for  the  given  year.  '  Baptist  Year  Book  for  1881.  •  Divided  on  the  basis 
of  the  two  General  Conventions,  North  and  South,  which  are  as  separate  as  the  Methodist  and  the  Pres- 
byterian  Churches,  North    and    South.     The    colored    associations   are   also    independent   of    the   others. 

*  Free- Will  Baptist  ^c^jV/irr  for  i88t.         ^Minutes   0/ Contention   for    1880.         •  Official  Statistics,  1881. 
'  Rev.  F.  W.  Green,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society   of  the  Disciples.         *  Estimated. 

*  Church  Almanac  ioT  \'i%\.     Another  y4 /ma ;ja<:  a  few  more.         "  Statistics  published   after  late  conveu- 
tion  ^^ Almanac  Evangelical  Association,  1801. 

47 


738 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Churches.  Ministers  and  Communicants,  li^o— Continued. 


EVANGELICAL  DENOMINATIONS. 


Church  Or- 
ganizations 
or  Cong'ns. 


Ministers. 


Members  or 
Communi- 
cants. 


Lutheran,'  General  Council 

Lutheran,  General  Synod,  South. 
Lutheran,  General  Synod,  North. 

Lutheran,  Independent 

Lutheran,  Synodical  Conference. 


Total  Lutheran. 


Methodist  Episcopal  * 

Methodist  Episcopal,  South  * 

Methodist  Episcopal.  African  * 

Methodist  Episcopal,  African  Zion  ' 

Methodist  Episcopal,  Colored  ' 

Methodist,  Congregational " 

Methodist,   Free ' 

Methodist,    Primitive ' 

Methodist,  Protestant  "> 

Methodist,  Reformed  (estimated) 

Methodist,   Union  American  " 

Methodist,  Wesleyan  in  the  United  States". 


Total  Methodist. 


Mennonite  (estimated). 
Moravian  " 


Presbyterian,  General  Assembly  '* 

Presbyterian,  General  Assembly,  South  '* 

Presbyterian,  United  of  North  America'*... 

Presbyterian,  Cumberland  '* 

Presbyterian,  Synod  of.  Reformed  " 

Presbyterian,  General  Synod  of,  Reformed  '*. 

Presbyterian,  Welsh  Calvinistic" 

Presbyterian,  Associate  Synod  of  South  " 

Presbyterian,  other  bodies  (estimated) 


Total  Presbyterian. 


1,151 
214 

1,285 
913 

1,990 


5.553 


'•29,278 

300 

84 

5.489 
1,928 

813 
2.457 

"7 
50 

137 

IT2 


11,103 

510 
1,405 

800 

640 
4.524 

400 


624 
122 
841 

369 
1,176 


184.974 
j8,223 

^23,813 

69.353 

554,505 


3.132 

12,096 

3.S87 
1.738 

1,800 

63S 

225 
260 

52 
1.385 

lOI 

400 


22,582 

350 

94 

5.041 
1,060 

684 
1.386 

III 
32 

100 

121 


8,533 

544 
743 
600 
144 
2,196 
350 


950.868 

^i, 755,018 
832,189 
387.566 
300,000 
112,938 
13.750 
12,318 

3.369 

135,000 

3,000 

2,250 

17,087 


69,870 


*3.574,485 

50,000 
9.491 

578.671 

120.028 

82,119 

III  863 

10.473 
6.800 

ir.ooo 
6,686 

10,000 

937,640 

80.208 

155.857 
70.000 
^5.570 

157,835 
30,000 

25,000 
10,065.963 


Reformed  Church  (Dutch)'* 

Reformed  Church  (German)" .'. 

Second  Advent  '^ 

Second  Advent,  Seventh-day  '* 

United  Brethren  in  Christ '» 

Winebrennarian,  or  Church  of  God*" ] 

(;er.  Evan.  Un.,  Bible  Christians.  Schwenkfelder!  Bible 
Union,  River  Brethren,  little  known  (estimated)... 

Aggregate j      ^^  q^q 

^Lutheran  Church  Almanac,  .881.      The^  st.->ti«ics  probably  involve  some  errors^         "  To  Decemb^ 
1880.  '"C'udmgm.n.slers,  because  not  reckoned  elsewhere  as  communicants,  and  also  probationers.     See 

explanation  under  table  1 11.  *Aima»ac  0/  Mfthodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  1S8..  »  Official 
Report  for  .880.  •  Furnished  by  Rev.  R.  G.  Dyson,  a  prominent  minister  of  said  Church.  "•  Methodist 
Almanac,  1881.  »  Methodist  Congregational.  •  Minutes  for  .880.  ">  Furnished  for  1880  by  a  leading 
minister.         >■  Minutes  of  said  Church  for  ,879.  "Church  organizations  of  the  Methodist  Churches  are 

not  published  ,n  the  Minutes,  and  therefore  cannot  be  accurately  gathered.  The  United  States  Census  r^- 
ported  ,5,,78  for  all  Methodis,  bodies  in  ,870.  It  is  a  moder.-.te  estimate  to  suppose  that  they  have  since  in- 
creased 4,000.  One  branch  of  Methodism  has  incre.ised  its  church  edifices  3.700  since  ,870.  ■'  Official  sta- 
of  Te's!!"'  ^  r  ■^",  /  /"n'"-  '^^-  '*  f-^^i^hed  by  Rev.  David  Steele,  D.D.,  Philadelphia.  "Report 
"eLwh  K  rT  °!.!  P^«*'y<"i.-'n  Alli..nce.  p.  963.  ^^ Almanac  0/ the  Reformed  Church,  .88t. 
tstimatedby  leadmg  Advent  officials.     ^*  Almanac  0/ United  Brethren,  ,88..     "Baptist  Year  Book,  ,881. 


GROWTH  MAINTAINED. 


739 


The  remarkable  growth  of  the  previous  periods  seems  not  to 
have  fallen  off  in  the  years  since  1870,  for  the  gain  from  1870  to 
1880  was  equal  to  that  of  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  century,  carrying 
the  numbers  of  the  evangelical  communicants  in  the  United  States 
up  fq  ten  millions — an  increase  of  about  twenty-sevenfold  since 
1800.  It  is  impossible  to  obtain  more  than  partial  returns  for  1887. 
The  figures  given  in  the  yearbooks  for  1887  were  collected  in  1886, 
and  some  of  them  in  1885,  as  the  compilers  have  informed  the 
author  of  this  volume.  He  has  availed  himself  of  every  Year  Book 
and  all  the  ecclesiastical  Minutes  for  1887,  ^^^  ^^s  tabulated  the 
data  under  the  heading  1886,  the  date  actually  represented,  though 
in  a  i^v^'  cases  he  was  obliged  to  insert  those  of  previous  years,  not- 
withstanding laborious  efforts  to  get  later  data  had  failed. 


Churches,  Ministers  and  Communicants,  1886.' 


DENOMINATIONS. 

Churches  or 
Congrega- 
tions.* 

Ministers. 

Local 
Preachers. 

Communi- 
cants. 

I. — Adventist. 

1.  Original  "  Evangelical  "  Adventist  ^ 

2.  "Advent  Christians  "  * 

91 
2,500 

787 
100 

14 

107 

1,000 

199 

15 

11,000 
75,000 

22,357 

10,000 

10,000 

5,000 

1,200 

3.  Seventh-day  Advent  * 

4.   Life  and  Advent  Union  * 

5.  Afje  to  Come  Adventist  * 

6.   Barbountes  * 

7.  Christadelphians  * 

Total  Adventist 

3.492 

7.348 

14.346 

8,828 

1. 321 

6,273 
7,542 
5.562 

.... 

134.577 

681,585 
1,065,170 

985,815 

II. — Baptist. 

1.  Regular  Baptist,  North* 

2.  Reeular  Baptist,  South  * 

3.  Regular  Baptist,  Colored  * 

Total  Regular  Baptist 

30,522 
1.542 

2,200 
108 

900 

17 

19,377 
1,291 

500 
120 

400 
15 

.... 

2,732,570 

82,323 

1,000 

13.190 

13,000 

8.733 
3.500 
45.0C0 
6,329 
1,400 
2,200 

4.  Free-Will  Baptist" 

5.  Cumberland  Free  Baptist* 

6.  Other  Free  Baptist  Associations''. . 

7.  General  Baptist  * 

8.  Seventh-day  Baptist ' 

9.  Seventh-day  German  '" 

10.  Anti-Mission  Baptist  " 

II.  Separate  Baptist ' 

12.   United  Baptist ' 

13.  Six-Principle  Baptist '" 

•  •  • 

'As  far  as  possible  the  statistics  are  from  the  year  books  and  Minutes  of  1887,  but  strictly  they  repre- 
sent the  year  1886.  In  a  few  instances  they  are  from  the  official  books  of  1886,  1885  and  1884.  »  In  some 
instances  the  year  books  say  congregations,  but  in  most  cases  the  figures  represent  organized  churches.  In 
the  Methodist  bodies  they  represent  church  edifices,  the  number  of  church  organizations  not  being 
reported.  •  Estimated  by  a  prominent  official  in  the  denomination.  *  Estimated  by  the  editor  of  the 
World's  Crisis.  »  Official  K^ar  ^^(7*  for  1887.  •  Rev.  J.  Nicum,  of  Syracuse.  N.  Y.  ^  Free-Will 
Baptist  Year  Book  for  1887.  *  Rev.  W.  P.  Hale,  editor  of  the  Messenger.  'Official  minutes  for  1886. 
'"  Estimated.     No  minutes.         ■'  Baptist  Year  Book  for  1S87. 


V. 

740 


CHRISTIANITY  IX   THE   UNITED  STATES. 
Chlrches.  Ministers  and  Communicants,  liZd.—Coniinyed. 


DENOMINATIONS. 

Churches  or 
Congrega- 
tions. 

1      Local 
Ministers.      Preachers. 

Commiini- 
cant>. 
\ 

KINDRED    BAPTIST   BODIES. 

r.  Disciple  ' 

2    Tunker  * ■. 

5,800 
450 
300 
550 

3,500 

1,900 

400 

500 

.... 

.        ^15,500 
75,000 

3.  Winebrennarian,  or  Ch.  of  God  '. . 

4.  Mennoniles  ■* 

30,000 
100,000 

Total  Baptist  and  kindred  bodies. 

III. — Christian. 

I.  Northern  Convention  * 

42,389 
[     1,755 

28,003 
1.344] 

3,729.745 
122,000 

2.  Southern  Convention  * 

20,000 

Total  Christian 

1,755 
1,500 
4.277 

3.450 
76 

1,344 
1,200 
4,090 

3,850 
65 

.... 

142,000 

IV. — Christian  Union  Churches  ' 

V. — Congregational  ^ 

125,000 
436.379 

415,605 

VI. — Episcopalian. 

i.   Protestant  Eoiscopal  ' 

2.   Reformed  Episcopal  ' 

8,000 

Total  Episcopal 

3.526 
600 

3.915 
500 



423,605 

VII. — Friends. 

I.  Orthodox  Friends' 

70,000 
12,000 

2.  Wilberite    Friends' 

Total  Friends 

600 

553 

1.449 
360 

1.835 
2,006 

r.923 

500 
689 

910 
180 

993 

1,094 

813 

.... 

82,000 

VIII. — Ger.man  Evang.  Church  Union."* 

IX. — Lutheran.' 

I.  General  Synod 

60,000 

138,988 
29,683 
258,408 
297.631 
206,120 

2.  United  Synod,  South 

3.  General  Council 

4.   Synodical  Conference 

5.  Independent  Synods 

Total  Lutheran 

7,573 

12,013 
10,951 

50 

3.990 

12,075 

4.434 
1,882 
2,000 

1.729 
60 

12.813 

5.989 
9.760 
2.750 
4.024 
50 

930,830 

2,002,452 

1,066,377 

475.000 

350,000 

166,729 

21,000 

X.— Methodist. 

1.  Methodist  Episcopal  " 

2.  Methodist  Episcopal,  South," 

3.  African  Methodist  Episcopal".... 

4.  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion''^ 

5.  Colored  Methodist  Flpiscopal '*. . . . 

6.  Union  American  M.  E  '■• 

Total  Methodist  Episcopnl 

23.114 

22,180 

35.388 

4.081.558 

•  Estimated  by  a  prominent  official  in  the  denomination.  "  Estim.Tted  by   Rev.  James  Quinter,  of 

Huntingdon,  Pa.  •  Estimated  by  Rev.  J.  R.  H.  Latchan,  of  Findlay.  O.  *  Estim.ited  by  Rev.  C.  H. 
Avan  der  Swissen,  Zionsville.  Lehigh  County,  Pa.  »  Official  ^Tintttes  for  1S86.  •  Estimated  by  Rev  H. 
J.  Duckworth,  Centerbure,  O.  'Official   Year  Book  for  1887.  *  F.;timaled  by  Rev.  Bishop  Nicholson 

for  1885.  'Estimated  by  V).  B.  Updegraff.  of  Mt.  Plea-^ant,  O.  Hicksites  omitted.  ">  Partly  Year 
Bjok  1887  and  partly  estimated  by  Rev.  Dr.  (',.  A.  /Zimmerman,  of  Chicago,  111.  "  Minutes  for  1886. 
'»  .Methodist  Year  Book  for  1887.  "  1  he /W^/fnt/^'n/ and  Rev.  J.  Nicura  estimated  a  little  higher. 
"Letter  from  Rev.  Bishop  E.  Williams. 


LATEST  OBTAINABLE  DATA. 


741 


Churches,  Ministers  and  Communicants,  iSS6.— Continued. 


DENOMINATIONS. 

Churches  or 
Congrega- 
tions. 

Ministers. 

Local 
Preachers. 

Communi- 
cants. 

"»      7.  Protestant  Methodist ' 

1,713 
275 

35 

495 
93 
60 

4.332 

1,808 

61 

85 

1.570 

200 

30 

514 

280 

53 
50 

1.378 

1,069 

94 

115 

'488 

890 
613 

128,709 

8.  Congregational  Methodist* 

9.  Independent  Methodist  * 

8,000 
5,000 

ID.  Free  Methodist  Cliurch  ■* 

16,826 

II.  Weslcyan  Methodist  * 

18,260 

12.  Primitive  Methodist* 

5,002 

13.  Reformed  Methodist ' 

2,500 

KINDRED    METHODIST   BODIES. 
I.  United  Brethren  ' 

185,103 

2.  Evangelical  Association  * 

132,508 

10,250 

4.  Bible  Christians  * 

7,700 

Total  Methodist  and  kindred  bodies.. 

XI. — Presbyterian. 

1.  General  Assembly  • 

2.  General  Assembly,  South,* 

3.  United  Presbyterian  Ch.  of  N.  A.*. 

4.  Cumberland  Presbyterian  * 

5    Cumberland  Presbyter'n,  Colored, '. 

6.  Reformed  Presbyterian  * 

7.  General  Synod  of  Reformed  Pres."" 

8.  Associate  Refd  Syn.  of  the  South*, 
g.  Welsh  Presbyterian* 

10.  Several  other  small  bodies  ■■ 

kindred    PRESBYTERIAN    BODIES. 

1.  Reformed  (late  Dutch)  Church  *.  . 

2.  True  Reformed  Dutch  Church  '». . . 

3.  Reformed  (late  German)  Church*.. 

32,071 

6.436 
2,236 

885 
2,540 

119 

54 
116 

175 
400 

547 

13 

1. 481 

27.542 

5.654 

1,116 

736 

1,563 

200 

103 

32 

86 

84 
300 

547 

8 

802 

37 

.37c 

) 

4,601,416 

696,767 

150,398 

94,641 

145,146 

15,000 

10,832 

6,800 

7.015 

9.563 

25,000 

85,543 

564 

183,980 

Total  Presbyterian  and  kindred  bodies 
XII. — Schwenkfelder  * 

15,002 
6 

11,241 
10 

1.431.249 
850 

XIII. — Other  small  bodies. 

Bible   Union,   River  Brethren,  Colored 
Methodist  Protestant,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.. 

35.000 

Apprepate 

112.744 

83,845 

12,132,651 



>  Rev.  F.  F.  Tagg,  Baltimore.  Md.  *  For  1887  by  Rev.  S.  C.  McDaniel,  of  Georgia.  •  Independent. 
May  19.  1887.  *  Official  Minutes  for  i836.  »  Minutes  for  1883.  •  Official  Year  Book  for  1S87. 
'Estimated.  No  Minutes.  ■*  Rev.  J.  Nicum,  of  Syracuse.  N.  Y.  •i>//««/«  of  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian Church  for  1887.         '"  Rev.  R.  Brinkerhoff,  New  York  city. 

Recapitulation. 


ylar. 


Churches  or 
Congrega- 
tions. 


Ministers. 


Communicants. 


1775- 
1800. 
1850. 
1870. 
1880. 
1886. 


1,918 

3,o3o 

43,072 

70,148 

97,090 

112,744 


1,435 
2,051 

25,555 
47,609 
69,870 
83,854 


364,872 

3,529,988 

6,673,396 

10,065,963 

12,132,651 


NoTS.— There  are  also  .17,3-Q  local  preachers,  and  a  large  number  of  licentiates  in  all  other  denomma- 
tions,  not  included  among  the  ministers. 


742  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

INCREASE. 

l8o<>-i886 109,714  churches. 

1800-1886 81,203  ministers. 

Z800-1886 ".767,779  communicants. 

Increase  of  Communicants  by  Periods. 

Average  yearly. 

1800-1850,  50  years 3,165,116  .  63,302 

1850-1870,20     ••     3,143,408  157,170 

1870-1880,  10     "     3,392,587  339,258 

1880-1886,    6     "     2,066,698  344,449 

All  persons  familiar  with  the  history  of  Christianity  will  agree 
that  the  above  exhibit  of  religious  progress  cannot  be  paralleled  in 
the  history  of  God's  kingdom  in  any  land  or  any  age.  It  is  all  the 
more  remarkable  because  only  about  ninety  years  ago  it  was  a  com- 
mon boast  of  infidels  that  "  Christianity  would  not  survive  two 
generations  "  in  this  country.  Instead  of  that,  Christianity,  since 
then,  has  achieved  her  grandest  triumph.  How  often  has  the  prog- 
ress of  Christianity  in  the  apostolic  age  been  cited  as  a  marvel  of 
growth  which  the  Church  of  our  times  should  emulate.  Such  per- 
sons forget  that  the  growth  of  the  Churches  of  the  United  States 
in  this  century  has  far  transcended  that  of  the  first  Christian  cent- 
uries. Eminent  students  of  history  have  made  the  following 
estimate  of  the  number  of  nominal  Christians: 

Close  of  the  first  century 500,000  I  Close  of  the  sixth  century 20,000,000 

Close  of  the  second  century 2,000,000    Close  of  the  seventh  century. . .  .25,000,000 

Close  of  the  third  century 5,000,000    Close  of  the  eighth  century 30,000.000 

Close  of  the  fourth  century 10,000,000    Close  of  the  ninth  century 40,000,000 

Close  of  the  fifth  century 15,000,000  I 

If  the  communicants  in  the  foregoing  table  were  multiplied  by 
three  and  a  half  (Rev.  Dr.  R.  Baird  used  four  as  the  multiple)  we 
would  have  a  fair  estimate  of  the  number  of  adherents  of  evangel- 
ical Christianity  in  our  country.  This  would  give  us,  in  1800, 
1,277,052;  1886,  42.564,278 — an  increase  of  41,287,226,  or  more 
than  in  the  whole  world  at  the  close  of  the  first  nine  centuries  of 
the  Christian  era. 

''Not  unto  7is,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glory, 
for  thy  mercy,  and  for  thy  truth's  sake." 


Section  ^.— The  Population  Test. 

In  a  country  of  such  marvelous  growth,  where  so  many  things 
so  luxuriantly  flourish,  there  are  strong  competing  forces,  and  Chris- 
tianity is  subjected  to  severe  crucial  tests. 

The  population  test  is  one  of  the  most  legitimate  as  well  as  one 


DIAGRAM    IV. 


GROWTH   OP    CITY   POPULATIONS    COMPARED    WITH 
TOTAL  POPULATION  OP  UNITED  STATES. 


1840. 


1650. 


1660. 


870, 


1880. 


THE  POPULATION   TEST. 


743 


of  the  severest.  If  Christianity  wouM  fulfill  its  long  avowed  pre- 
dictions of  the  conquest  of  this  world  for  Christ,  it  must  not  only 
keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  population,  but  also  gain  upon 
it.  What  country  has  made  such  an  advance  in  its  population 
as  the  United  States  during  this  century?  History  furnishes  no 
parallel.  To  follow  up  the  growth  and  expansion  of  the  popu- 
lation in  so  large  an  area;  to  furnish  them  with  religious  influences, 
and  to  make  such  a  lodgment  of  Christian  truth  in  their  hearts  as 
to  hold  them  to  Christianity,  is  a  task  of  no  small  magnitude, 
especially  when  the  additions  to  the  population  come  from  such 
diverse  sources,  and  are  hostile  to  the  prevailing  type  of  religion  in 
the  land. 

I.— The  Large  Cities. 

A  marked  tendency  of  the  population  to  accumulate  in  large 
centers  has  been  perceptible  during  the  last  fifty  years.  Notwith- 
standing the  inhabitants  have  been  spreading  out  into  new  terri- 
tories, filling  up  vast  solitudes  with  active,  industrious,  organized 
communities,  so  that  from  1790  to  1S80  the  thirteen  original  States 
increased  threefold,  and  nine  great  Territories  with  a  million  of 
people  are  now  rapidly  maturing  to  the  condition  of  States,  at  the 
same  time  the  growth  of  the  city  populations  has  been  even  more 
wonderful.  At  the  opening  of  this  century,  only  six  cities  of  8,000 
inhabitants  and  upward  were  registered  in  our  national  census.  In 
1880  they  numbered  286.  In  the  last  census,  the  "  Fifty  Principal 
Cities,"*  all  with  populations  exceeding  35,000,  and  one  half 
exceeding  63,000,  and  located  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  are  tabu- 
lated. We  have  constructed  similar  tables  of  the  same  cities  f  for 
1840,  1850,  i860  and  1870.:};  Forty  years  is  a  sufficiently  long  period 
for  testing  the  growth  of  the  populations  and  the  churches  in  them. 
Analyzed  and  classified  the  statistics  afford  valuable  instruction. 


I  — Urban  Populations  of  8,000  Inhabitants  and  Upward. 


1800 
1S40. 
1S50. 
i860. 
1870. 
18S0. 


DATE. 


Number  j 
of  Cities.; 

i 

6 

44 

85 
141 
226 
286 


Population. 


210,873 

1,453.994 
2.S()7.586 
5,072,256 
8,071,875 
".318.547 


Percentage  of  the 
total  population  of 
the  United  States. 


3.9  per  cent. 

8.5  '• 
12.5  " 
16.1  " 
20.9  " 
22.5     " 


*  See  Compendium  of  United  States  Census,  1880.     P.  542,  etc 

+  San  Francisco,  Denver,  Kansas  City,  and  a  few  others  which  did  not  e.\ist  in  1840,  or  were 
only  small  hamlets,  are  introduced  at  l.ter  dates. 

X  These  tables  are  too  bulky  for  insertion  in  this  volume,  but  the  summaries  are  used. 


744  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


II.—  Urbam  and  Rural  Populations  Compared, 


PERIOD. 


1840. 
1S50. 
i860. 
1870. 
1880. 


50  Principal  Cities. 


1,325,622 
2,417,699 
2,937,489 
5.686,897 
7,794,503 


Other  Citie*  of  8,000  inhab'ts.lpopulation  outside 

^ jOf  all  cities  of  8,006 

Number  of        _        .     .  inhabitants  and  u|»- 


'this  class.  I        Population. 


35 

91 

176 

236 


479,887 
1,034,767 
2,384,978 
3,524,044 


ward. 


15.615.459 
20,294.290 
26,371,065 
30,486,496 
33.837,236 


III. — Proportion  of  the  Above  Popul.ations  to  the  Whole  Popula- 
tion OF  the  United  States. 


1840. 
1850. 
i860. 
1870. 
1880. 


92.3  per  cent. 

87.5    "      " 
839    "      " 

791    "      " 

77-5    "      " 


IV. — Actual  Increase  in  Population. 


1840-50. 
1850-60. 
1860-70. 
1870-80. 


1,092,077 
1. 519.790 
1,749,080 
2,107,606 


554.880 
1,350,211 
1,139,066 


4,678,831 
6,076,775 

4,115.431 
8.350,740 


v.— Relative  Increase. 


1840-50. 
1850-60. 
1660-70, 


1 870-80  1  37.4 


78.     percent. 
62.8     "     " 
44.4     "     " 


106  per  cent. 
130    " 
43    "       " 


29  per  cent. 

29  •'       " 

15  "       •' 

27  "      •' 


An  examination  of  the  foregoing  tables  will  disclose  some 
important  facts. 

I. — Great  and  rapid  increase  of  city  populations.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  •'  Fifty  Principal  Cities  "  has  increased  since  1 840  from  one 
and  one  third  millions  to  seven  and  three  fourth  millions  (see  Table 
II.),  or  from  -j.-j  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population  of  the  country  to 
15.5  per  cent.  The  other  cities  of  8,000  inhabitants  and  upward 
increased  from  less  than  half  a  million  in  1850  to  three  and  a  half 
millions  in  1880,  or  from  2.1  to  7  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population 
of  the  United  States. 

2. — The  cities  held  their  growth  during  the  period  of  the  civil 
war  (see  Table  III.),  while  the  rural  population  relatively  declined. 
With  the  exception  of  the  war  period  the  relative  increase  of  the 
rural  populations  was  quite  uniform. 

3. — The  relative  increase  of  both  classes  of  cities  declined 
each  decade  (see  Tabic  V.)  notwithstanding  their  large  actual 
increase.  The  larger  bases  on  which  the  percentage  is  calculated 
account  in  part  for  this  showing,  but  not  altogether.  The  actual 
increase  is  less,  compared  with  the  bases  on  which  the  gain  is  made. 


DIAGRAM  V. 


SHOWING  THE  PROPORTION  OF  THE  FOREIGN  ELEMENTS 
IN  THE  FIFTY  PRINCIPAL  CITIES  OF  THE  U.  S. 

1850 


I860 


\B7D 


1880 


*  About  80  per  cent,  more  than  the  foreign  bom  in  all  the  cities.     In  some  cities  more  than 
100  p)er  cent,  additional. 


FOREIGN-BORN  POPULATION. 


743 


4. — The  rural  population  increased  4,678,831  from  1840  to  1850; 

but  from  1870  to  1880  it  gained  8,350,740.     But  this  class  of  popu- 

^lation  is  all  the  time  concentrating  in  newly  forming  centers,  soon 

io' be  added  to  the   list   of  city  populations,  thus   enhancing  the 

interest  in  the  great  problem  of  the  cities. 

Foreign    Elements. 

Another  important  element  entering  into  the  problem  of  the 
cities  is  the  exceptionally  large  proportion  of  the  foreign-born  pop- 
ulation. If  the  population  were  homogeneous,  of  common  race, 
ideas,  customs,  language,  etc.,  the  task  of  molding  them  morally 
and  religiously  would  be  much  easier.  But  we  find  them  of  every 
conceivable  nationality,  of  all  shades  of  religion  and  no  religion,  and 
a  very  large  share  of  them  acknowledging  allegiance  to  a  foreign 
pontiff.  The  tables  *  of  the  foreign-born  populations  of  the  "  Fifty 
Principal  Cities  "  show  that  there  are  inhabitants  from  : 


Africa  (not  specified) in  40  cities. 

Asia         "  "        "30  " 

Atlantic  Islands "  33  " 

Australia . . . "  47  " 

Austria "  50  " 

Belgium "  46  " 

Bohemia "  46  " 

British  America "  50  " 

Central  America "  22  " 

China "  46  " 

Cuba "  41  " 

Denmark. "  50  " 

Europe  (not  specified) "42  " 

France "  50  " 

German  Empire "50  " 

England "  50  " 

Ireland "  50  " 

Scotland "  50  " 

Wales "50  " 

Greece "  32  " 

Greenland "  12  " 


Holland in  50  cities. 

Hungary  "46  " 

India "  45  " 

Italy "49  " 

Japan "  16  " 

Luxemburg "  34  " 

Malta "  20  " 

Mexico "  40  " 

Norway "  48  " 

Pacific  Islands "  24  " 

Poland   . .    "  50  " 

Portugal "  33  " 

Russia "  50  " 

Saudwich   Islands "  32  " 

South  America "49  " 

Spain "48  " 

Sweden "  50  *' 

Switzerland "  50  " 

Turkey "  33  " 

West  Indies "47  " 


What  more  striking  exhibit  of  the  wide  distribution  of  the  most 
diverse  elements  in  our  large  cities  !  What  a  polyglot  population  ! 
The  natives  of  fourteen  of  the  localities  are  in  every  one  of  the  50 
principal  cities;  those  of  15  other  localities  are  in  between  40  and 
50  of  the  cities  ;  and  the  natives  of  only  five  localities  are  in  less 
than  half  of  the   50  cities.     The    foreign-born    population   of  this 


*  Census  of  1880,  Vol.  I,  pp.  546-551. 


746 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


country  has  been    collated  in  the  census  only  since  1850.     From 
these  sources  we  have  derived  the  following  exhibit : 


DATE. 

a     "1 
c  ■"  0 

.MO  c 

gj  a. 

DATE. 

Proportion  of  the  foreign-bom 
to  the  whole  populatiou. 

Proportion  of  the  for- 
eign-born   to   the  whole 
population  outside  of  the 
50  cities. 

In  the  50  prin- 
cipal cities. 

In  the  whole 
country. 

1850 

i860 

1870 

1880 

710,784 
1,436,122 
i,95o,ig2 
2.330.343 

2,264,602 
4,118,697 
5,566,546 
6,697,943 

1850 

t86o 

1870 

t88o 

37.1  percent. 
38.3   "      ■' 

29.8  "      " 

9     per  cent. 

"3      "      !' 

14 

13      "      " 

1850 7  per  cent. 

i860 9  "      " 

1870 It   "      " 

1880...    .10  "      " 

In  addition  to  those  born  in  foreign  lands  there  are  those  who 
sustain  the  closest  relations  to  foreign  customs  and  ideas,  one  or 
both  of  whose  parents  were  foreign-born.  The  United  States  cen- 
sus for  1880  gave  the  number  of  this  class  for  only  New  York  city, 
39  per  cent.,  which,  with  those  actually  born  in  foreign  lands,  made 
80.1  percent,  either  foreign-born  or  one  or  both  of  whose  parents 
were  foreign-born.  The  Massachusetts  census  for  1885  gave  these 
two  classes  in  the  whole  State  at  53.6  per  cent,  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation, or  almost  twice  as  large  as  the  foreign-born  alone  (27.13  per 
cent.).     It  also  gave  the  following  : 


Boston 

Cambridge. 
Fall  River. 
Lawrence  . 

I/}well 

Holyoke.. . 


Foreign-born. 


34.14  per  cent. 
32.16  " 
49.16  " 
43-99  " 
4037  " 
49-77 


Foreign-bom, 
and  one  or  both 
parents  foreign- 
born. 


67.02  per  cent. 

64.6 

8<.3 

77-4 

6S.4 

82.7 


New  Bedford 

Salem 

Worcester 

65  towns  and  cities 
in  Massachusetts 


Foreign-bom. 


30.71  per  cent. 
27.06   "       " 
29.51    "      " 


Foreign-born, 
and  one  or  both 

Earents  foreig^- 
orn. 


51.3  per  cent. 
55.3     "      " 
59-7     " 

65.1      "      " 


The  foreign  element  of  Chicago,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Milwaukee 
and  San  Francisco  will  rank  with  New  York  city.  In  these,  and 
possibly  in  some  other  cities,  the  foreign-born,  and  those  one  or  both 
of  whose  parents  are  foreign-born,  may  be  safely  estimated  at  twice 
the  number  of  the  foreign-born  ;  in  others,  at  80  per  cent,  more  than 
the  foreign-born.  The  latter  will  be  a  safe  rule  for  most  large 
cities.  This  will  give  in  the  "  50  principal  cities"  4,194,617  as  the 
foreign  increment,  or  nearly  54  per  cent,  of  their  total  population, 
and  shows  the  difficulty  with  which  the  churches  have  to  contend. 

We  next  inquire  how  have  the  evangelical  churches  competed  with 
the  population  in  the  cities  ?  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  only  a  few 
of  the  denominations  publish  their  statistics  in  such  a  form  as  to 
make  them  available  for  comparisons,  covering  a  period  of  forty 
years  in  these  fifty  cities.     We  are  confined  to  the  following:  the 


COMMUMCA.\TS  AND  POPULATION. 


747 


Presbyterians,  embracing  the  Old  School  and  New  School  while 
separated,  and  the  Southern  body  since  its  secession  in  1861  ;  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  South,  the  Con- 
gt^gationalists  and  the  Reformed  (late  Dutch)  Church  ;  which,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience,  we  will  call  six  denominations.  The  points  of 
comparison  are  the  churches,  the  ministers,  and  the  communicants, 
which  will  be  considered  as  a  whole.  How  have  these  relisfious 
bodies  jointly  competed  with  the  population  ? 


1840. 
1850. 
i860. 
1870. 
1880. 
1886 


Churches. 


Ministers. 


657 

870 

1,114 

1.450 

1. 714 


1.399 
1,824 

2,195 
2.616 


Communicants. 


104,706 

157.933 
222,625 
298,474 
414,184 
496,694 


Inhabitants 
ito   one    Church. 


1840. 
1850. 
i860. 
1870. 
1880. 


3.680 
4.526 
5.104 

5.375 


Inhabitants         Inhabitants  to 
to  one  Minister,  one  communic't. 


2,686 
2,812 
3.117 

3.551 


12.67 
15-30 
17-33 
19.05 

18.81 


The  above  table  shows  a  steady  falling  behind  the  increase  of 
the  population  in  each  decade,  and  in  every  point  of  comparison, 
except  that  since  1870  the  communicants  have  made  a  slight  gain 
on  the  inhabitants — the  fruitage  of  the  large  city  mission  and  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  work. 

It  is  not  possible,  we  think,  to  find  in  any  previous  centuries 
anything  which  corresponded  to  the  city  missions  of  our  times.  City 
missions,  the  growth  of  the  last  seventy  years  in  the  United  States, 
now  exist  in  large  numbers  in  all  our  cities,  and  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  associations,  the  YoungWoman's  Christian  associations,  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  unions,  and  a  host  of  other  similar 
agencies,  are  actively  cultivating  the  field — all  entirely  unknown  in 
other  centuries.  As  late  as  1861  the  Wesleyan  chapels  in  London 
were  only  sixteen.  Since  1861  they  have  erected  64  chapels,  with 
accommodations  ranging  from  1,000  to  1,104  sittings  each,  and  97 
more  whose  sittings  do  not  exceed  650  each.  In  Boston,*  in  1820, 
there  were  only  18  evangelical  churches,  or  one  to  3,248  inhabitants  ; 
in  1880  there  were  137,  or  one  in  2,656  inhabitants.  But  even  in 
Boston  there  are  sections  with  few  Protestant  services. 

*  Taking  in  both  periods  the  present  area  of  Boston. 


748 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES. 


Though  there  can  be  no  comparison  with  the  population  in 
1886  yet  the  rate  of  increase  keeps  up  and  runs  a  little  ahead  of  that 
from  1870  to  1880,  In  the  last  six  years  the  average  ^-f^r/y  increase 
in  churches  was  11  more,  in  ministers  33  more,  and  communicants 
2,177  niore  than  the  yearly  increase  in  the  previous  decade;  the 
increase  in  communicants  being  82,510  from  1880  to  1886,*  to 
115,710  in  the  10  previous  years.  The  statistics  indicate  that  the 
present  decade,  like  the  last,  is  hopeful  for  evangelical  Christianity 
in  the  large  cities.  Were  it  possible  to  add  to  the  statistics  of  the 
six  Protestant  bodies  those  of  the  Lutherans,  the  Baptists,  the 
African  Methodists  in  the  South,  the  case  would  look  still  brighter; 
for  these  denominations,  whose  statistics  are  not  available  for  this 
investigation,  are  among  the  most  flourishing  of  all.  It  now  looks 
as  though  the  efforts  for  city  evangelization,  which  have  been  slowly 
organizing,  are  beginning  to  develop  encouraging  results.  Will  not 
our  denominations  be  inspired  to  greater  efforts  to  thoroughly  cap- 
ture and  hold  these  strongholds,  and  make  them  intense  centers  of 
Christ's  spiritual  kingdom  ? 


2— In  New  England. 

All  eyes  have  been  turned  with  much  interest  to  this  great 
emigrating  and  immigrating  section,  and  grave  inquiries  have  been 
made  in  regard  to  the  religious  prospects.  In  1880  about  600,000 
New  England-born  people  were  scattered  in  the  United  States  out- 
side of  New  England,  and  about  800,000  foreign-born  inhabitants 
had  come  to  more  than  fill  their  places,  not  to  speak  of  80  per  cent, 
more,  the  offspring  in  the  first  degree  of  the  latter  class,  most  of 
whom  are  Roman  Catholics.  What  is  the  statistical  exhibit  of  the 
evangelical  churches  ?  One  point  of  comparison,  the  communicants, 
will  suffice. 

Evangelical  Communicants   and  the  Population   in  New  England. 


1850. 

i860. 

1870. 

1880. 

Maine 

72,294 
49,632 

44.329 

124,899 

18,220 

75.710 

81,275 
50,958 
46,334 
153,572 
22,732 
96,817 

80,178 
50,371 
49.504 

175,326 
26,426 

107,169 

86,894 

53,518 

55,988 

213,288 

New  Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Rhode  Island 

Connecticut 

33,542 

123,934 

Total  communicants 

385.084 

451,683            488,974 

567,164 

Total  Population 

2,728,116 

3.135.283         3.487.924 

4.010,436 

*  And  some  of  the  figures  are  really  for  1885. 


PROPORTION  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 
Inhabitants  to  One  Communicant. 


749 


1850. 

i860. 

1S70. 

1880. 

Maine 

8.07 
6.41 
7.08 
7.96 

8.CK; 

4.89 

7-73 
6.39 
6.80 
8.01 
7.68 
4.75 

7.82 
6.31 
6.67 
8.31 
8.22 
5.01 

7.48 

New  Hampshire 

6.46 

Vermont , 

Massachusetts 

5-94 

8.35 

Rhode  Island 

8.21 

Connecticut 

5.02 

Total  avera<''e 

7.06 

6.94 

7.18 

7.02 

,?!jt  appears  that  the  communicants  in  the  evanj^elical  churches  in 
New  England  kept  pace  with  the  population  from  1850  to  1880, 
notwithstanding  the  large  foreign  accessions.  The  foreign-born 
in  1880  amounted  to  20  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population,  and  in 
Massachusetts  to  25  per  cent.  In  1880  the  foreign-born  in  Con- 
necticut were  20  per  cent.,  and  in  Rhode  Island  26  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  population.  In  1885  it  had  risen  to  27  per  cent,  in  Massachu- 
setts. Few  States  now  have  a  larger /r^?  rata  foreign  element  than 
Massachusetts,  and  this  is  chiefly  Irish  and  French  Roman  Catholics. 

People  in  other  sections  can  hardly  realize  the  difficulty  of  the 
task  in  New  England.  In  1880  only  one  State  exceeded  Massachu- 
setts, relatively,  in  its  foreign-born  population.  Wisconsin  had  31 
per  cent.  New  York  and  Michigan  ranked  a  little  lower  than  Mas- 
sachusetts, having  24  per  cent.  Then  follow  Illinois,  19  per  cent.; 
Iowa,  16  percent.;  Pennsylvania,  13  per  cent.;  Ohio,  12  per  cent. 
Going  South,  Louisiana  has  5.7  per  cent.,  Kentucky  3.3  per  cent., 
Tennessee  i  per  cent.,  and  Georgia  seven  tenths  of  one  per  cent. 
How  different  the  task  in  these  States  ! 

Further  on  we  will  notice  that  in  i8$o  the  Roman  Catholics 
estimated  their  population  in  New  England  *  at  only  100,000,  but 
now  it  was  reckoned  at  over  1,100,000— an  elevenfold  Roman 
Catholic  increase,  while  the  whole  population  had  gained  only  47 
per  cent.  Under  such  circumstances  the  progress  of  the  evangel- 
ical churches  is  remarkable.  How  many  evangelical  churches  have 
been  founded  in  the  West  by  people  who  have  gone  forth  from  this 
section  !  And  what  generous  contributions  of  money  have  been  made 
by  those  who  remain  in  New  England  to  aid  the  evangelizing  work 
in  the  West ! 

3— In  the  Whole  Country. 

It  would  be  gratifying  to  examine  into  the  relative  growth  of 
these  churches  in  other  sections  of  the  country;  but  many  churches 

♦  See  table  in  the  latter  part  of  this  chapter. 


780 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


in  other  sections  have  never  published  their  statistics  in  such  a  form 
as  to  make  it  possible  to  produce  a  thorough  tabulation  and  com- 
parison with  the  population  in  limited  areas.  We,  therefore,  next 
take  the  country  as  a  whole. 

The  relative  growth  will  be  exhibited  by  the  following  table : 


POPULATION. 


1800 5.305.925 

1850 23,191,876 

1870 38,558.371 

1880 50,152,866 

1886 *58,420,cx)0 


Churches. 


3.030 

43.072 

70,148 

97,090 

"2,744 


Ministers. 


2.651 

25.655 
47,609 
69,870 
83.845 


Communicant.s. 


364,872 

3.529.988 

6,673,396 

10,065,963 

12,132,651 


1800 one  church  in  1,751  inhabitants.  I  1880 one  church  in  516  inhabitants. 

1850 one  church  in      538  inhabitants.  1  1886 one  church  in  518  innabitants. 

1870 one  church  in      549  inhabitants.  | 

1800 one  minister  in  2,ooi  inhabitants.  I  r83o one  minister  in  718  inhabitants. 

1850 one  minister  in      900  inhabitants.  1  1886 one  minister  in  692  inhabitants. 

1870 one  minister  in      809  inhabitants,  j 


1800.  .one  communicant  in  14.50  inhabitants. 
1850  .one  communicant  in  6.57  inhabitants. 
1870.  .one  communicant  in  5.78  inhabitants. 


1880.  .one  communicant  in  5.      inhabitants. 
1886.  .one  communicant  in  4.8    inhabitants. 


From  1800  to  1880  the  population  increased  9.46  fold,  the  com- 
municants 27.52  fold. 

From  1800  to  1886  the  population  increased  ii.oi  fold,  the  com- 
municants 33.3  fold. 

From  1850  to  1880  the  population  increased  116  per  cent.,  the 
communicants  184  per  cent. 

From  1850  to  1886  the  population  increased  152  percent.,  the 
communicants  243  per  cent. 

While  in  the  cities  and  in  New  England,  the  localities  in  which 
the  foreign  elements  of  our  population  have  so  largely  concentrated, 
the  struggle  has  been  severe,  in  the  nation  as  a  whole,  evangelical 
Protestantism  has  wonderfully  outrun  the  population. 


Section  5.— Tlie  Interdenominational  Test. 

Three  classes  of  churches,  popularly  distinguished  as  the  "  evan- 
gelical," the  "  liberal  "  and  the  Roman  Catholic,  may  be  said  to  be, 
in  a  qualified  sense,  competing  bodies,  because  repre.senting  either 
radically  different  polities  or  divergent  theologies. 


•Estimated  by  Government  Actuary  Elliot,  for  June  30,  1886. 


INTERDENOMINA  TIONAL   COMPARISON. 


731 


i.—The  "Evangelical"  and  the  "Liberal"  Churches 

are  at  such  great  disparity  in  numbers  that  we  have  hesitated  to 
make  a  comparison  lest  it  should  seem  invidious.  The  briefest 
exhibit  is  therefore  given  of  the  Unitarian  and  the  Universalist 
bodies,  the  most  important*  of  their  class,  which  are  best  com- 
pared by  their  churches  or  "  parishes." 


1850. 

Universalist  f 1,069 

Unitarian  % 246 


1886. 
954 
335 


Increase  or  Decrease. 
Decrease,  115 
Increase,  89 


Total 1,315 

Evangelical 43.072 


1.289 
112,744 


Decrease,  26 

Increase,   69,872 


2.— The  Evangelical  Protestant  and   the  Roman  Catholic 
Bodies  Compared. 

..  (i.)  /«  the  Cities. — The  large  foreign  increment  in  the  population 
of  the  cities,  coming  chiefly  from  Roman  Catholic  countries,  has 
afforded  Romanism  a  rare  opportunity  for  growth  in  the  leading 
centers.  Its  churches,  priests,  monks,  nuns,  hospitals,  asylums  and 
parochial  schools  have  increased  in  the  cities  far  more  than  in  the 
rural  towns.  It  has  substantial  and  imposing  church  edifices  and 
cathedrals,  and  is  subsidizing  the  press  in  its  interest.  Only  two 
points  of  definite  comparison,  however,  can  be  used  with  the  Prot- 
estant bodies  in  the  cities — the  churches  and  the  clergy.  These, 
while  confessedly  unsatisfactory,  may  serve  some  purpose. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  Six  §  Protestant  Bodies  in  the  Fifty 

Principal  Cities. 


1850. 
i860. 
1870. 
1880. 
1 886. 


Churches. 

Clergv.I 

Roman 
Catholic. 

Six  Protestant 
Churches. 

Roman 
Catholic. 

Six  Protestant 
Churches. 

170 
312 

495 
676 

831 

657 

870 

1,114 

1.450 

I.714 

336 

565 

I.03I 

1,562 

1,892 

899 

1.399 
1,824 

2,195 
2,616 

From  the  preceding  table  it  is  evident  that  the  increase  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  churches  and  clergy,  considered  relatively,  is  much 
greater  than  those  of  the  six  Protestant  bodies.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  account  for  it,  by  the  transference  of  her  people  in   large 

*  Besides  these  there  were  probably  not  more  than  100  churches  of  all  others  of  this  class  in 
1850,  and  scarcely  200  in  1886.  +  See  cilso  Chapter  III,  Section  5,  in  this  period. 

X  See  also  Chapter  III,  Section  6,  in  this  period.  §  As  explained  on  page  747. 

I  Full  tables  of  the  Rom2in  Catholic  clergy  and  churches  will  be  found  on  pp.  622-623. 


732 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


aggregates  from  Europe  to  America.  The  actual  increase  from 
1850  to  1886,  in  the  number  of  the  Roman  Catholic  churches,  was 
561  to  1,057  increase  in  the  six  Protestant  bodies,  and  the  Romaqy; 
Cathoh'c  clergy  increased  1,556  to  1,717  increase  in  the  six  Protest-  ' 
ant  denominations,  leaving  out  of  the  account  more  than  sixty  other 
Protestant  bodies.  Furthermore,  it  has  been  before  noticed  that  in 
these  cities,  in  1870,  Romanism  had  one  church  in  1 1,489  of  the  total 
inhabitants,  and,  in  1880,  one  in  11,530 — a  slight  relative  decrease. 
It  should  also  be  stated  that  from  1850  to  1880  the  foreign-born  in 
these  cities  increased  three  and  a  half-fold  ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
churches  less  than  fourfold,  and  the  priests  about  four  and  a  half 
fold — not  much  more  than  the  foreign-born  increment,  not  to 
reckon  those  of  the  second  degree  foreign.  While  the  Roman 
Catholics  had  in  1880  one  church  in  11,530  of  the  total  inhabitants 
the  six  Protestant  bodies  had  one  in  5,375  of  the  total  inhabitant?, 
leaving  over  sixty  Protestant  bodies  unreckoned.  There  are,  however, 
some  large  sections  of  some  great  cities  with  no  Protestant  churches, 
or  almost  none,  owing  to  the  removal  of  the  Protestant  chuich-going 
population  to  new  sections.  There  are  also  other  serious  consider- 
ations entering  into  the  case,  which  will  readily  suggest  themselves 
to  all  minds,  and  must  now  be  left  out  of  our  crowded  space. 

(2)  In  New  England  we  have  a  striking  example  of  Protestant 
territory  invaded  by  Romanism,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following 
statistical  exhibit  : 


DIOCESES. 

a. 

0 

0^ 

3 

.e 
U 

•a 
0 

"5 
•=J2 

V 

± 

V 

'i 

V 

0 

< 

.c  0 

F 

a 

■iii 

c 

X    3 

'Z  ^ 

a  = 

J:  3 

Boston 

I 
1 

2 

60 

63 
12 

3 

80,000* 
20.000* 

Hanford 

... 

7 

. . . . 

— 

Total 

71 

75 

7 

T 

T 

;: 

100,000 

.  .. 

1 386. 


Boston 

Burlington. . 
Ilarlford. . . 
Manchester. 
I'ortland. . . 
Providence. 
Springfield. , 

Total  . . 


tl 

i         1         i         1 
312;   157I     17,     75    2 

5 

37 

45 

72 1     i3,   I 

4 

16 

15b 

133     60 

30.. 

10 

64 

47 

43      29 

14'.. 

5 

20 

57 

52        8 

....1  I 

4 

14 

104 

55      16 

38;.. 

II 

17 

I 

141 

90!     14 

50,   I 

I 

21 

6 

862 

602J  144 

225J  5 

40 

189 

2o,o66 
3.658 

13.384 
4.600 
3.671 
9.000 
7.330 


171 
I 

7| 
5| 

^1 

3 


400.000I 
35.ooo§ 
i75,ooo§ 
i50.ooo§ 
90.000^ 
156,000^ 
155,000^ 


61,709,  41 


1,161.000 


'fF..ri84S.         +  Archbishop.         J  1886.         §1884. 


DIAGRAM  VI 


'i 


BVANGELIOAL  PROTESTANTISM,  ROMANISM,  AND 

THE  POPULATION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND, 

1860  AND  1880. 


Total  Population,  2,728,116. 


Evangelical  Church 
Popiilatlon, 
1,347,794.* 


Unclassified. 


R.C. 


lOO.OOO 


1850. 


Total  Population,  4,010,436. 


Evang'elical  Church 
Population, 
1, 985,074.* 


Roman 

Catholic 

Popvilatlon, 

1,161,000. 


Unclassified. 


1880. 


*  These  numbers  are  obtained  by  multiplying  the  enrolled  communicants  by  three  and  a  half, 
t  Comprising  their  whole  families. 


DIAGRAM   VII 


ILLUSTRATTNQ  THE  RELATIVE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  EVAN- 
GELICAL AND  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  POPULATIONS  AND 
THE  WHOLE  POPULATION  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


1800. 


TOTAL  POR,   5,306,483. 


CLASSIFIED  POPULATIONS. 

Roman 

CatboUc.  Evangelical. 

1800 100,000  1,277,052 

1850 1,614,000  12.354,968 

1870 4,600,000  23,356,886 

1880 6,367,330  35,230,870 

1886 7,200,000  42,646,279 


1850. 


TOTAL  POP.,  58.4-20,000. 


REMARKABLE  GROWTH  OF  ROMANISM.  733 

A  glance  at  the  above" table  will  be  sufficient  to  convey  to  any 
mind  the  remarkable  growth  of  Romanism  in  New  England,  where 
in  1800  there  was  only  one  Roman  Catholic  church,  except  a  few 
small  ones  among  the  Indians  in  remote  parts  of  Maine.  The 
great  changes  in  the  population  already  alluded  to — 600,000  New 
England-born  persons  removed  and  living  in  other  parts  of  the 
United  States,  in  1880,  and  about  800,000  immigrants  occupying 
their  places,  with  nearly  as  many  more  who  are  foreign  in  the  second 
degree — easily  account  for  the  situation.  With  all  this  disadvan- 
tage Protestantism,  as  has  been  seen  on  a  previous  page,  has  held 
its  own  with  the  population  and  also  largely  aided  in  evangelizing 
other  sections  of  the  country. 

(3.)  In  the  West  the  page  is  reversed,  and  we  have  a  striking 
example  of  the  territory  of  Romanism  invaded  by  Protestantism. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  it  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  age  that 
the  United  States  is  not  a  Roman  Catholic  country.  In  the 
opening  chapters,  we* noticed  how,  at  the  beginning,  Romanism 
possessed  all  British  America,  Central  America,  Mexico,  New  Mex- 
ico, California,  Texas,  and  the  Gulf  line  to  Florida,  the  Mississippi 
valley  and  the  vast  area  beyond.  The  only  religious  occupancy 
of  those  great  regions  was  Roman  Catholic,  and  that  Church  held 
the  right  of  way  from  the  Blue  Ridge  to  the  Pacific.  Maryland, 
also,  at  the  first  was  a  Roman  Catholic  colony,  dividing  the  Protest- 
ant colonies  in  the  North  from  those  in  the.  South.  This  French 
and  Spanish  cordon  at  one  time  bid  fair,  with  the  aid  of  the  aborig- 
ines who  had  been  attached  to  the  papal  standard,  to  destroy  the 
Protestant  colonies.  Until  near  the  close  of  the  last  century 
scarcely  a  Protestant  existed  within  those  extensive  domains. 

What  is  the  situation  to-day?  Instead  of  Roman  Catholic  pre- 
ponderance in  this  great  region,  there  are  single  Protestant  denom- 
inations that  outrank  it.  Each  of  the  two  leading  Methodist 
Episcopal  bodies  separately,  and  the  two  leading  Presbyterian 
churches  jointly,  exceed  it.  In  the  afore-described  field  these  bodies 
exist  as  follows : 

Churches.  Clergy. 

Roman  Catholic 4.477  3.285 

Methodist  Episcopal  and  Methodist  Episcopal,  South 13.996  14,668 

Presbyterian  General  Assemblies,  North  and  South 5.103  3.48o 

But  there  are  points  in  the  West  where  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  presents  great  strength  and  exerts  immense  power. 

(4.)  In  the  Whole  Country. — The  phenomenal  growth  of  Roman- 
ism in  this  country  causes  periodical  alarm  in  some  minds.  The 
48 


784 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


remarkable  elevenfold  reduplication  of  the  total  population  in 
eighty-six  years  excites  our  wonder,  but  Romanism  has  far 
exceeded  that — rising  as  high  as  seventy-twofold.  In  1850  it 
stood  about  one  fourteenth  of  the  population,  and  in  1870  about 
one  eighth.  Those,  however,  who  pause  at  this  point,  or  who  make 
their  calculations  cover  the  whole  period  of  eighty-six  years  without 
inspecting  the  intervening  periods,  are  misled. 

In  the  following  table  three  leading  points  of  comparison  are 
placed  side  by  side.  But  inasmuch  as  the  Roman  Catholic  "popu- 
lation," as  given  in  their  year  books,  comprises  their  entire  adher- 
ents, the  adherents  of  the  evangelical  churches  are  put  in  the  same 
form,  multiplying  the  communicants  by  three  and  a  half.* 


YEAR. 


1800 
IS50. 
IS70. 

i38o. 

1886. 


YEAR. 


1800. 
1850. 
1870. 
1880. 
1886. 


Churches. 


Roman 
Catholic. 


1.245 
3.912 
5,856 
6,910 


Evangel- 
icaL 


3.030 

43.072 

70,148 

97.090 

112.744 


Inhabitants  to 
ONB  Church. 


Roman 
Catholic. 


18,627 
9.856 
8,564 
8,454 


Evangel- 
ical. 


1.751 
538 
549 
516 
518 


Clergy. 


Roman 
Catholic 
PricNts. 


50 
1,302 
3-966 
6,402 

7.653 


Evangel- 
ical 
Ministers. 


2,651 

25.655 
47,609 
69,870 
83.845 


Inhabitants  to 
ONE  Clergyman. 


Roman 
Catholic 
Priests. 


106,118 

17.812 

9,722 

7.834 

7,627 


Evaneel- 

ical 
Ministers. 


2,001 
900 
809 
718 
692 


Church  Popui^tion. 


Roman 
Catholic. 


100,000 
1,614,000 
4,600,000 
6,367.330 
7,200,000 


Evangelical. 


1,277,052 
12,354,958 
23,356,886 
35,230,870 
42.646,279 


Percentage  of  the  Whole 
Population. 


Roman 
Catholic. 


1.8  per  cent. 

6.9  per  cent. 
1 1. 9  per  cent. 
12.6  per  cent. 
12.3  per  cent. 


Evangelical. 


24  per  cent. 
53.2  per  cent. 
60.5  per  cent. 
70.5  per  cent. 
73  per  cent. 


In  the  foregoing  exhibits  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  both  actually  and  relatively,  is  seen  to  be  very  large  from 
1800  to  1870.  From  1850  to  1870,  the  period  of  the  large  Irish 
emigration,  were  the  years  of  its  greatest  growth,  since  which  time 
it  has  received  le.«s  re-enforcement  by  emigration,  the  Scandinavian 
countries  having  contributed  a  larger  quota  than  formerly.  The 
year  1870  marks  the  point  from  which  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  this  country  has  made  relatively  smaller  numerical  progress.  The 
leaders  seem  to  be  aware  of  this,  and,  are  therefore,  more  energet- 
ically pushing  their  schools,  hospitals,  asyjums,  and  various  religious 
orders,  that  they  may  hold  their  people  more  closely  in  the  midst  of 


♦  Rev.  R.  Baird,  D.D.,  multiplied  by  four. 


DIAGRAM   VIM 


RBLATIVB    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    AND    PROTESTANT 
INCREASE  IN  THE  WHOLE  UNITED  STATES. 


Increase  of 
Churches. 


Increase  of 
Clergymen. 


Evangelical 
Protestant. 


Roman 
Catholic. 


o 

T 

to 

00 
00 


S     o 

00         00 


La 


Evangelical 
Protestant. 


■o 


DIAGRAM    IX. 


RELATIVE  GROWTH  AND  STATUS  OF  EVANGELICAL 

PROTESTANTISM  AND  ROMANISM  COMPARED 

WITH  THE  POPULATION  OF  THE  U.  S. 


Total  Population. 


Evangrellcal  Prot.  Population. 


Roman  Catholic  Population. 


66  per  cent. 

89  per  cent. 

187  per  cent. 


Total  Population. 


Evangrel.  Prot.  Pop'n. 


Rom.  Cath.  Pop'n. 


52  per  cent. 
79  per  cent. 
56  per  cent. 


Total  Popula'n. 


Evan.  Prot.  Pop'n. 


R.  C.  Pop'n. 


Total  Population. 


Evan.  Prot.  Pop'n. 


R.  C.  Pop'n. 


Total  Population. 


Evan.  Prot.  Population. 


R.  C.  Pop'n. 


23,191,876. 

12,354,958.* 

1,614,000. 

38,558,371. 

23,356,886.* 

4,600,000. 


58,420.000. 


42,646,279.* 
7,200,000. 


^1 


•  These  numbers  are  obtained  by  multiplying  the  enrolled  communicants  by  three  and  a  half. 


A    STEADY  ADVANCE.  7S3 

the 'powerful  abrasions  from  which  they  are  suffering  under  the 
influence  of  the  Protestant  civilization.  The  evangelical  churches 
have  advanced  more  relatively  since  1870  than  before.  Comparing, 
we  have  the  following  striking  figures  : 

Increase  of  Churches. 

1850-1870,  Roman  Catholic Ii944 

1870-1886,  Roman  Catholic 1,054 

890  less  than  in  the  previous  period. 

1850-1870,  Evangelical  Protestant 27,076 

1870-1886,  Evangelical  Protestant 41,596 

14,520  more  than  in  the  previous  period. 

Increase  of  Clergy. 

1850-1870,  Roman  Catholic 2,436 

1870-1886,  Roman  Catholic 1,256 

1,180  less  than  in  the  previous  period. 

1850-1870,  Evangelical  Protestant 21,954 

1870-1886,  Evangelical  Protestant 36,236 

14,282  more  than  in  the  previous  period. 

Increase  of  the  Church  Population. 

1 850-1 870,  Roman  Catholic 2,986,000 

1 870-1 886,  Roman  Catholic 2,600,000 

386,000  less  than  in  the  previous  period. 

1850-1870,   Evangelical  Protestant 11,001,928 

1870-1886,  Evangelical  Protestant 19,289,393 

8,287,465  more  than  in  the  previous  period. 

Per  Cent,  of  the  Whole  Population. 

In  1870,  Roman  Catholics 119  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  1880,  Roman  Catholics 12.6  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  1886.  Roman  Catholics 12.3  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  1886,  .4  of  I  per  cent,  more  than  in  1870,  and  .3  of  i  per  cent,  less  than  in  1880. 

In  1870,  Evangelical  Protestants 60.5  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  1S50,  Evangelical  Protestants 70-5  per  cent  of  the  population. 

In  1S86,  Evangelical  Protestants 73      per  cent,  of  the  population. 

In  1886,  12.5  per  cent,  more  than  in  1870,  and  2.5  per  cent,  more  than  in  1880. 

We  have  put  in  as  compact  and  succinct  a  form  as  possible  these 
oreat  facts  of  religious  progress,  withholding  extended  amplification. 
Who  can  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  exhibits?  Some  persons  will 
doubtless  reiterate  heavy  allegations  against  Christianity,  and  flip- 
pantly ignore  the  statistics  of  its  progress  as  "only  mathematics," 
"  liable  to  be  very  deceptive,"  and  "  having  no  relation  to  religious 
matters."  But  we  are  accustomed  to  apply  figures  to  all  departments 
of  science,  to  political,  moral  and  social  life.  Moral  tendencies  are 
often  summarized  in  statistical  tables,  then  analyzed,  and  conclusions 
deduced.  The  numerical  exhibits  of  religious  denominations,  care- 
fully combined  and  analyzed,  represent  the  existence  and  operation 
of  spiritual  forces,  but  each  in  its  own  sphere. 


786  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 


REVIEW  AND  OUTLOOK-PENDING   PROBLEMS. 


The  Problem  of  the  Population.  The  New  Functions  of  Public  Opinion. 

The  Spirit  of  Free  Inquiry.  The  Civil  Problem. 

Modem  Revolutionizing  Tendencies.  The  Problem  of  Protestantism. 

FROM  lofty  hill-battlement  or  city  towers,  ancient  watchmen 
scanned  outlying  field.s  and  reported  indications  of  safety  or 
alarm.  From  elevated  hill-tops  and  observatories,  generals  watch  the 
progress  of  great  battles  and  direct  the  movements  of  the  contending 
forces.  History  is  the  philosopher's  tower  of  observation,  from  whose 
serene  summit  epochs  are  marked,  crises  discovered,  tidal  move- 
ments traced,  beacon-lights  discerned,  and  national  destinies  prog- 
nosticated. 

Many  have  been  the  inquiries,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  to  the 
prospects  of  American  Christianity  and  the  American  Republic. 
The  attention  of  European  divines  and  statesmen  has  been  thought- 
fully directed  toward  the  United  States,  closely  studying  the  in- 
stitutions and  scrutinizing  their  progress.  Regarding  them  as 
experimental,  and  apprehensive  that  their  own  are  seriously  defect- 
ive, they  watch  with  deepest  interest  the  practical  working  of  our 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  polities.  Favored  with  unequal  natural  ad- 
vantages, embodying  the  highest  moral  and  religious  principles  in 
its  life,  and  bearing  the  impress  of  lofty  providential  purposes,  the 
nation  has  become  "a  spectacle  to  angels  and  to  men." 

From  the  extended  survey  which  this  volume  has  taken,  we  now 
analyze  a  few  points  in  the  politico-religious  situation  and  tenden- 
cies, and  make  inquiry  as  to  the  prospects.  The  thoughtful  student 
of  the  field  has  discerned 

Many  Problems,  Civil,  Social,  Economic.  Moral  and 
Religious,  involved  in  our  Hational  Life. 

upon  the  favorable  solution  of  which  our  hopes  depend.  The 
Negro  Problem,  the  Indian  Problem,  the  Mormon  Problem,  the 
Chinese  Problem,  the  Capital  and  Labor  Problem,  the  Poverty  Prob- 


PROBLEMS  IN  OUR  NATIONAL  LIFE.  IZl 

lem,  the  Drink  ProbleM;  the  Illiteracy  Problem,  etc.,  etc.,  all  en- 
gage much  attention,  and  each,  in  the  estimation  of  specialists,  is  of 
great  importance.  Most  of  them  have  been  already  treated,  in  a 
historical  way,  in  the  preceding  pages,  others  are  of  secondary  rele- 
vancy in  this  volume,  and  the  lines  of  discussion  in  others  are  yet 
immature.  At  this  stage  in  the  volume,  the  author,  after  a  severe 
and  unexpected  compression  in  the  last  two  hundred  and  fifty  pages, 
finds  himself  compelled  to  narrow  the  range  of  these  final  inquiries, 
and  selects  six  problems,  which,  in  respect  to  wide  scope  and  vital 
importance  to  the  life  of  the  churches  and  the  nation,  seem  to  him 
most  fitting. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF   THE  POPULATION 

is  one  of  the  most  familiar.  From  the  beginning,  we  have  been  a  _| 
niixed_jiatjon_^^lien^  2?op^^s,  of  diverse  educations,  customs  and 
motives,  of  many  bloods  and  conflicting  theories.  The  God-fearing 
founders  of  New  England  and  the  no  less  intensely  Protestant  set- 
tlers of  New  York  brought  the  best  brain,  muscle  and  education  of 
Britain  and  Holland.  William  Penn  and  the  Quakers  came  teaching 
lessons  of  peace  and  good  will.  The  Huguenots,  a  people  of  pure, 
ur(quenchable  faith  and  lofty  ideals  and  purposes,  came  to  decorate 
,.^r  homes  and  churches,  and  a  goodly  number  have  adorned  Amer- 
V  ican  statesmanship  and  jurisprudence.  The  cavaliers  of  Old  England 
brought  to  the  Middle  and  Southern  colonies  sentiments  of  family 
pride,  aristocratic  privilege  and  lordly  prerogative.  Florida  and 
the  South-west  received  their  early  impress  from  the  gay  and  chiv- 
alrous emigrants  of  Andalusia  and  the  Pyrenees.  French  civilization 
skirted  our  northern  border  and  penetrated  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Many  from  the  abject  and  criminal  classes  of  the  Old  World  came 
bound  by  humiliating  terms  of  indentured  servitude,  and  Africa 
yielded  up  multitudes  of  her  dusky  children  to  a  bondage  most 
heartless  and  rigorous. 

Such  were  the  strangely  varied  forces  converging  in  our  colonial 
life.  Could^  such  diverse  peoples  blend  into  national  unity  ?  In 
working  out  this  answer,  our  fathers  were  iriufhined  and  cheered  by 
the  lessons  of  history  speaking  of  brave  deeds  done  by  aliens  to  the 
nations  in  whose  pages  their  heroism  is  recorded. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  facts  in  our  nation's  life  is  the  remarka- 
ble increase  of  its  inhabitants.  We  have  no  record  of  any  country, 
in  ancient  or  modern  times,  which  has  had  such  a  growth.  Let  us 
notice  our  growth,  in  comparison  with  some  modern  European 
countries    prior  to  1850. 


738  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Spain,  in   in  years  (1723- 1834),  increased  in  population  ^5  of 
one  per  cent,  per  annum. 

France,  in  89  years  (1762-185 1),  increased  -/^^j  of  one  per  cent. 
per  annum.  'r^ 

Austria,  in  59  years  (1792-185 1),  increased  jY^  of  one  per  cetit. 
per  annum. 

Great  Britain,  in  50  years  (1801-1851),  increased  one  and  -^^^  per 
cent,  per  annum. 

Russia,  in  67  years  (1783- 1850),  increased  one  and  -^^jj  per  cent, 
per  annum. 

Turkey  (European),  in  43  years  (1801-1843),  increased  one  and 
iVff  P^^  cent,  per  annum. 

Prussia,  in  63  years  (i 786-1 849),  increased  two  and  -^^^^  per  cent, 
per  annum. 

The  United  States,  in  60  years  (1790-1850),  increased  eight  and 
fVff  P^**  cent,  per  annum. 

The  relative  annual  increase  of  the  United  States  was  nearly 
three  times  that  of  Prussia,  notwithstanding  the  large  addition  to 
her  population  by  the  partition  of  Poland  ;  more  than  four  times 
that  of  Russia ;  five  and  a  half  times  that  of  Great  Britain  ;  nearly 
nine  times  that  of  Austria ;  more  than  eleven  times  that  of  P" ranee  ; 
and  more  than  twelve  times  that  of  Spain.  If  these  calculations 
were  brought  down  to  the  present  time,  with  proper  allowances  for 
the  territorial  changes  that  have  taken  place  among  European 
nations,  particularly  France,  Germany  and  Austria,  during  the  last 
twenty  years,  the  results  would  doubtless  be  still  more  favorable  to 
the  United  States;  for  our  largest  accessions  from  European  emi- 
gration have  come  since  1850. 

As  early  as  the  year  1827,  a  gentleman  from  Ohio  visiting  New 
England  said,  "There  is  not  a  native-born  citizen  in  our  State  that 
is  as  old  as  I  am  (forty-five  years),  and  yet  our  population  exceeds 
800,000;  and,  more  than  all,  at  the  present  time  Ohio  is  the  greatest 
emigrating  State  in  the  Union."*  In  1790  the  population  beyond 
the  AUeghanies  amounted  by  actual  enumeration  to  not  far  from 
100.000;  in  1830  it  was  nearly  400,000;  and  in  1870,  21,000,000;  in 
1880  it  was  nearly  27,000,000.  In  1790  the  center  of  the  population 
of  the  United  States  was  at  York,  Pennsylvania,  92  miles  from 
Philadelphia,  and  48  miles  from  Baltimore;  in  1840  it  had  crossed 
the  AUeghanies;  in  1850  it  moved  beyond  the  "  Pan-handle "  of 
Virginia;  in  i860  it  reached  the  Scioto  River,  and  in  1870  it  had 
reached  the  vicinity  of  Cincinnati ;   in  1880  it  had  dropped  a  little 

♦  American  Quar/eriy  Register,  1827  and  182S,  p.  13. 


INCREASE  OF  POPULATION.  739 

jkjj^-^ — 

to  the  southward — to  a  point  eight  miles  west  by  south  from  Cincin- 
nati and  about  a  mile  from  the  south  bank  of  the  Ohio  River,  in  Ken- 
tucky— a  total  increase  of  more  than  46,ooo,ckx)  of  people  in  90  years. 
Such  a  vast  increase  of  population  creates  extraordinary  moral 
and  religious  demands.  Christianity  is  called  upon  to  supply  these 
multiplyfbg  millions  with  religious  facilities,  watchcare  and  instruc- 
tion ;  and  if  it  would  be  faithful  to  its  professions  and  promises,  and 
achieve  its  long-predicted  triumphs,  it  must  not  only  keep  pace 
with  the  growth  of  the  population,  but  gain  upon  it.  Only  a  system 
of  unusual  vitality  and  indefinite  expansiveness  can  accomplish  such 
results. 

HETEROGENEOUS   MASSES. 

Another  element  enters  into  the  problem,  enhancing  its  difficul- 
ties. If  this  extraordinary  increase  of  the  population  were  only 
natural  and  homogeneous,  the  work  of  religiously  instructing  and 
molding  it  would  be  much  easier.  But  the  major  portion  is  ex- 
otic and  heterogeneous — large  composite  foreign  masses — bringing 
among  us  prejudices  against  the  religion,  the  religious  institutions, 
and  the  customs  of  their  adopted  country. 
,?  According  to  Mr.  O'Kane  Murray,  *  of  the  total  population  o( 
,.>thirty-eight  and  a  half  millions  in  1870,  twenty-four  and  a  half  mill- 
■" '  ions  were  the  products  of  immigration  and  the  acquisition  of  new 
territory — the  Roman  Catholic  territories  South  and  West. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  features  of  our  national  life  is  the 
large  commingling  of  diverse  nationalities,  and  one  of  the  pending 
problems  is  whether  we  can  realize  the  grand  ideal  of  our  national 
motto,  e  pluribus  tinum,  not  merely  civilly,  but  also  morally  and 
religiously.  Upon  an  Anglo-Saxon  foundation,  the  very  best,  we 
fancy,  on  which  to  build  up  a  vigorous,  independent,  liberty-loving 
people,  we  are  adding  large  composite  layers  from  Ireland,  Scotland, 
Germany,  France,  Holland,  Italy,  Scandinavia,  Africa.  Asia,  and  our 
own  aboriginal  inhabitants.  Will  the  cement  be  strong  enough  to 
compact  and  hold  them  in  working  unity?  Confessedly,  this  is  a 
severe  test  of  the  civil,  educational  and  working  forces  of  the  nation. 

In  the  last  three  decades,  the  foreign-born  population  has  trebled, 
while  the  native-born  has  increased  only  twofold,  f     The   statistics 

*  See  pp.  619-621. 

t  The  United  Sutes  Census  furnishes  the  following;  statistics  : 

FOREIGN-BORN.  NaTIVE-BORN. 

,850 2.2Jo,839  20981,037 

i860 ..!!. 4.136.17s  27.307,146 

1870 5.567.220     32,991.151 

1880 6,679,943     43.472.923 


760 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


of  emigration  are  very  impressive,  but  do  not  tell  the  whole  story 
of  the  foreign  increment.  The  offspring*  of  the  foreign-born,  of 
the  first  generation  at  least,  should  be  added,  and  the  accessions  by 
the  addition  of  Louisiana,  Florida.  Texas,  New  Mexico  and  Cali- 
fornia, almost  all  of  whose  inhabitants  were  Roman  Catholics.  The 
following  table  will  show  the 


I.MMIGRATION.t 


PERIODS. 


5  year  periods. 


lo  year  periods 


20  year  periods 


Divided    at   the 
year  1845. 


1790-1799. 

180O-1809.. 

1810-1819.. 

1820-1824. • 
1825-1829. . 
1830-1834.. 
1835-1839.. 

1840-1844. . 
1845-1849. . 

1850-1854. . 

1855-1859- • 
1860-1864. . 
i865-i869§. 
1870-1874. . 
1875-1879.. 
1880-1884. • 

1884-1887. . 


Inclusive. 


10  years. 
$50,000 
10  years. 
J  70 ,000 
10  years. 
J  114,000 

35.691 
100,295 
230,442 
307-739 

400.031 
1,027,306 

1.917.527 
881,796 
696,687 

1-347.589 
1,886,501 

855.634 
3.037,594 

1,218,913 


50,000 

70,000 

114,000 
5  years. 
35.691 

330,737 

707,770 

2,944.833 
1,578,483 
3,234,090 
3,893,228 
1.218,913 


10  years. 
50,000 


184,000 
5  years 
35.691 


1.038,507 


4.523.296 


7.127,318 

3  years. 
1,218,913 


55  years. 
1.307,507 


43  years. 
12,870,243 


1790-1 


14,177.747 


14,177.747 


14.177.747 


14,177,747 


An  inspection  of  the  foregoing  table  shows  that  the  immigra- 
tion came  in  larger  waves  after  the  year  1845,  following  the  "potato 
famine  "  in  Ireland  and  the  failure  of  several  attempted  revolutions 
in  Europe,  from  1848-1852.  From  1845  to  1854  inclusive,  2,944,833 
immigrants  came,  two  and  a  fourth  times  as  many  as  in  the  previous 
fifty-five  years.  During  the  financial  stringency  of  1857-8  and  the 
late  civil  war,  the  number  was  reduced  to  1,578,483;  yet  the  ten 
years,  1855  to  1864,  showed  an  excess  over  the  fifty-five  years  just 
mentioned.  From  1865  to  1874,  the  number  went  up  to  3,234,090, 
and  from  1875   to   1884,  to  3,893,228;  and  in   the  little  more  than 

*  Those  one  or  both  of  whose  parents  are  foreign-born  (including  those  actually  bom  in  for- 
eign lands)  number  about  fourteen  millions. 

t  Prior  to  1856  foreign  visitors  in  the  United  States  were  not  reckoned  out,  but  were  counted 
as  immigrants.     This,  however,  will  not  materially  change  the  figures. 

t  Estimated  by  government  officials. 

S  From  i8.^2  to  1866  the  year  ends  with  December  31  ;  but  since  1866  it  ends  June  30. 

I  Down  to  June  30,  1887. 


DIAGRAM    X 


ILLUSTRATING  THE  GROWTH  OF  IMMIGRATION  FROM 

1790  TO  1885. 

1790-1825.35  YEARS 

269.691    IMMIGRANTS. 


1845-  1855 


2,944,833 
IMMIGRANTS. 


1875-1885     4,061,278  IMMIGRANTS. 


1 
1 

DIAGRAM 

XI 

EUKO- 

RELATIVE  IMMIGRATION  PROM  POUR  LEADING 

PEAN  COUNTRIES. 

!               IR20-30. 

fj-i 

1 

1 

1               1830-40. 

\ 

■ 

■^            \ 

33                        \ 

I 

C3                              \ 

1 

1840-50. 

1 

55                  / 

1 

m                        / 

1 

r~                       1 

1 

>                      / 

\ 

1 

Z                       / 

I 

-n 

o                  / 

\ 

-n 

31 

o 

•                              / 

i  \ 

o 

2 

2 

z 

1850-60. 

/ 

m 

> 

\ 

o 

1 

/ 

■z 

CD          \ 

> 

/ 

< 

3J           \ 

z 

1 

j 

/ 

M 

o 

m 
O 
m 
Z 

1860-70. 

i 

/ 

j 

1 

1870-80. 

1 

/ 

1880-85. 

1 

1 

NATIONALITY  OF  IMMIGRANTS. 


761 


forty-three  years,  from  June  30,  1845  to  1887,  12,870,243  immigrants 
entered  the  United  States,  or  almost  ten  times  as  many  as  in  the 
55  years  from  1790  to  1844  inclusive. 

Had  the  population  remained  homogeneous,  or  as  much  so  as 
from  1790  to  1845,  the  moral  and  religious  task  would  have  been 
much  easier.  The  total  population  in  1845  was  calculated  at 
19,896,574,  and  in  1887  at  about  60,000,000,  *  an  increase  in  40  years 
of  about  40,000,000,  during  which  time  the  foreign  contribution  has 
been  12,^70,243,  or  nearly  one  third  of  the  total  increase.  The  off- 
spring of  these  foreign-born  are  doubtless  nearly  as  many  more. 

We  are  interested  to  know  from  what  countries  these  people 
came,  and  how  the  average  yearly  immigration  from  given  countries 
compared  with  the  total  immigration  in  each  year,  and  also  in  the 
whole  period  of  65  years.  The  following  table  gives  the  average 
percentage  of  the  total  immigration  from  the  leading  countries  year 
by  year: 

Nationality  of  Immigrants. 


PERIODS. 


1821-1830 

1831-1840 

1841-1850 

1851-1860 

1861-1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 

Total  yearly  average — 1820-1885 


Ireland.      1    Germany. 


Per  cent. 
35-36 
34  61 
45-57 
35-18 
18.51 
17.71 
15-93 
17-95 
18.28 
15-62 
10.48 
10.56 
II. 17 

11-35 
14.28 

9-84 

9.68 

13-50 

13-73 

13.20 


Per  cent. 

4-71 

25.44 

25.36 

36.62 

33  32 
30-89 
35-54 
31-50 
21  82 
19.12 
19  89 
21.00 
20.85 

17-37 
22.57 
34-66 
31.76 
32.28 
38-95 
34-50 


18.63 


26.90 


British 
America. 


Great 
Britain. 


Per 
I 
2 
2 

2 

7 
II 

9 

6 

II 

12 

13 
16 

19 
21 

23 

13 
12 
II 

13 
10 


cent. 
■53 
•27 
-45 
.28 
.48 
-50 
.20 
.98 
•73 
•  24 
-47 
-95 
-64 
■25 
•54 
.22 
.81 
.88 
•13 
55 


Per  cent. 
17.48 
12. 65 
15-58 
16.31 
26.36 

23-77 
20.13 
19.76 
20.21 

18  93 
16.34 
16.67 

15-39 
20.26 
13.41 
13-10 

13-05 
12.63 
14.29 
14-65 


Norway 

and 
Sweden. 


Per  cent. 
.06 
.20 

.81 
.80 

4-77 
6.62 

5-71 

6.97 

4.18 

5  48 

7-13 

6.97 

7-43 

10  43 

11.75 

11.50 

11.87 

10.22 

9-43 
8.70 


17.04 


6.55 


Aggregate  80.32  percent.,  leaving  from  all  the  rest  of  the  world  19.68  per  cent. 

These  exotic  ma.sses  have  come  from  all  over  the  world  and 
could  hardly  have  been  more  heterogeneous.  British  America, 
Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  have  contributed  liberally  ;•  the 


*  Government  Actuary  Elliot  gave  the  number  for  June  30,  1887,  at  59,893,000. 


762  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

British  Isles  and  Continental  Europe  sent'vast  multitudes;  Africa 
and  Asia,  especially  Eastern  Asia,  furnished  a  large  contingent ;  and 
the  West  Indies  have  done  their  part.  Taking  the  figures  of  tfcie 
whole  immigration  for  a  single  year  (i88i),  720,045,  the  percentage 
from  each  of  the  foreign  countries  was — 


Per  cent,  of 
the  whole. 

Great  Britain 13.10 

Ireland '. 9-84 

Total,  British  Isles 22.94 

Germany 34-66 

Norway  and  Sweden r  1 .  50 

Total,  Continental  Europe 60.42 

China 2.86 

Total,  Asia 2.88 

Africa 0.005 


Per  cent,  of 
the  whole. 

British  America 13.22 

Mexico 0.034 

Central  and  South  America.. o.oi6 

West  Indies 0.14 

Total,  America   13.41 

Islands  of  Atlantic 0.179 

Islands  of  Pacific o.  126 

Not  specified 0.02 


From  1820  to  1885,  inclusive,  26.90  per  cent,  of  the  immigration 
came  from  Germany,  and  18.63  per  cent,  from  Ireland.  In  two 
decades,  1840  to  i860,  the  Irish  ranged  from  35.18  per  cent,  to 
45-57  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  Since  i860  it  has  never  exceeded 
18.51  per  cent.,  and  in  6  years  it  fell  below  12  percent.  For  28 
years,  between  1840  and  1885,  the  German  immigration  ranged  from 
30.89  per  cent,  to  36.62  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  In  14  years  it 
ranged  between  20  and  30  per  cent.,  and  in  only  3  years  did  it  fall 
below  20  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  * 

Prior  to  the  Irish  famine,  i846-'47,  probably  the  numerical 
majority  of  the  Irish  in  the  United  States  were  Protestants  from 
the  North  of  Ireland,  as  were  most  of  the  Irishmen  who  figured  in 
the  Revolution,  though  Rev.  Bishop  England  claimed  f  them  as 
Roman  Catholics.  Prior  to  the  potato  famine  the  great  bulk  of 
the  Irish  immigrants  to  this  country  were  "  from  the  upper  walks  of 
Hfe— younger  sons  of  landlords,  reduced  proprietors  and  tenant 
farmers,  and  tradesmen  of  the  more  substantial  sort."  %  But  after 
this  event,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  poorest  and  most  ignorant 
classes  crowded  to  our  shores.  Since  1845,  probably  seven  eighths 
of  the  Irish  immigrants  have  been  Roman  Catholics,  so  that  the 
Papal  Church  in  this  country  bears  a  decidedly  Irish  impress,  and 
has  come  to  be  widely  regarded  as  an  Irish  Church.  Judged  by 
their  names,  of  the  y6  archbishops  and  bishops  to-day,  only  17  bear 
German  names,  7  French,  5  Spanish,  and  only  6  indicate  a  native 
English-American   extraction— a  total  of  35    against   41    of  either 

♦.German  newspapers  are  published  in  most  of  the  States.     Tobias  Brother's  German  News- 
paper Directory  has  a  list  of  80  religious  German  newspapers. 

t  In  his  great  letter  to  the  Lyons  Propa-ani,a.  j  IVestminster  Revieiv,  June,  1887,  p.  349. 


IRISH  AND  GERMAN  ROMANISTS.  763 

Irish  birth  or  blood.  The  proportion  of  the  Irish  communicants  has 
been  intelligently  estimated  as  "  doubtless  much  greater  than  this 
(iiyision  of  the  episcopal  honors  would  indicate." 

One  of  the  threatening  aspects  of  the  case  is  the  existence  "  in 
our  great  cities,  and  in  large  areas  of  the  agricultural  districts  of 
great  States,  of  vast  agglomerations  of  men  of  one  foreign  nationality 
preserving  almost  entire  their  manners,  language  and  traditions,  and, 
by  virtue  of  their  numbers,  making  even  the  public  schools  in  many 
places  use  a  foreign  tongue  as  the  common  vehicle  of  instruction, 
and  producing  the  strange  spectacle  of  native  Americans  of  totally 
different  stock  actually  taking  on  the  speech  and  characteristics  of 
'other  nationalities."     Rev.  Dr.  Edward  McGlynn  says: 

It  has  been  avowed  to  me  by  a  German  cler^man  of  this  city,  who  flattered 
himself  that  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  were  almost  exhausted  as  sources  of  emigra- 
tion, that  Germany,  with  her  45,000,000,  would  continue  year  after  year  to  pour 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  her  people  on  our  shores.  This  insane  hope  is  cherished 
chiefly  in  Wisconsin  and  in  the  Valley  of  the  Northern  Mississippi.  The  ears  of 
American  boys  born  of  German  parents  are  boxed  by  the  religious  teacher  in 
parochial  schools  in  St.  Louis,  for  the  heinous  offense  of  speaking  the  common 
language  of  America— the  English— and  a  clerical  superintendent,  to  reproach  an 
American  boy  of  German  parents  for  manliness  and  independence,  can  find  no 
better  words  to  do  justice  to  his  reprobation  than  to  say,  "  Du  bist  ein  Amerikaner  " 
(You  are  an  American)  !  There  is  a  wide-spread  and  persistent  effort,  with  scarcely 
any  attempt  to  conceal  it,  to  Germanize  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  North-west. 
The  means  toward  the  attainment  of  this  is  to  multiply  German  church  schools 
and  German  parishes,  and  to  make  the  multiplication  of  the  latter  an  excuse  and 
a  justification  for  the  appointment,  with  the  aid  of  German  cardinals  in  Rome,  of 
German-speaking  bishops. 

A  feeling  of  race  discontent  is  working  among  the  German  Cath- 
olics, and  a  growing  jealoiisy  of  the  Irish,  on  account  of  their  pre- 
ponderance in  the  Church.  Not  long  ago  complaint  was  made  to 
Rome  which  called  forth  a  decision  from  the  Propaganda  that  the 
German  Catholics  must  be  treated  as  equal  to  the  Irish.  The  peti- 
tion sent  to  Rome,  among  many  other  things,  asked  that  all  new- 
comers from  Europe  be  assigned  to  churches  of  their  own  language; 
that  the  bishops  and  priests  be  instructed  that  they  must  not  en- 
deavor to  suppre.ss  or  root  out  the  language,  manners,  customs,  ways 
and  modes  of  worship  of  the  Germans  or  other  nationalities,  etc. 
All  such  movements  obstruct  the  hoped-for  assimilation  of  our  for- 
eign populations  into  a  homogeneous  mass. 

During  the  colonial  era  the  accessions  to  the  population  were 
chiefly  Protestant,  and  the  social  and  civil  foundations  of  the  col- 
onies were  laid  upon  the  Bible,  and  the  conscience  quickened  and 


/ 


764  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

enlightened  by  it.  In  this  respect  the  United  States  have  been 
different  from  other  less  stable  American  governments,  in  Mexico, 
and  Central  and  South  America.  But  the  large  majority  of  those  who 
have  come  in  the  last  forty  years  are  of  a  different  class.  Not  im- 
pelled by  religious  convictions  to  seek  a  friendly  asylum,  but  actuated 
by  secular  motives,  they  are  largely  antagonizing  forces,  either  in  pur- 
pose or  in  fact,  endangering  the  morals,  the  religion  and  the  civil  insti- 
tutions of  the  land.  Coming  in  crowds,  pouring  into  the  large  cities 
and  Territories  often  like  new  and  distinct  nationalities,  keeping  up 
Old  World  customs,  introducing  their  crude  opinions  into  elections 
and  often  controlling  them,  they  have  set  aside  the  American  Sab- 
bath, opened  Sunday  theaters,  beer-gardens,  infidel  clubs,  and  com- 
munistic societies,  inaugurating  mobocracy,  and  copiously  filling  up 
the  ranks  of  the  social  outcasts. 

Such  are  the  heterogeneous  elements  that  have  been  entering 
into  our  population.  How  composite  the  mass  American  Chris- 
tianity has  been  called  to  mold  and  transform  !  How  diverse  the 
civilizations,  the  religious  ideas,  the  social  customs,  the  culture  and 
no-cnlture  of  these  new-comers !  Among  them,  viewed  from  a 
secular  point  of  observation,  are  very  valuable  elements.  Viewed 
from  a  high  moral  and  religious  stand-point  there  are  many  indi- 
viduals and  some  quite  large  classes  who  have  proved  desirable 
additions  to  our  population.  With  liberal  allowance  for  such,  it  will, 
nevertheless,  not  be  denied  that,  as  a  whole,  these  heterogeneous 
masses  with  habits,  sympathies,  political  and  religious  predilections, 
so  unlike  and  largely  antagonistic  to  those  of  the  native  population, 
have  weighed  heavily  against  us.  Three  fifths  of  the  European 
immigrants  have  come  from  Roman  Catholic,  and  many  from  infidel 
or  Rationalistic  and  communistic,  stock. 

The  process  of  reaching  these  masses  and  assimilating  them  to 
evangelical  truth  is  necessarily  slow,  and  for  a  long  period  they 
must  count  against  evangelical  Christianity,  in  all  numerical 
.  comparisons.  The  evangelical  churches  receive  few  accessions 
'■  from  these  classes,  but  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  been  im- 
mensely re-enforced.  How  grievously  have  morals  been  de- 
bauched, pauperism,  insanity  and  crime  augmented,  and  moral 
progress  retarded  by  these  e.xotic  masses !  How  materially  have 
they  changed  the  aspect  of  our  cities  and  large  villages,  and  what 
outlays  of  charitable  offerings,  and  of  religious  faith,  zeal  and 
effort,  have  they  made  necessary  !  The  problem  of  city  ameliora- 
tion and  salvation  has  been  inconceivably  enhanced  in  difificulty, 
and  its  solution  indefinitely  postponed,  by  large  and  continual  ad- 


VICTORIES  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.  765 

■■^'— • 
ditions  of  these  pauper  and  criminal  classes,  as  too  many  of  them 

have  been. 

With  low  habits  and  ideas,  retaining  supreme  allegiance  to  a 
foreign  pontiff,  or  controlled  by  radical,  rationalistic,  materialistic, 
or  communistic  theories,  two  questions  have  been  often  anxiously 
asked,  constituting  practical  problems  in  our  national  life — Can  Old 
World  subjects  be  transformed  into  New  World  citizens  ?  Can  relig- 
ion and  morality  endure  the  severe  strain,  and  the  virtue  and  intel- 
ligence of  the  people  be  preserved? 

Is  American  Christianity  equal  to  her  part  in  this  great  task? 
Do  the  actual  developments  in  the  life  of  the  nation  indicate  favor- 
able results?  We  believe  they  do.  Every-where  outside  of  the 
slums  of  the  large  cities  these  adopted  fellow-citizens  have  been 
steadily  improving  in  character,  in  intelligence,  and  in  social  and 
temporal  condition.  Many  of  them  already  worthily  occupy  re- 
sponsible positions  in  the  States  and  in  the  nation,  and  as  a  whole 
they  are  learning  to  appreciate  the  duties  of  American  citizenship 
more  rapidly  than  had  been  anticipated  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
solution  of  this  problem.  Dr.  Dorner,  of  Germany,  after  a  visit  to 
this  country,  said : 

Out  of  the  mixed  people  of  America  is  growing  a  new  liomogeneous  race,  full  of 
fire  and  energy,  full  of  youthful  force  and  enterprise.  Christianity  has  there  con- 
quered a  new  land. 

Another  writer  has  said  : 

Colonizing  races,  nascent  languages  and  periods  of  agitation,  have  been  the 
favorites  of  Christianity.  The  New  World,  therefore,  furnishes  a  fresh  strategic 
position  on  which  Christianity  is  destined  to  show,  and  is  already  showing,  her  mas- 
terly policy  and  power. 

If  the  struggles  necessitated  by  the  urgent  and  perilous  condi- 
tions cited  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  suggest  to  some  minds,  as 
to  the  mind  of  Hon.  Edmund  Burke,  "a  perilous  and  dancing  bal- 
ance," and  if  to  some  our  chances  sometimes  seem  "  dissolving 
chances,"  nevertheless,  to  high  Christian  faith  our  country  is  "  the 
ridge  of  destiny,"  where  Christianity  has  already  won  some  of  its 
gre'atest  triumphs,  and  is  destined  to  achieve  still  grander  victories 

in  the  future. 

But  an  arduous  task  is  still  before  us,  calling  for  the  best  intel- 
ligence, stanch  virtue,  ceaseless  vigilance,  heroic  faith  and  action. 

Closely  connected  with  this  problem  is  another  which  has  been 
thrust  upon  us,  partly  by  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  partly  as  an 
infection  from  European  thought,  through  European  literature  and 
immigration. 


766  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

THE   SPIRIT  OF  FREE  INQUIRY.        '    ^^ 

This  influence  has  operated  by  more  subtle  but  not  less  potent 
processes.  It  has  been  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  times;  and  among 
the  American  people,  every-vvhere  yielding  to  the  supremacy  of 
public  opinion,  it  has  devolved  peculiar  responsibilities  upon  Chris- 
tianity, subjecting  it  to  severe  tests. 

A  strong  tendency  to  unlimited  inquiry  has  pre-eminently 
characterized  modern  times.  "  The  most  stupendous  thought  ever 
conceived  by  man,"  says  Bancroft,  "such  as  had  never  been  dared 
by  Socrates  or  the  Academy,  by  Aristotle  or  the  Stoics,  took  pos- 
session of  Descartes  on  a  November  night,  in  his  meditations  on 
the  banks  of  the  Danube.  His  own  mind  separated  itself  from 
everything  besides,  and  in  the  consciousness  of  its  own 'freedom 
stood  over  against  all  tradition,  all  received  opinion,  all  knowledge, 
all  existence  except  itself,  thus  asserting  the  principle  of  individu- 
ality as  the  keynote  of  all  coming  philosophy  and  political  institu- 
tions. Nothing  was  to  be  received  by  man  which  did  not  convince 
his  own  reason.  Luther  opened  up  a  new  world,  in  which  every 
man  was  his  own  priest,  his  own  intercessor ;  Descartes  opened  a 
new  world,  in  which  every  man  was  his  own  philosopher."  * 

Luther  preceded  Descartes  one  hundred  years,  inaugurating  the 
revolt  against  despotism  and  furnishing  the  inspiration  for  later 
and  more  advanced  movements.  Both  were  bold  reformers — the 
one  against  the  despotism  of  an  absolute  hierarchy,  and  the  other 
against  the  despotism  of  scholasticism.  And  yet  there  were  radical 
differences  in  the  two  revolts.  "  The  one  was  the  method  of  con- 
tinuity and  gradual  reform,  the  other  of  an  instantaneous,  complete 
and  thorough  revolution.  The  principle  of  Luther  waked  up  a 
superstitious  world,  "  asleep  in  the  lap  of  legends  old,"  but  did  not 
renounce  all  external  authority.  It  used  drags  and  anchors  to 
check  too  rapid  a  progress  and  to  secure  its  moorings.  So  it 
escaped  premature  conflicts.  By  the  principle  of  Descartes  the 
individual  man,  at  once  and  altogether,  stood  aloof  from  king. 
Church,  universities,  public  opinion,  traditional  science,  all  external 
authority  and  all  other  beings,  and,  turning  every  intruder  out  of 
the  inner  temple  of  the  mind,  kept  guard  at  its  portals,  to  bar  the 
entry  of  every  belief  that  had  not  first  obtained  a  passport  from 
himself."  f 

In  the  history  of  Protestantism  this  new  spirit  has  been  marked 
by  hesitation,   circumspection,  moderation  and  gradual  progress; 

*  History  of  the  United  States.     By  Hon.    George    Bancroft.     Boston.     Little   &   Brown. 
Vol.  IX,  p.  500.  t  Ibid. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  FREE  INQUIRY.  IQl 

elsewtere  it  has  been  reckless  and  defiant.  In  France  free  thought 
became  "speculative,  skeptical,  and  impassioned.  This  modern 
Prometheus,  as  it  broke  its  chains,  started  up  with  revenge  against 
the  ecclesiastical  terrorism  which  for  centuries  had  sequestered  the 
rights  of  mind."*  Henceforth  it  every-where  actively  assailed 
Christianity  and  invaded  all  departments  of  science,  politics,  morals 
and  religion. 

By  some  persons  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  has  been  regarded  as 
an  unmitigated  evil,  in  its  inception  and  in  all  its  tendencies.  But 
such  4s  not  the  verdict  of  history.  It  sprang  out  of  the  root  prin- 
ciples of*^the  Reformation,  partaking  of  its  spirit  and  aims.  The 
leading  principles  in  both  movements  were  germane,  and  in  their 
legitimate,  unperverted  operations  each  seems  to  have  been  intended 
by  Providence  to  supplement  the  other — the  one  a  protest  against 
hierarchical  assumptions  and  intolerance,  and  the  other  against  the 
not  less  rigid  intolerance  of  mediaeval  scholasticism  in  theology, 
science,  and  general  inquiry.  As  revolts  against  the  enslavement 
of  the  religious  and  intellectual  powers,  their  mission  was  one  of 
universal  emancipation.     Each  had  its  legitimate  sphere. 

Descartes,  the  powerful  promoter  of  the  purely  rational  system, 
recognized  an  act  o{  faith  at  the  basis  of  all  processes  of  the  intel- 
lect, and  proclaimed,  "  God,  the  first,  the  most  certain,  and  the 
best  of  all  truths,"  claiming  that  "  if  God  is  not,  the  most  regular 
exercise  of  thought  may  deceive  us,  and  that  our  reason  can  afford 
us  no  guaranty."  He  confessed  that  "  all  the  force  of  proof  depends 
on  a  belief  in  God  which  precedes  it,  and  that  without  this  belief 
man  is  doomed  to  irremediable  doubt." 

The  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  then,  in  its  origin  was  not  irreverent 
and  reckless,  not  discarding  faith  in  God.  But  it  was  a  revolt 
against  the  intellectual  intolerance  engendered  amid  the  damps 
and  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages.  This  is  the  mission  upon  which 
it  was  sent  forth  by  "  Him  who  is  the  head  over  all  things  unto 
his  Church,"  to  deliver  his  truth  from  the  curse  of  dogmatism,  to 
dissolve  the  rigid  and  perverted  forms  into  which  it  had  been 
wrought  by  the  iron  logic  of  mediaeval  schoolmen,  and  to  restore  it 
to  the  simple,  practical,  and  vital  forms  in  which  the  Great  Teacher 
and  his  apostles  originally  presented  it.  This  is  still  its  mission, 
and  none  the  less  because  it  has  been  perverted  in  the  interest  of 
unbelief.  But  even  as  an  opposing  force,  many  incidental  benefits 
have  accrued  to  the  cause  of  truth,  under  the   wise  overrulings  of 


*  History  of  the  United  States.     By   Hon,  George  Bancroft.     Boston.     Little  &  Brown, 
VoL  IX,  p.  50O- 


768  CHRISTIAXITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Him  who  is  the  supreme  source  of  truth.  The  emancipation  of 
mind  from  intolerance  and  old-time  superstitions  is  now  a  rapid 
world-wide  tendency,  in  which  many  forces,  both  of  faith  and 
unbelief,  wittingly  or  unwittingly,  are  participating. 

The  spirit  of  free  inquiry   was  gradually  developed  in  Europe 
during  our  colonial  era,    and   assailed    the   American    mind    with 
terrible  force,  and   in   most   radical    forms,  at  the   time  when  our 
nation    entered   upon  its  organized    existence.     Liberty    was    the 
favorite  national  motto,  and  in  some  of  its  phases  a  mad  passion. 
A  spirit  of  reckless  independence  and  boldness  prevailed,  of  which 
we  have  now  faint  conception,  that  did  not  hesitate  to  break  away 
from  all  old  ideas  and  methods,  and  to   venture  upon  any  experi- 
ments, however  rash,  in  the  direction  of  freedom.     Under  such  pre- 
disposing circumstances,   the    contagion    took    and  widely  spread, 
dominating  large  sections  of  the  country  and   large   classes  of  edu- 
cated minds.     This  desolating   wave  was    measurably  turned  back 
'  by  the  great  revival  of  religion    pervading  the   land  from   1800  to 
I    1803.     ^t  came  again,  in  two  successive  waves  of  socialism,  in  1826 
and  1842;  and  since  then  it  has  repeated  itself,  in  the  varying  forms 
\  of  rationalisrri,  spiritism,  communism,  materialism,  and  agnosticism. 
r^      How  far  can  the  spirit  of  free   inquiry  be   carried,  without  sacri- 
n  ficing   true  Christianity  and   impairing   the    life  of  the    American 
\  Republic  ?     From  the  palpable  indications  of  the  situation,  it  seems 
•that  the  solution  of  this  problem  is  assigned  under  Providence  as  a 
special  task  io  the  American   people.     Here,   more   fully  than  else- 
Nwhere,  exist  the  conditions  necessary  to  its  solution.     We  have  no 
arbitrary  institutions;  no  hierarchical  absolutism  interferes;  no  old 
conservative  institutions  hinder  or  bias;  every  thing  is  voluntary  ; 
the  new  is  held  in  special  favor;  the  intelligence  of  the  popular  mind 
affords  an  opportunity  nowhere  else  found  ;  and  the  intense  vitality 
and  deep  spirituality  of  American   piety — the   best  conservator  of 
i  truth  and  of  national  life — favor  a  satisfactory  solution. 

It  is  an  occasion  for  thanksgiving  that  American  Christianity,  in 
a  very  good  degree,  is  conscious  of  her  responsibility  in  this  matter, 
and  the  perils  attending  the  solution  of  the  problem.  She  has  girded 
herself  for  the  task;  has  grown,  deepened,  expanded,  and  become 
more  spiritual  in  the  midst  of  the  ordeal,  and  is  already  rejoicing  in 
that  freedom  into  which  Providence  has  mysteriously  led  her. 

Moreover,  right  out  of  the  camps  of  free  thought,  modern  phi- 
losophy and  science,  manifold  convergent  currents*  have  flowed, 
bearing  upon  their  bosom  not  only  implied  and  incidental,  but  even 

*  See  chapter  on  Convergent  Currents,  pp.  651-674. 


UNTRAMMELED    THOUGHT.  769 

Strong  formal   confirmations  and  attestations  of  the  great  funda- 
mental principles  and  facts  of  the  Christian  system. 

Another  problem  stands  closely  related  to  the  preceding. 

MODERN  REVOLUTIONIZING  TENDENCIES. 
During  the  past  century  an  immense  impulse  has  been  given  to 
the  human  intellect,  and  it  has  exhibited  a  force  and  boldness 
unknown  before.  So  constant  and  wonderful  has  been  the  progress 
that  we  now  talk  freely  of  "  the  march  of  mind."  It  is  an  age  of 
sublime  energy  in  thought  and  action.  "  Onward  "  is  the  universal 
motto,  all  along  the  vast  lines  of  human  inquiry  and  enterprise. 
The  great  revolutions  in  America,  Mexico,  France,  Italy,  and  Spain  ; 
the  vast  campaigns  and  achievements  of  the  first  Napoleon,  of 
the  American  civil  war,  and  the  Franco-Prussian  contest ;  military, 
civil,  and  political  affairs  conducted  on  grander  scales  ;  the  discovery 
of  electricity,  steam  and  their  manifold  applications;  the  progress  of 
the  sciences  ;  the  freedom  of  the  press  ;  the  new  facilities  for  travel 
and  exploration  ;  the  great  Emancipation  Acts  in  the  West  Indies, 
Russia,  the  United  States,  and  Brazil;  the  throwing  open  of  our 
broad  and  fertile  domain  to  the  cramped-up  and  impoverished  mill- 
F;  ions  of  Europe;  the  extension  of  education  to  the  masses,  and  the 
1;  formation  and  new  functions  of  public  opinion,  are  some  of  the 
r?  marked  events — both  evidences  and  factors  of  extraordinary  progress. 
While  this  spirit  has  been  abroad,  we  have  seen  a  steady  decline 
in  reverence  for  whatever  of  tradition  or  precedent  or  institution 
has  come  down  to  us  from  the  past.  Questions  long  regarded  as 
settled  have  been  re-examined,  and  nothing  is  now  tolerated  simply 
because  hallowed  in  other  days.  There  is  a  growing  disbelief  in 
the  supernatural.  The  former  ages  trembled  with  superstitious  awe 
at  the  sight  of  an  eclipse,  and  regarded  earthquakes  as  tokens  of 
divine  vengeance  or  as  presaging  the  overthrow  of  kingdoms.  But 
now  mathematicians  handle  eclipses  with  a  surprising  familiarity, 
accurately  calculating  their  periods ;  and  earthquakes  are  regarded 
as  only  the  effects  of  certain  natural  laws.  Every  thing,  however 
spiritual,  is  subjected  to  natural  tests.  The  revolutionary  spirit  has 
entered  every  department  of  thought  and  action,  boldly  assailing 
long-accepted  theories  of  law  and  government,  political  economy, 
art,  science,  agriculture,  theology,  biblical  interpretation,  and  eccle- 
siastical polity.  Many  principles,  usages,  and  institutions,  once 
sacred  and  venerable,  are  discarded  and  obsolete.  Thought  is  in- 
tense and  bold,  projecting  changes  and  movements  vaster  and  more 
radical  than  ever  before  dreamed. 
49 


tf. 


770  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 

One  feature  of  this  tendency  is  entirely  new.  It  is  popular  and 
experimental.  Great  and  sacred  questions  have  been  brought  into 
the  arena  of  public  investigation.  Never  before  were  the  people 
expected  to  have  an  independent  opinion  about  such  matters.  T^e 
common  soil  of  humanity,  for  the  first  time  in  all  the  ages,  has 
been  surveyed  and  plowed  and  sown.*  The  problem  now  pending 
is  whether  more  of  wheat  or  of  tares  will  be  harvested;  whether  in 
the  end  it  will  be  productive  of  faith  or  of  doubt,  of  genuine  piety 
or  of  ungodliness. 

In  the  United  States,  unlike  the  old  countries,  there  are  no 
conserving  forces  in  the  constitution  of  society,  holding  men  to  the 
old  faiths.  Here  are  no  old  institutions,  hereditary  nobilities.  State 
Churches,  etc.,  but  every  thing  is  new — communities,  governments, 
and  institutions,  and  any  number  of  new  projects,  trial  schemes, 
and  prophecies  of  newer  and  stranger  things  to  come.  All  things 
stimulate  to  theorizing.  The  new  is  held  at  a  high  premium,  and 
the  old  at  a  heavy  depreciation. 

In  such  times  men  find  it  easy  to  break  away  from  the  old  faiths, 
and  a  supernatural  system  like  Christianity  is  subjected  to  searching 
examination.  Under  our  peculiar  circumstances  American  Chris- 
tianity has  experienced  severer  tests  than  European  Christianity, 
with  its  old  conserving  institutions  environing  and  sustaining  it. 
Here  the  conflict  is  purely  between  truth  and  spiritual  vitality,  on' 
the  one  hand,  and  the  most  insidious  forms  of  modern  doubt  on 
the  other. 

How  is  the  conflict  progressing  and  what  are  the  indications? 
/  There  are  reasons  for  thanksgiving;  for  truth  is  coming  to  be  seen 
;'  in  its  simplicity  and  purity.  It  is  being  divested  f  of  the  husks  of 
\  scholasticism  and  delivered  from  the  spirit  of  dogmatism ;  it  is 
;.  Steadily  gaining,  and  becoming  more  beautiful  and  attractive;  the 
I  unity  of  Christian  faith  and  the  moral  unity  of  the  Churches  are 
I  increasing,  and  spiritual  vitality  :|:  is  deepening  and  strengthening 
The  spirituality  of  the  American  churches  is  many  fold  greater 
I    than  one  hundred  years  ago. 

But  the  problem  is  still  our  appointed  task,  and  waits  fuller 
solution. 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  three  elements,  all  of  them  largely 
^^/n«.yz^— assailing  and  testing  our  national  life  from  without:  the 
successive  heterogeneous  foreign  layers  with  which  its  population 
has  been  built  up ;  the  spirit  of  unlimited  free  inquiry,  which  during 

*  Christianity   and    Modern   Thought.     American    Unitarian   Association.     Boston,    1872. 
Lecture  by  Rev.  H.  W.  Bellows,  D.D.     P.  17.  fSee  pp.  668-672.  %  See  pp.  696-699. 


INTRINSIC  ELEMENTS.  771 

more  than  a  century  has  engendered  distrust  of  the  old  safeguards 
of  government,  morals  and  religion;  and  the  kindred  spirit  of  revo- 
lution, which  has  made  men  eager  and  rash  in  casting  away  these 
safeguards,  even  though  without  adequate  provisional  substitutes. 

Each  of  these  elements,  in  themselves  unsolved  problems,  and, 
;therefore,  experimental,  has  entered  into  our  national  life  chiefiy 
Jfrom  without. 

It  remains  to  examine  the  internal  situation  ;  some  intrinsic 
problems,  vitally  affecting  the  nation  from  within.  Some  of  these 
conditions  have  been  experimental  to  a  large  degree.  We  have 
been  testing  the  purely  voluntary  principle.  This  has  been  incident- 
ally alluded  to  already,  but  it  demands  more  extended  notice.  It 
is  as  yet  an  unsolved  problem  whether  a  nation  can  set  itself  up, 
poise  itself,  and  maintain  its  self-poise,  throwing  its  citizens  upon 
purely  voluntary  conditions,  in  religion,  morals  and  citizenship,  and 
at  the  same  time  permanently  conserve  itself  and  the  public  good. 

Never  before  has^the  voluntary  principle  had  such  free,  unlimited 
scope  in  all  departments  of  life  as  among  us.  Those  small  Italian 
republics,  so  often  cited,  which  have  lived  long  enough  to  claim 
some  degree  of  success,  have  been  indeed  organically  free  in  civil 
affairs;  yet  in  social,  public  and  religious  life  they  have  been  domi- 
;^v.nated  by  old  established  nobilities  and  the  papal  priesthood.  But 
'among  us  these  arbitrary  conditions  of  absolutism  are  wanting,  and 
we  are  thrown  out  upon  the  purely  voluntary  principle  in  religion, 
in  social  and  public  life,  and  in  civil  economy.  Let  us  notice  the 
practical  difficulties  attending  each. 

A  radical  aspect  of  the  voluntary  principle  presents  itself  in  the 
social  and  public  life  of  the  American  people.  We  dwell  in  a  coun- 
try which  every-where  yields  to  the  supremacy  of  public  opinion. 

THE  NEW  FUNCTIONS  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION 
constitute  a  problem  of  social  and  public  life — a  problem  because  it 
belongs  to  recent  times,  and  has  been  only  imperfectly  tested.  The 
world  has  been  rapidly  passing  from  under  the  tutelage  of  authority  ; 
and  a  force  hitherto  but  little  known  has  risen  up  and  exercised  the 
functions  of  empire.  Almost  by  a  single  leap  it  has  come  to  the 
throne.  Even  monarchical  rulers  feel  its  power,  consult  and  bow 
down  to  it,  while  in  this  country  it  has  seized  the  helm  and  directs 
the  ship  of  state.  One  hundred  years  ago  this  young  nation,  impul- 
sive, frisky,  venturesome,  with  its  vast  and  complicated  interests, 
started  out  upon  its  career.under  the  supremedominion  of  public  opin- 
ion.    Nothing  is  more  irresponsible,  or  liable  to  be  more  capricious 


772  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

or  destructive  ;  and  yet  in  such  untried  hands  were  to  be  held  the 
election  of  rulers,  and  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of  laws  upon 
which  the  social  and  political  welfare  depends. 

The  inevitable  concomitants  of  such  a  condition  of  society  are 
independence  of  thought  and  tenacity  of  sentiment.  In  such  a  land, 
there  can  be  no  supreme  individual  power,  in  either  the  Church  or 
the  State.  The  transfer  of  such  high  prerogatives,  from  an  author- 
itative individual  head,  into  the  hands  of  irresponsible  popular  ma- 
jorities, must  be,  at  first,  experimental,  and  always  attended  with 
peril.  Many  wise  men  still  regard  it  an  unsolved  problem,  or  at 
least  a  problem  whose  solution  they  fear  will  bring  results  of  doubt- 
ful desirability.  It  is  patent  that  its  success  must  depend  upon  two 
cardinal  elements  widely  diffused  among  the  people — intelligence 
and  virtue. 

We  have  reason  for  thanksgiving  that,  on  the  whole,  the  indi- 
cations are  hopeful.  We  have  had  some  popular  outbreaks,  some 
tumultuous  mobs,  some  wild  demonstrations ; .  but  nothing  in  the 
last  two  decades  like  those  of  the  first  decades  after  the  national 
government  was  formed,  when  organized  rebellions  occurred  ;  one, 
Exeter,  N.  H.  ;  another,  the  Shay  Rebellion,  in  Massachusetts  ; 
the'Hartford  Convention  revolt,  in  Connecticut,  and  several  whiskey 
rebellions  in  Pennsylvania — none  of  them  among  rabbles  of  low  for- 
eigners, but  in  the  ranks  of  intelligent  citizens.  Self-poise  is  one  of 
the  best  tests  of  moral  progress.  How  much  greater  the  self-control 
of  the  American  people  now  than  from  seventy  to  one  hundred  years 
ago  !  A  standing  army  is  now  little  better  than  a  mockery,  for  men 
with  elevated  ideas  need  no  overawing  forces  to  restrain  them. 
Squads  of  Bohemians  and  Anarchists  from  other  shores  are  not 
types  of  American  citizens. 

And  what  great  moral  reforms  have  been  effected  in  this  cent- 
ury, in  the  United  States,  under  the  operation  of  the  new  functions 
of  public  opinion,  greater  than  in  any  of  the  previous  Christian  cent- 
uries! Slavery,  untouched  through  all  the  ages  and  existing  almost 
every-where  a  century  ago,  thoroughly  domesticated  and  intrenched 
in  the  United  States  by  statutory  and  constitutional  guaranties,  and 
politically  dominating*  the  entire  land,  has  been  abolished.  Duel- 
ing, an  old-time  custom  of  Anglo-Saxon  people,  prevalent  all  over 
the  North  as  well  as  the  South  when  this  century  opened,  has  almost 
wholly  disappeared.  Intemperance,  until  long  after  this  century 
began  the  universal  American  vice  even  among  clergymen,  deacons, 
the  best  citizens  and  statesmen,  and  impairing  no  man's  social  stand- 

*  See  pp.  562-570. 


/.V      ADVANCE  IN  SENTIMENT.  773 

ing,  has  been  greatly  reduced  in    the   breadth  of  its  sway  and  in 
,->lts  virulence.     It  has  been  brought  under  the  ban  of  popular  con- 
S&fmnation,  and  the  use  of  alcohol  as  a  beverage,  for  the  first  time  in 
SS  the  ages,  has  received  a  staggering  blow  from  the  verdict  of  the 
;^est  and  most  advanced  science— a  verdict  which  can  never  be  set 
l^'aside  or  reversed,  because  founded  upon  the  base  lines  of  irrefraga- 
I' ble  scientific  facts.     The  total  exclusion  of  intoxicating  beverages 
t-'from  large  classes  of  people,  and  the  reduction  o^  Xh^  per  capita  con- 
sumption of  alcohol  (calculating  the  liquors  of  sixty  years  ago  and 
those  also  of  the  present  time  on  the  basis  of  the  pure  alcohol  con- 
tained in  them)  to  about  one  third   the  amount  consumed   sixty 
years*  ago,   is  a  great  moral   gain.      Not   to    speak  of  other  re- 
forms, or  of   the    oscillating   movements   in    some    reforms,    these 
three  mammoth  evils,  which  none  of  the  previous  ages  perceptibly 
touched,  which  came  down  to  the  people  of  this  century  venerable 
and  hoary  with  antiquity,  intrenched  in  custom,  avarice,  lust,  and 
also  largely  among  us  in  law,  and  before  which  the  virtues  and  relig- 
ion of  previous  centuries  only  feebly  protested  and  then  succumbed, 
have  been  boldly  encountered  in  our  day,  two  of  them  wholly  abol- 
ished, and  the  other  crippled  as  never  before,  and  made  the  center 
y  of  a  burning  focus  of  the  mightiest  reform  forces  ever  enlisted.     All 
these  things  have  been  accomplished  by  voluntary  moral  agencies, 
operating  under  the  regimen  of  public  opinion. 

The  other  aspect  of  the  voluntary  principle  is  seen  in  our  civil 
polity,  and  may  be  denominated 

THE  CIVIL  PROBLEM. 

Can  Christianity  effectually  conserve  the  moral  and  religious  in- 
terests of  a  State  which  is  not  merely  organically  separated  from 
the  Church,  but  which  is  without  religious  ideas  in  its  constitution— 
a  merely  man-made  compact?  Chief  Justice  Story  said,  "It  yet 
remains  a  problem  to  be  solved  in  human  affairs  whether  any  free 
government  can  be  permanent  where  the  public  worship  of  God  and 
the  support  of  religion  constitute  no  part  of  the  policy  or  duty  of 
the  State  in  any  assignable  shape." 

In  the  organization  of  our  federal  Constitution  two  distinct  yet 
in  a  certain  superficial  sense  agreeing  elements  united,  f  The. his- 
toric element,  represented  by  the  religious  mind,  recognized  politi- 
cal equality  in  the  State,  but  held  that  the  State  was  for  the  gov- 
erned,   and,    like   the    Church,    God's   ordinance— the    major   vote 

♦  See  PP   S7I-S7S-  f  See  Dr.  Bushnell's  Sermon  on  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run. 


774  CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

designating  rulers,  but  not  conferring  authority,  God  being  the  only 
spring  of  authority.  The  other  element,  following  Rousseau's  the- 
ory which  finds  the  foundation  of  all  government  in  "a  social  com- 
pact" no  higher  than  man,  supposed  that  somehow  man  could 
create  authority  over  man  ;  that  the  consent  of  the  governed  would 
oblige  obedience ;  and  overlooked  the  fact  that  an  obligation  impSes 
a  moral  nature  related  to  a  throne  of  law  and  order  above  the  range 
of  mere  humanity.  These  two  parties  agreed  in  many  things  but 
said  them  always  in  a  different  sense — the  one  in  the  religious,  the 
other  in  the  atheistic.  Agreeing  in  the  letter  of  the  Constitution, 
nevertheless  they  have  ever  since  struggled  in  the  womb  of  the 
nation. 

Our  national  history  has  been  a  series  of  experiments  with  com- 
pacts, reserved  rights,  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  etc.  Our  civil 
war  grew  out  of  these  things.  Slavery  being  the  proximate  cause  ; 
but  questions  of  State  rights  constituted  the  root  trouble,  and  the 
nation  was  nearly  overwhelmed  in  "  a  swamp  of  godless  political 
platitudes"  in  trying  to  maintain  a  government  without  moral  ideas, 
and  to  rally  a  loyal  feeling  around  institutions  which,  in  the  view  of 
some,  are  only  human  compacts  without  Divine  authority. 

One  thing  was  fortunate.  While  the  nation  stood  organically 
before  the  world  in  this  atheistical  attitude,  there  was  all  along,  in 
the  latent  convictions  of  the  people,  a  deep  sense  of  morally  bind- 
ing authority  and  a  practical  recognition  o{  God  and  Christianity, 
in  proclamations,  chaplaincies,  etc.,  which  has,  in  some  measure, 
sanctified  and  preserved  the  nation.  The  national  heart  has  been 
wiser,  deeper,  and  nearer  to  God  than  the  letter  of  the  Constitution, 
Could  this  condition  be  maintained,  what  is  wanting  in  the  letter 
being  made  up  in  the  spirit,  it  might  be  hoped  that  the  nation  would 
be  preserved  and  accomplish  its  high  destiny,  the  hope  being  based 
upon  the  religious  substratum  of  the  popular  heart. 

The  question,  then,  to  be  solved,  was  whether  these  religious  ele- 
ments, which  supplemented  those  omissions  in  the  letter  of  the  civil 
Constitution  would  gradually  wear  away,  letting  down  the  nation  to 
the  level  of  the  atheistical  doctrines  recognized  by  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution.  Should  such  a  moral  deterioration  of  the  popular 
heart  take  place,  the  inevitable  effect  must  be  latitudinarianism,  law- 
lessness, and  ruin. 

The  condition  of  the  country  at  the  beginning  of  the  late  civil 
war  is  still  fresh  in  adult  minds.  The  imbecile  and  treacherous  plea 
against  "coercion,"  in  a  message  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  and  the 
strong  party  echoing  their  applauding  responses  in  the  North  as 


THE  POWER  OF   THE  PEOPLE.  773 

well  as  in  the  South,  were  legitimate  practical  sequences  of  the  doc- 
trine that  all  authority  is  derived  from  the  "  social  compact,"  and 
nearly  proved  the  nation's  ruin.  Convictions  of  moral  obligation 
and  loyalty,  which  no  political  platitudes  could  ever  have  inspired, 
'rallied  and  saved  the  nation. 

Measures  have  sometimes  been  attempted  in  Congress  which 
have  awakened  in  some  minds  fears  in  regard  to  the  perpetu- 
ity of  the  Republic ;  but  in  a  little  while  we  have  heard  from  the 
the  people  and  learned  the  state  of  the  popular  heart — that  the  peo- 
ple propose  to  maintain  an  orderly  self-government,  public  justice 
and  a  reign  of  law  which  exalteth  a  nation.  The  life  of  the  nation 
flows  from  deeper  and  purer  fountains  than  the  hearts  of  dema- 
gogues. The  foundations  of  our  institutions  are  deeper  and  more 
stable  than  written  compacts.    They  are  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

The  solution  of  this  problem  in  the  future  will  evidently  be  deter- 
mined by  the  condition  of  the  people.  If  public  virtue  loses  its 
sanctity  and  force,  law  and  government  will  lose  their  authority  and 
power.  There  is  nothing  in  the  political  theory  of  the  federal  Con- 
stitution alone  that  can  save  the  nation.  Its  hope  is  in  the  under- 
lying moral  and  religious  life  and  intelligence  of  the  people. 

How  long  it  will  take  to  fully  solve  this  problem  of  a  civil  gov- 
ernment depending  upon  the  voluntary  action  of  the  people,  with 
none  of  the  conserving  absolutism  which,  in  some  measure,  has 
existed  in  almost  all  preceding  governments  back  to  the  beginning  of 
time,  we  cannot  tell :  nor  can  we  anticipate  what  new  and  severe 
tests  of  our  strength  we  may  yet  be  subjected  to ;  but  thus  far  we 
have  exceeded  the  expectations  of  the  founders  of  the  government, 
who  often,  during  the  decade  following  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution, expressed  the  gravest  apprehension  of  speedy  ruin ;  and 
we  have  also  disappointed  the  frequent  predictions  of  disaster  by 
European  monarchists  who  have  had  no  confidence  in  the  durabilit> 
of  our  political  institutions. 

This  brings  us  to  consider 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 

This  form  of  Christianity  constitutes  the  largest  and  the  chief  mold 
ing  religious  force  of  the  country,  and  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term 
is  a  voluntary  religion.     Protestantism  has  been  on  trial  from  two 
causes — imperfections  which  it  brought  with  it  out  of  Romanism 
and  peculiarities  belonging  to  itself,  never  before  so  Yully  tested. 

As  to  the  imperfections  which  it  brought  out  of  Romanism,  i- 
is  fully  admitted   that   Protestantism    never  claimed  to  be  a  perfec" 


776  CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE  UNITED  STATES.^ 

system,  much  less  a  finality.  Some  kind  of  sifting,  modification, 
and  restatement,  has  ever  been  felt  to  be  a  necessity,  to  relieve  it 
from  the  relics  of  popery  and  from  unreasonable  and  unscriptural 
features,  that  true  apostolic  Christianity,  so  long  lost  out  of  the  life 
of  the  Church,  may  be  brought  back,  and  the  Church  be  more  fully 
adapted  to  control  the  popular  mind.  Relics  of  popery  appear  less 
in  the  churches  of  the  United  States  than  in  European  communions; 
but  even  here  they  manifest  themselves  somewhat,  in  excessive  ritu- 
alism, in  an  undue  spirit  of  ecclesiasticism,  and  in  certain  dogmatic 
tendencies  which  widen  the  breach  between  Christianity  and  the 
public  mind.  Protestantism  is  yet  in  process  of  development.  As 
a  reformation,  a  revolt  against  old  errors,  it  was  not  wholly  purged 
at  the  outset,  and  therefore  still  has  its  reactions  and  incidental 
evils.  Doubts,  experiments,  and  possibly  disorders,  are  inevitable 
in  such  a  process.  The  work  of  modification  and  restatement, 
which  has  been  gradually  going  on  in  connection  with  the  ..spirit 
of  free  inquiry  and  the  advancement  of  general  intelligence,  has 
been  a  task  of  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  character,  testing  her 
stability,  the  wisdom  and  piety  of  her  adherents,  and  her  hold  upon 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  masses. 

We  have  seen  Protestantism  in  our  country  wholly  divorced 
from  the  State,  receiving  from  fluctuating  outward  sources  only  vol- 
untary support,  losing  thereby  the  prestige,  aid  and  influence  which 
the  State  imparts,  and  liable,  therefore,  to  detach  from  itself  large 
masses  of  people.  The  question  arises  whether  purely  spiritual 
voluntary  churches  can  maintain  their  public  influence  and  perpetu- 
ate themselves.  Protestant  divines  and  statesmen  in  Europe,  ac- 
customed to  the  conserving  influence  of  the  State,  and  pressed  with 
the  question  of  *'  Disestablishment,"  study  with  deepest  interest  the 
progress  of  American  Christianity  in  its  purely  voluntary  conditions. 

But  there  is  another  aspect  of  the  voluntary  principle  besides 
the  outward  support — the  vital  feature  of  Protestantism  is  its  in- 
ternal spiritual  exercises,  between  the  individual  soul  and  its  God, 
with  no  priestly  or  hierarchical  dependence.  Under  Romanism 
religion  is  chiefly  dependent  upon  priestly  functions.  Under  Prot- 
estantism it  is  a  purely  personal  thing.  It  passes  from  under 
the  exclusive  control  of  priestly  functions  and  prerogatives  into 
irrepressible  conflicts  with  individual  lusts  and  worldly  influences. 
Instead  of  pompous  rituals,  each  individual  soul  is  thrown  upon  its 
God  and  the  deep  realities  of  its  inner  life.  The  scourge  of  the 
hierarchy  disappears,  but  the  struggle  with  sense  and  self  goes  on. 
Still  recognizing  the  Church  as  divine,  and  a  necessity  as  a  brother- 


-     JJ^  THE    VOLUNTARY  SYSTEM.  Ill 

hood  and  a  guide,  Protestantism  at  the  same  time  presses  with  pow- 
erful intensity  upon  each  individual  the  fact  of  his  personal  responsi- 
bility:  that  he  must  bear  the  burden  of  his  oWn  guilt  to  the  foot  of 
the  cross,  that  he  must  seek  for  himself  access  to  God  through  the 
Great  High  Priest  that  hath  *'  passed  into  the  heavens,"  and  in  the 
spirit  of  adoption,  begotten  in  his  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  find 
a  satisfaction  sweeter,  higher,  and  more  abiding  than  can  be  imparted 
by  priestly  absolution  or  benediction. 

Until  the  rise  of  Protestantism,  religion  under  such  conditions 
had  been  unknown  since  the  times  of  the  earlier  Christianity,  except 
among  small  classes  of  persons.  What  was  to  be  the  effect  of  these 
purely  voluntary  religious  conditions  among  large  masses  of  people? 
It  was  predicted  that,  dependent  upon  the  fluctuations  of  individual 
affections  and  vacillating  individual  wills,  religion  would  be  charac- 
terized by  inconstancy  and  alternations,  until  its  influence  would  be 
utterly  wasted.  In  Europe,  Protestantism  has  been  tested  only 
under  the  latter  conditions — the  voluntary  spiritual  action,  this 
being  supplemented  by  the  union  of  the  Church  and  State.  Such, 
too,  was  the  situation  of  American  Protestantism  during  the  colonial 
era;  but  after  the  Revolution  the  bonds  were  sundered,  and,  exter- 
nally and  internally,  it  adjusted  itself  to  wholly  voluntary  conditions, 
and  has  had  to  undergo  both  the  trial  of  the  transition  and  the 
operation  of  the  voluntary  principle  in  all  its  relations. 

This  problem  is'  still  in  course  of  solution.  What  are  the  indi- 
cations? From  a  careful  study  of  the  history  of  American  Prot- 
estantism, we  have  risen  up  to  declare  the  conviction  that  the  purely 
voluntary  are  the  best,  the  purest,  and  most  favorable  conditions 
for  the  religious  life  of  any  people,  and  that  in  no  other  land  and 
in  no  other  age  has  Christianity  made  such  real  and  extensive 
progress  as  in  the  United  States  during  the  past  eighty-seven  years. 

As  evidence  of  this  we  cite  the  existence  of  112,744  church 
organizations  of  the  evangelical  denominations,  with  83,854  min- 
isters and  37,379  local  preachers,  and  12,132,651  communicants, 
where  there  were  only  3,030  churches,  2,651  ministers,  and  364,872 
communicants  in  1800 — an  increase  of  109,714  churches,  81,203  min- 
isters, and  1 1,767,779  members  in  eighty-six  years,  or  a  33.3  fold  in- 
crease of  the  members,  while  the  population  increased  only  11.01 
fold.  The  erection  of  church  edifices  to  the  value  of,  probably,  five 
hundred  millions  of  dollars,  the  support  of  public  worship  in  which 
83,854  ministers  of  the  Gospel  participate,  the  corresponding  num- 
ber of  Sunday-schools,  the  expenditure  of  $145,000,000  in  religious 
publications,   $100,000,000  for  home   missions,  and  $75,000,000  for 


778  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

foreign  missions,  all  within  the  century,  and  three  fourths  of  it 
within  the  last  forty  years,  and  these  entire  amounts,  raised  by  purely 
voluntary  methods,  are  monumental  evidences  of  the  success  of 
the  voluntary  principle.  Besides  this,  the  founding,  of  our  colleges, 
370  in  number,  with  33,000  students  pursuing  the  collegiate  course 
of  study  for  the  degree  of  A.B,,  and  79  per  cent,  of  them  in  denom- 
inational colleges,  is  one  more  of  many  other  evidences  of  the  suc- 
cessful working  of  Christianity,  wholly  independent  of  the  State. 
Dr.  Dorner,  after  visiting  this  country  in  1873,  said  : 

Columbus  was  encouraged  by  the  hope  that  the  new  land  would  serve  the  honor 
of  our  Redeemer.  That  is  not  accomplished  in  the  sense  of  Columbus — through 
the  conversion  of  heathen — but  in  a  far  higher  sense.  The  discovery  of  America 
has  a  connection  in  time  and  spirit  with  the  Reformation,  for,  as  it  were,  a  new  land 
arose  from  out  the  sea  to  serve  as  a  bulwark  and  a  reserve  for  the  Church  of  the 
Reformation.  The  Americans  feel  already  that  they  have  a  special  mission,  namely, 
to  march  in  their  fresh,  earnest  way,  into  the  fight  against  the  skeptical  and  the 
superstitious,  at  the  same  time  showing  Christianity  in  a  new  light,  as  a  living  force, 
which  needs  no  outward  human  aid  in  order  to  make  itself  respected,  but  which 
free  spirits  most  need. 

It  is  a  ground  for  thanksgiving  that  in  every  great  emergency 
the  popular  heart  has  instinctively  apprehended  the  necessities  of 
the  nation  and  faithfully  responded.  Demagogues  have  never  been 
able  to  lead  the  people  far  astray,  and  the  prospect  for  the  future 
constancy  and  devotion  of  the  people  to  right  is  better  than  in 
any  former  periods.  It  certainly  will  be  so,  if  Christians  and  good 
citizens  faithfully  exert  their  influence  to  maintain  morals,  religion 
and  intelligence — the  impregnable  foundations  of  all  enduring  insti- 
tutions. Living  and  doing  thus,  we  shall  prove  that  the  six  prob- 
lems noticed  will  be  satisfactorily  solved,  and  we  shall  find  that  they 
represent  six  working  factors  of  the  highest  and  most  glorious  devel- 
opment of  national  life  and  character  this  world  has  hitherto  seen. 

May  we  not  believe  that  the  composite  character  of  our  popula- 
tion, in  which  so  many  bloods  mingle,  will  be  the  means  of  build- 
ing up  a  superior  type  of  physical  development  and  strength ;  that 
building  our  young  institutions  and  our  fresh  intellectual  life  with 
materials  which  have  endured  the  rigid  scrutiny  of  free  inquiry, 
and  the  sifting  and  winnowing  of  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  the 
times,  we  shall  exhibit  an  advanced  type  of  national  life  ;  that  our 
religion  and  virtue,  as  purely  voluntary  products,  entirely  uncon- 
strained and  unhampered,  the  only  true  conditions  of  genuine  good- 
ness, will  develop  into  the  highest  type  of  character;  that  the  new 
functions  of  public   opinion,  controlling  and   directing  social  and 


THE  MISSION  OF  AMERICA.  '  779 

public  life,  will  prove  the  providential  opening  through  which  God's  / 
kingdom,  will  gain  a  willing  ascendency  in  all  hearts  and  over  all 
institutions;  and  that  our  nation,  without  the  formal  recognition  of 
Deity  in  the  letter  of  its  civil  Constitution,  but  with  more  than  the 
letter — the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  virtue — in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  shall  be  found  to  be  indeed  builded  upon  the  deepest,  the^ 
best  and  the  most  ensuring  of  all  foundations  ? 

Such   are  some   of  the  conditions  under  which    these    United 
States  have  entered  upon   their  career.     They   have   been  of  the 
most  grave  and  solemn  character,  new  in  history,  and,  as  a  whole, 
unknown  in  national  life.     Never  before  was  there  such  a  battle  field 
for  humanity.     Never  were  the  elements  of  good  and  evil  set  forth 
against  each  other  in  a  grander  arena.     Thrown   upon   conditions 
purely  experimental,  entirely  voluntary,  free  from  either  the  tram-l 
mels  or  conserving  force  of  old  institutions,  from  the  nature  of  th^' 
case  the  conflict  must  be  mighty,  exciting,  at  times,  alarm;   but, 
when   successful,   the    loftiest    exultations  of   triumph.      Over  thei 
boundless    fields  of  this  country  the  majestic  unfoldings  of  Prov-i' 
idence  are  witnessed,  forecasting  the  future  developments  of  the  race,| 
in  those  higher  conditions  toward  which  humanity  is  here  surely  ad- 
vancing.    This  nation  is  the  happy  heir  of  modern  history.     Thel' 
current  of  our  national  life  broadens,  deepens,  and  speeds  on  with  in- 
creasing swiftness.     Check  it  we  would  not,  master  it  we  cannot,  but 
guide  it  we  may.     And  who  will  think  it  less  noble  because  it  has) 
some   sediment  at  the  bottom,  or  bears  some  wrecks  on  its  surface,] 
or  leave  some  ruins  on  its  shores? 

Let  us  thank  God  that  we  are  permitted  to  live  in  such  an 
age  of  achievement  and  progress.  Let  us  consecrate  our  best 
powers  and  resources  to  the  carrying  forward  of  these  grand  move- 
ments. Good  people,  one  and  all,  and  always,  should  march  at  the 
head  of  the  advancing  column  and  direct  its  course.  To  modestly 
retire  to  the  rear  or  follow  at  a  distance  is  not  a  mark  of  humility, 
but  of  recreancy  to  our  high  calling. 

Disappointment  and  despondency  are  abroad,  and  there  are  sad 
bodings  over  some  movements.  Many  fear  that  certain  valued 
results  of  the  late  civil  war  are  fatally  imperilled,  if  not  irrecover- 
ably lost ;  but  the  auguries  teach  that  a  rising  public  sentiment,  is 
steadily  advancing  to  the  demand  that  the  freedmen  shall  enjoy  all 
their  rights  under  the  Constitution,  and  that,  town  by  town,  county 
by  county.  State  by  State,  they  will  yet  be  lifted  into  the  full  priv- 
ileges and  immunities  of  citizenship.  Thus  by  profounder,  more 
subtle,  but  not  less  certain  processes,  ends  will  be  reached  which 


780  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

mere  proclamations,  armies  and  constitutions  could  never  make 
actual.  Others  lament  the  corruption  and  lawlessness  of  the  large 
cities,  forgetting  that  aggregates  of  humanity  have  always  exhibited 
hideous  concentrations  of  vice ;  that  in  our  days  cities  have  become 
what  they  never  were  before — intense  centers  of  moral  and  religious 
force,  and  that  never  until  the  present  century  were  there  such 
agencies  for  good  as  city  missions,  now  organized  in  manifold  forms. 
Others,  seeing  Mormonism  lifting  her  beastly,  defiant  head,  are 
alarmed,  forgetting  that  it  is,  after  all,  only  a  local  ulcer ;  that  the 
advancing  sentiment  of  the  world's  civilization  is  every-where  focus- 
ing against  polygamy;  that  this  old  vice  has  already  disappeared 
from  vast  areas  where  it  prevailed  when  this  century  opened,  and 
that  with  such  a  broad,  dense  environment  Mormonism  can  have  no 
sure  lease  of  the  future.  The  specter  of  Romanism  flits  continually 
before  the  vision  of  others,  causing  grave  fears  ;  but  they  forget  that 
Romanism  in  playing  her  best  card  by  transferring  her  adherents 
from  other  lands  has  lost  more  than  she  has  gained ;  that  Roman- 
ism has  already  lost  much  of  her  hideous  character ;  that  it  is  not  a 
question  of  choice  on  her  part,  but  an  inevitable  necessity,  that  she 
must  be  still  more  radically  modified  and  improved,  and  that  all 
such  changes  will  bring  her  nearer  to  the  likeness  of  apostolic  Chris- 
tianity. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  God's  kingdom  is  fostered  by  a  beneficent 
Providence  whose  scope  is  too  vast  for  finite  thought  ;  whose  strategy 
is  too  profound  for  us  to  fathom,  and  too  broad  to  be  measured  by 
a  nation  or  a  decade ;  whose  movements  are  sometimes  by  mighty 
armies,  sometimes  by  great  migrations,  and  sometimes  by  the  silent 
sifting  of  ideas ;  whose  deadly  foes  are  often  made  unwitting  but 
effective  servants ;  whose  skies  may  be  overcast  with  clouds,  but 
whose  darkest  clouds  are  always  under  a  brightly  shining  sun.  If 
there  are  any  grounds  for  grave  apprehensions,  there  certainly 
should  be  no  trailing  of  banners  nor  folding  of  arms.  The  Prov- 
idence under  whom  we  work  helps  those  who  toil  in  faith.  To  the 
front,  then.  Christian  men  and  virtuous  citizens,  in  every  good  work. 
March  and  toil  in  the  fore-gleams  of  brighter  days,  shouting  back 
to  the  advancing  multitudes: 

"  THE  MORNING   COMETH!" 


INDEX. 


781 


/ 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Rev.  Abiel,  D.D.,  210,  444,  493. 

F.  E.,  638,  639. 

Rev.  Lyman,  D.D.,646 
Sfunuel,  439. 
Abenakis,  52,  etc.,  55,  56. 
Abolition  in  Rhode  Island,  Conn.,  etc.,  360. 

societies,  early,  355. 
Abolitionist,  The,  468. 
Academies,  239,  240. 
Acadia,  56,  332. 
Act  of  Unifwrmity,  121. 
Actuary,  Mr.  Elliot,  the,  750. 
Adams,  Hon.  John,  205,  320,  351,  473- 

Hon.  John  Quincy,  113,  263,  476. 

Hon.  Samuel,  259. 

Rev.  Nehemiah,  D.D.,  497. 
Addison,  reference  to,  138. 
•Address  to  Pius  IX.  by  Presbyterians,  590. 
Adulteration  'if  Liquors,  447. 
Africa,  opened,  363. 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  286. 

Slavery  in  Colonies,  222    etc. 
Age  0/ Reason,   Paine's,  315,  316. 
Agassiz,  Professor,  655. 
Agitations,  260. 

Agnosticism,  inadequacy  of,  666. 
Agreements  in  Colonial  Charters,  86. 
Ahatsistari,  59. 
Aikin,  Robert,  350,  419. 
Alarm  in  Canada,  63. 
Albright,  Rev.  Jacob,  286,  479. 
Alcohol  and  Science  572. 

Alcott,  Mr.  ,  655. 

Alden,  J.  W.,  469. 

Alexander,  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald,  144,  370. 

Rev   Charles,  D.D.,  238. 
Algonquin,  52,  69,  173. 
.•\liens,  757,  etc. 
Allen,  Rev.  C.  H.,  295. 

Rev.  John,  U.D.,  493. 

Rev.  Richard.  286,  478. 
Allison,  Rev.  Patrick,   U.D.,  28r. 
Alouez,  Claudius,  70. 
Altham,  John,  67. 
.American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  420. 

and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  405,  406. 

Board  C.  F.  M.,  411.  etc. 

Education  Society,  431. 

Home  Missionary  Society,  395,  396,  403. 

Jews'  Annual,  624. 

Missionary  Association,  406. 

Protestant,  594. 

Protestant  Society,  405. 

Quarterly  Register,  121,  128.  130.  132,  183, 
253,  254,  255,  287,  294,  298,  .177.  378.  390 
392,  397,  425,  429.  43«.  435.  437.  439.  S'8 
549,  730,  758. 

Sunday-School  Union,  427,  691,  etc. 

Temperance  Society,  396. 


American  Tract  Society,  394,  684. 
Amherst  College,  revivals  in,  377. 
Amsterdam,  Classis  of,  87. 
Anabaptists,  115. 
Anarchists,  645,  646. 
Ancre,  Marechal,   124. 
Anderson,  Rev.  J 'hn,  D.D.,  281,  438. 
Andover  Manual,  218. 
Rei'iew.  177,  etc. 

Theological  Seminary,  411,  412,  500. 
Andrew,  Rev.  Bishop  J.  O  ,  D.D.,  481. 
Andrews,  Hon.  John  A.,  572. 
Stephen  Pearl,  534. 
Rev.  William,  187 
Andros,  in  Boston,  36,  109. 
Anglo  Sa.xon  Blood,  30. 

Saxon  League,  156. 
Annals  0/  Propaganda.  121. 
Anthropoid  Apes,  657. 
Anti-Burgher  Syncxl,  40. 
Antislavery  and  the  Churches,  448-473. 
in  the  Colonial  Era,  224,  228. 
Reform,  "365. 
Seed-Sowing,  355,  360. 
Anti-Synodalia,  200. 
Appleton,  Rev.  Jesse,  D.D.,  444. 

Rev.  Nathaniel,  205. 
Appleton' s  Cyclopedia,  197,  506,  530,  54 1- 
Architecture,  Church,  158. 
Argyll,  Captain,  90,  127. 
Arianism,  145,  194,  196,  503,  662. 
.Arkansas,  The,  74,  76. 
Arminianism,  204,  208,  300,  669. 
Aman,  Rev.   Robert,  282. 
Arnold,  Benedict,  53. 

Matthew,  665. 
Artiller)',  Election  Day,  262. 
Asbury,  Rev.  Bishop   Francis,  38,  42,  26S,  284, 

286,  332,  426. 
Asia,  missions  in,  705. 
Associate  Refi)rmed  Church,  40,  490. 
Reform  Synod,  679. 
Synod  of  North  America,  678. 
Asylum  in  America,  125. 
Athanasian  Creed,  The,  205. 
Atheism,  319  etc,  653,  774. 
Atlantic  Monthly,  640. 
Attitude,  the  Unitarian,  303. 
Augustinians,  588. 
Augustus  Ca?sar,  t26. 
Austria,  increase  of  population  in,  758. 
Axley,  Rev.  James,  389. 
Aztec  Priesthood,  17. 


EiABCOCK,  Rev.Rufus,  D.D.,  38,  147- 
Backu",  Rev.  Aziel,  D.D.,  146. 

Rev.  Charles  D.D.,  251. 

History  of  Baptists,  1 10. 
Bacon,  Benjamin  C,  455- 


782 


■•^^, 


CHRISTIAXITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Bacon,  Rev.  David,  401. 
Lord,  28. 

.  /mws  0/  Maryland,  95. 
Rev.  Leonard,  D.D.,  116,  151,  434,  472. 
Badger,  Rev.  Joseph,  298,  349,  382. 
Bailey,  Dr.  Joshua,  471. 
Baird,  Rev.  Robert,    D.  D.,  255,   256,  282,324, 

405,  420,  447.  48?)  48a,  489.  742- 
Balboa,  14,  17. 
Balch,  Rev.  Hezekiah,  294. 

Rev.  James,  294. 

Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  B.,  282. 
Baldwin,  Ebenezer,  339. 
Balfour,  Rev.  Walter,  510. 
Ballou,  Rev.  Adin,  307,  536. 

Rev.  Hosea,  D.D.,  211,  218,  307,  510. 
Faltimore,  Catholics  in,  328. 

Lord,  67. 
Ballot  for  church  members  only,  101. 
Bampton  Lectures,  Riddle's,  640. 
Bancroft,  Rev.  Aaron,  D.  D.,  302. 

Hon.   George,   LL.D.,  2^,  31,  46,  56,  57,  60, 
64,  78,   85.   87,    88,  89,  96,    100,    101,  256, 
27s.  277.  766,  767. 
Bangs,  Rev.  Nathan,  D.D.,  349,  382,  386,  399, 

464. 
Banishment,  laws  for,  104. 
Banner  0/ Light,  The,b\\. 
Baptsm  of  children,  151,  163. 
Baptist  Church,  growth  of.  373. 

Church  and  Abolition,  465. 

Clergy,  254. 

Education  Society,  432. 

Ministers,  283,  285. 

Missionary  Union,  413,  etc. 

Publication  Society,  422. 

Schism,  482,  etc. 
Baptists,  105,  139,  254,  255,  256,  483. 

and  Unitarians,  501. 

Anti-Mission,  48^. 

German,  42. 

German  Seventh-day,  42. 

History  of ,  by  Benedict,  in,  117. 

in  Maine,  38,  in. 

in  Swansea,  Mass,  in. 

in  the  Revolution,  283. 

in  the  West,  293,  294,  383. 

in  Virginia,  in,  147. 

laws  against,  114. 

persecuted,  38.  117. 

Seventh-day,  38. 

Six-Principle,  38. 

Southern,  677. 

statistics  of.  283,  728,  734,  735,  739. 

the  first  in  Massachusetts,  37. 
Baptizo  and  Bible  Society,  421. 
Barclay,  Rev.  Thomas,  187. 
Barnard,  Rev.  Thomas,  D.D.,  492. 
Barnes,  Rev.  David,  D.  D..  492. 

Rev.  Thomas,  210,  211. 
Barrel  of  Rum,  157. 
Bartlett,  William,  412,  439. 
Bartol.  Rev  C.  A.,  D.D  ,  505. 
Barrow,  Dr.,  born,  27. 
Barrows,  Rev.  S.  J.,  D.D.,  27,  28. 
Barry  Commodore,  326. 
Baxter.  Rev.  Dr.  G.  A.,  370. 
Bayards,  The,  33. 
Bay  ley,  Rev.  Bishop,  178. 
Beecher,  Rev.  Edward,  D.D.,  4-54 

Rev.  H.  W.,  472,  660. 

Rev.  Lyman,  D.D,,  323,  442,  444.  474.  496. 
Beers,  Hon.  S.  P.,  354. 


Belief,  Religious,  94. 

Belknap,  Rev.  Jeremy,  D.D.,  306,  353,  356. 

Bell,  Jonathan,  165. 

Bells,  Church,  159,  160. 

Bellamy,    Rev.   Joseph,    D.D.,    146,    213,    251, 

426. 
Bellows,  Rev.  H.  W.,  D.D.,  630,  770. 
Belsham,  Rev.  James,  494. 
Benedict's  History  0/ Baptists   03,  120. 
Benevolence,  Pecuniary,  714-717. 

tested,  715,  716. 
Benevolent  Organizations,  398-440. 
Benezet,  Anthony,  227,  228. 
Bennett,  Judge,  295. 
Benneville,  George  De,  209. 
Benton,  Hon.  Thomas  H.,  566. 
Bentley,  Rev.  William,  D.D.,  302,  493. 
Berean  Lessons,  692. 
Berkeley,  Sir  William,  92,  231. 
Bewley,  Rev.  Anthony,  470. 
Biard,  the  Jesuit,  191. 
Bible,  Eliot's  Indian,  131,  177,  r8o. 
Christians,  676. 
denounced,  467. 
excluded,  599. 
in  Schools,  554. 
Readers,  690. 
Roman  Catholic,  335. 
Societies,  364  417,  419. 
the,  and  Science,  658,  660. 
the  English  recog^nized,  28. 
vindicated,  658. 
Bibles,  350. 
and  Congress,  350. 
burned,  554. 
Biblical  Repository,  424. 
Bibliotheca  Sacra,  134. 
Biddle,  John,  196. 
Bigot,  James,  56. 

Vincent,  55. 
Bill  of  Rights,  Massachusetts,  157. 
Bimey,  Hon.  J.  G.,  451. 
Bishop  of  London,  97,  134-136. 
Bishops,  Non-juring,  134. 
Blackburn,  Rev.  Dr.  Gideon,  294. 
Blair,  Rev.  James,  D.D.,  92,  134,  242,  243. 
Blue  Laws,   115,  n6,  265. 
Board  of  Education  of  Massachusetts,  235. 
Bockholdt,  John,  115. 
Boehm,  Rev.  Mr.,  286. 

Revs.  John  and  Philip,  41. 
Bogardus,  Rev.   Everardus,  38. 
Boiling  Prisoners,  124. 
Bolingbroke,  Lord,  195. 
Bonaparte's  Movements,  364. 
Bond-maids,  222 
Book  Concrrn,  Methodist,  421. 

Southern,  Methodist,  424. 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  97. 
f-iook  of  .Mormon,  540. 
Books,  Roman  Catholic,  335. 

given  to  Harvard  College,  242. 
Boone,  General,  292. 
Boston    Baptists  in,  ni. 
churches  in,  747. 
City  Missions,  408  409, 
first  church  in,  129. 
Journal.  540,  581. 

Memorial  History  of,  109,  175,  176,  178,  193. 
Ministers  in  Virginia,  128. 
Recorder,  425,  448. 
revival  in,  143 
Romanism  in,  ^y^ 


INDEX. 


783 


Boyle  Robert,  243. 

Roudinot,  Hon.  Elias,  z^,  399,  420. 

Bourdon,  Sieur,  64. 

Bowditch,  Henry  I.,  M.  D  ,  572. 

Bowdoins,  The,  ^.  ^ 

Bowles,  Rev.  Lucius,  502.  ..•„•        y 

Bowman,  Rev.  Elisha,  H.,  381,  387; 

Bowne,  Rev.  George,  453.  ;'J.^" 

Rev.  Richard,  18 1.  >' 

Professor  B.  P.,  LL.D.,  652,  653,  659. 
Brace,  Rev.  Joab  D.D.,  252. 
Braddock,  General;  290. 
Bradford,  Hon.  Alden,  LL.D.,  aciy,  207,  208,302. 

Gamaliel,  M.  D.,  36,  444 
Brainerd,  Rev.  David,  144,  184,  187,  251. 
Brainerd,  Rev.  John,  146,  189. 
Brattle  Street  Church,  Boston,  165. 
Brebeuf,  Jean  de,  47,  50,  etc. 
Breckenridge,  Rev.  R.  J.,  D. D.,  461,  549. 
Brandt,  Robert,  95. 
Bressani,  Joseph,  63. 
Brewster,  Margaret,  114. 
Brisbane,  Albert,  536 
Bristol  Academy,  239. 
Bristow,  Rev.   Dr.,  247. 
British  Scientific  Association,  658. 
Britt,  Rev.  Pliny,  478. 
Broad  Church,  630. 
Bronson,  Orestes  A.,  LL.D.,  505,  535. 
Brook  Farm,  535. 

Community,  629. 
Brooks,  Hon.  Erastus,  597. 

Rev.  E.  G.,  D.D.,  513. 
Brotherhoods,  604. 
Brown,  Rev.  J.  A.,  D.D  ,  134. 
i      John,  470. 

Nicholas,  249. 

University,  249. 
Brownelle,  Rev.  T.  C,  D.D.  LL.D.,  445. 
Brownlee,  Rev.  W.  C.  D.D.,  405. 
Brownlow,  Parson.  471. 
Brum,  Moses,  439. 
Brunot,  Hon.  Felix  R.,  318. 
Brunson,  Rev.  A.,  388,  392,  394. 
Brutality,  344,  345. 
Bryant  quoted,  16,  19,  24. 
Buckminster,  Rev.  J.  S.,  277,  493. 
Buckland,   Richard,  92. 
Buckner,  Rev.  J.  Conrad,  270, 
Buddington,  Rev.  Dr..  150. 
Buell,  Rev.  David,  D.D.,  354. 

Rev.  Samuel,  282,  146. 
Buffun,  Arnold.  455. 
Burgess, 'Rev.  Bishop,  194,  301,  198,  206. 
Burgher  Synod,  40. 
Bundling,  218. 

Burke,  Hon,  Edmund,  262,  523,  717,  765. 
^\y[\C%  History  0/  Virginia,    89,   90,   117,    126, 

128,  243. 
Burling,  William,  226. 
Burnett,  Bishop,  114. 
Burr,  Rev.  Aaron,  246. 
Burton,  Rev.  Asa,  D.D.,  67,  251. 

Robert,  28. 
Bushnell,  Rev.  Horace,  D. D.,  773. 
Byrne,  Rev.  Stephen,  617. 


Cabot,  14,  24. 

Calaboza,  The,  390. 

Calhoun,  Hon.  J.  C,  448,  566,  568. 

California,  22,  79. 

Calvert,  Cecil,  67. 


Calvert,  Sir  George,  67. 
Calvin  and  Loyola  Meet,  57. 
Calvin's  Catechism,  167. 
Calvinism,  204,  211,  300,  669. 

Improved,  210. 
Calvinistic  Methodists,  211. 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  Church,  13c,  131. 
Camp,  Hon.  David  N.,  234,  239. 
Campbell,  Rev.  Thomas,  485. 

Sir  George,  658. 
Campbellites,  485. 
Canada  ceded,  58. 
Cancer,  Father  Louis,  19. 
Canterbury,  Archbishop  of,  97. 
Cap  of  Liberty,  321,  322. 
Capital  Offenses,  104,  122. 
Cardenas,  Bishop  of,  334. 
Carey,  Mathew,  335. 
Carlyle,  509,  663. 
Carmelite  Nuns,  335. 
Caron.  Le,  50. 
Carrick,   Rev.  Samuel. 
Carroll,  Bishop,  58,  95,  119,  326-8,  544. 

Daniel,  119. 
Cartier,  14,  17,  44,  45. 
Cartwright,   Peter,  Rev.",  299,  348. 
Case,  Rev.  V\  illiam,  387. 
Cathay,  The  Fair,  15. 

Catechism,  31,  90,  133,  164,  167,  171,  196,  204. 
Catholic  Almanac,  615,  616. 

Bible,  335. 

Bishops,  Lives  of,  95,  328. 

Church  History.  Murray,  616. 

Hierarchy  in  United  States,  327,  328. 

Indians   322,  323. 

Missions,  621. 

Statistics.  556-558.  585-623,  751-755, 

Syni  d.  The  First.  330. 

Telegraph,    The,  616. 

Union,  The,  616. 

World.  The.  615,  616. 
Catholics  and  Quakers.  121. 

and  the  Revolution,  8i,  326. 

Backslidden,  615. 

in  Maryland,  68,  119. 

in  the  West,  336. 
Cavaliers,  30,  757. 
Celt.  The,  616. 
Celtic  Element  in  the  Population  of  the  United 

States,  620. 
Century,  quoted.  221.  222. 
Centennial  of  Temperance  Reform.  574. 
Chamberlain,  Dea.,  165. 
Champtain.  17,  44,  45-  47-  49  59- 
Channing,  Rev.  W.  E.,  LL.D  ,  444,  494,  535. 

66t. 
Channing,  Rev.  W.  H.,  505,  507,  535. 
Chapels.  Wesleyan,  747. 
Chapin,  Rev.  Calvin,  D.D.,  252,  412,  445. 
Charity,  Daughters  of.  546. 
Charities   of    Roman    Catholic    Churcl-,    609- 

611. 
Charles  I.,  27. 

H.,  32,  107,  138. 
Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  First  Church,  150. 
Charlevoix,  55,  78. 
Charter  Governments,  85. 
Charter  of  Maryland  Colony,  68. 
Charters  Lost  in  1688,  85. 
Chartres,  Fort,  fall  of,  291. 
Chase,  Hon.  Salmon  P.,  460. 
Chastity,  578,  etc. 
Chaudiere,  Falls  of  St.,  54. 


784 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Chauncy.  Rev.  Charles,    D.D.,  ace,  ao6,  241, 

263,  306. 
Chautauqua  Assembly,  The,  692. 
Cheever,  Erekiel.  240. 

Rev.  G.  B..  D.D.,  447,  469- 
Chersonesus,  Aura.  15. 
Chevenis,  Bishop,  .329,  333.  etc. 
Chicatabut,  176. 

Chickering,  Rev.  J.  W.,  D.D..  443. 
Child,  Hon.  Linus,  572. 
Children  Baptized,  151,  152. 
Chimneys  in  Churches,  158. 
Chippeways,  The.  6g,  70,  71. 
Christ  discarded  and  honored,  508,  661,  662. 
•'  Christo  et  Ecclesia.'"  435. 
Christian  Advocate,  425,  591. 

Alliance,  406. 

Beginnings  in  the  West,  383,  etc. 

Commission.  687.  695. 

Disciple,  The,  424,  494. 

Examiner,   The,  424,  494,  503,  654. 
662. 

Freeman,  The,  511. 

Intelligencer,  The,  425,  453. 

Register,  The,  508,  634. 

Retrospect  and  Register,  420. 

Spectator,  The,  374.  375,  424. 

Union  Churclies,  676. 

Union,  The.  455,  618. 

Witness,    The,  678. 

World,  595. 
Christians,  The.  285,  515,  517,  678. 
Christianity,  Growth  of,  731,  742. 
Christlieb,  Rev.  Pfof..  640. 
Church  and  State,  82-124,  273,  277. 

Attendance,  90. 

Bells,  159,  160. 

Legislation  for,  91. 

of  Englind  in  Maine,  88. 

of  England  in  Maryland,  95. 

of  England  in  New  York,  98. 

of  God,  484. 

Property,  Roman  Catholic,  597,  598. 

Statistics,  256,  733-755- 

Tenure,  595,  etc. 
Churches  Desecrated,  266. 

in  Boston,  747. 

in  Cities,  747. 

Indepjendent,  83. 

in  New  York,  234,  255. 

in  Utah,  649. 

"  Liberal,"  751. 

of  New  Eingland,  105. 

Organic  Changes  in,  478-491. 

Organized,  35,  43. 
Churchman,  High,  83. 
Cincinnati  founded,  295. 
Citizenship  of  Church  Members,  loi. 
City  Missions,  408-410,  682,  747. 

Populations,  623,  743-748,  751. 
Cities,  Romanism  in,  621,  etc. 
Civil  War,  The,  571,  687,  688,  694. 
Clapp,  Rev.  Thomas,  166,  245. 
Clarendon,  Lord,  27. 
Clark,  John,  no. 

Rev.  Joseph  S.,  D.  D.,  278,  386,  499,  500. 

Rev.  Laban,  D.D.,  539. 
Clarke,  Rev.  James  Freeman,  D.D.,  470,  471 

Rev.  Philip,  209. 

Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  197. 
Clarkson.  Hon.  Thomas,  227. 
Classis  of  Amsterdam,  87,  97,  120. 
Claybome,  67. 


Clergy,  Episcopal  in  New  York,  97. 
Immoral,  149. 
in  England,  121,  etc. 
in  New  England,  472. 
Legislation  for,  91,  etc. 
Patriotic,  261,  etc. 
Cleveland,  Charles,  408. 
Clothing,  344, 
Coan,  Rev.  Titus,  251. 
Cobb,  Rev.  Sylvanus,  211,  511. 
Cobbett,  Rev.  Thomas,  163,  212. 
Codding,  Ichabod,  460.     _Jv 
Codman,  Rev.  John,  494. 
Coetus,  formed,  41.    _> 
Cofifin,  Joshua,  455. 
Coke,  Bishop  Thomas,  284,  352. 
Cold  Water  Army,  447. 
Coleman,  Benjamin,  183. 

Elihu,  226. 
Coleridge,  509. 
Colfax,  Hon.  S.,  648 
College  of  William  and  Mary,  135, 
Revivals,  376-378. 

Statistics,  250,  435-437,  611,  etc.,  724-729. 
Colleges,  Admission  to,  239. 

Curriculum  in,  249,  250. 

in  Colonies,  240-250. 
Collins,  195. 

Collier,  Rev.  William,  445. 
Colored  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  676. 

Methodist  Churches,  676. 
Colonists,  Character  of,  34,  35,  127. 
Colony,  Russo-Jewish,  624. 
Colportage,  683-685. 
Columbia  College,  246,  247. 
Columbian  Star,  The,  422. 
Columbus,  13,  14,  23. 
Combe,  509,  530. 
Comeouters,  467,  529. 
Common  Schools  Started,  230,  etc. 

Contest,  551,  etc.,  599-603. 
Commentaries,  Storey's,  84. 
Communicants,  Statistics  of,  733-755. 
Compact,  85,  98. 
Company,  The  London,  85,  90,  91,  127. 

Mississppi,  291. 

Ohio,  291. 

Royal  African,  223. 

Transylvania,  291. 

Virginia,  128. 

West  India,  87,  97,  133. 
Comte,  quoted,  654. 
"  Conception  River,"  74. 
Confederacy,  Southern,  568. 

The  Iroquois,  58,  59. 
Confederation,  The  Old,  565. 
Congregational  Churches,  Growth  of,  373. 

Churches  in  Massachusetts,  499. 

Churches  in  the  Revolution,  267,  278. 

Ministers,  278. 

Mission  Early  in  Virginia,  116. 

Publicati'  'n  Society,  423. 

Quarterly,    103,  113,  114,    131,  155,  251,  252, 
424,  460,  466. 
Congregationalist,   The,  quoted,  123,  124,  577. 
Congjegationalists,  139. 

and  Slavery,  359,  360,  459,  460,  etc. 

in  the  West,  297,  298,  384,  etc. 
Congregationalism  founded  in  America,  36,  etc. 

in  New  England,  253-256. 

in  New  Jersey,  37. 
Congress  and  Bibles,  350,  419 

and  Liquors,  347. 


Ajndex. 


783 


Congress  and  Toleration,  326.  ^ 

Prayer  in,  266. 
Connecticut  Colony  Government,  85,  io»,  103. 

Evangelical  Magazine,  411,  424. 

Gazette,  223. 

Home  Missions,  400. 
Conscience  and  Liberty,  87,  etc,  94,  py,  etc. 
Constitution  of  United  States,  ^173^  ^,  563, 

568.  -''. 

Constitutions  of  Early  Colonies,  9^96. 
Consumption  of  Liquors,  447. 
Conventj  First  in  Quebec,  47. 
Conventicle  Act,  The,- 121.  ,^ 

Convergent  Currents,  65r^76.     -^ 
Conversion  of  Indians  by  Jesuits,  77,  174. 
Cook,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  263. 
Cooke,  Rev.  Parsons,  D.D.,  500. 
Cooper,  Rev.  Ezekiel,  421, 

Rev.  Myles,  247. 

Thomas,  Dr.,  319,  320,  523,  524. 
Cornelius,  Rev.  Elias,  D.D.,  376,  384,  399,  431, 

435. 
Corruption  of  Manners,  212,  etc. 
Cortez,  17,  22. 
Cost  of  Living,  344,  etc. 
Council  of  Virginia,  126,  129. 
Councils,  Roman  Catholic,  554-55)5,  586. 
Counter  Appeal,  463. 
Cotton,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  29,  177,  i8r,  199. 

Rev.  Rowland,  181. 
Couture,  59. 

Cox,  Rev.  S.  H.,  D.D.,  402. 
Craighead,  Rev.  John,  265. 

Rev.  Thomas  B.,  295,  368. 
Crawford,  Rev.  James,  295. 
Crime,  580,  etc.,  695. 
Crocker,  Rev.  John,  480. 
Cromwell,  27,  94,  177. 
Crooks,  Rev.  Dr.,  282. 
Culmination  of  Intemperance.  440,  etc. 
Cumberland  Presbyterians,  308,  487. 
Cummings,  Rev.  Charles,  294. 

Rev.  Bishop  George  B.,  D.D.,  676. 
Cummings,  Rev.  Henry,  D.D.,  492. 
Cunningham,  Abner,  319. 
Curtis,  Hon.  George  Ticknor,  84. 

Hon.  George  W.,  570. 

Rev.  Richard,  384. 
Gushing,  Rev.  Christopher,  D.D.,  670,  etc. 

Matthew,  247. 
Cushman,  Robert,  173. 
Customs,  Religious,  153,  etc. 
Cutler,  Rev.  Manasseh,  LL.D.,  291,  297. 

Rev.  Timothy,  D.D.,  245. 
Cyrenius,  653. 


D\pLON,  Rev.  Father,  55. 

Dagg,  Rev.  J.  L.,  D.D.,  423. 

Daggett,  Rev.  Naphtali,  D.D.,  146,  245. 

Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  8g,  127. 

Dana,  Professor,  642. 

Dane,  Hon.  Nathan,  443. 

Danforth,  Rev.  Samuel,  137. 

Daniel,  Anthony,  47. 

Dartmouth  College,  144,  192,  248,  249,  287,  377. 

Lord,  192,  268. 
Darwin,  quoted,  656,  657. 
Daughaday,  Rev.  George,  436. 
Davenport,  Rev.  James,  143. 

Rev.  John,  202,  244. 

Nathaniel,  219. 
Davidson,  Rev.  Robert,  264. 
50 


Davis,  Andrew  Jackson,  640,  650. 
Rev.  Dr.  Emerson,  433,  474- 
Rev.  Noah,  422. 

Da  vies.  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  118,  146,  etc,  225, 
226,  246,  316. 

Dawson,  Sir  William,  658. 

Day,  Stephen,  131. 

Deaconesses,  688. 

Dean,  Rev.  Paul,  307,  512. 

Dearborn,  General,  y6. 

Death  Penalties,  122,  123. 

De  Courcy,  quoted,  68,  94,  95,  1 19,  336,  550. 

Deerfield  Adademy,  239. 

Defalcations,  Roman  Catholic,  588. 

Defaming  the  Clergy,  91. 

Deism,  English,  195,  196. 

De  Kalb,  331. 

Delaware  Indians,  187. 
Lord,  89,  126. 
Lutherems  in,  133. 
Settled,  32. 

"  Delenda  est  Christianitas^''  650. 

Delevan,  Hon.  E.  C,  445,  477. 

Democratic  Societies,  273. 

Dennison,  Rev.  C.  W.,  457. 

Denominational  Test,  750-756. 

Derby  Academy,  239. 

Derry  Presbyterians,  213. 

Descartes,  28,  194,  766,  767. 

De  Soto,  14,  16,  17. 

D'Estang,  Count,  333. 

Detroit  Morals,  381,  382,  392  394. 

Devil,  The,  Complimented,  20. 

De  Wette,  509,  661. 

De  Witt,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas,  146. 

Dexter,  Hon.  Samuel,  LL.D.,  207,  443. 
Rev.  H.  M.,  D  D.,  123,  124,  472. 

Dial,  The,  535,  629. 

D'lberville,  75. 

Dickens,  Charles,  416. 
Rev.  John,  421. 

Dickey,  Rev.  James,  451. 

Dickinson,  Rev.  Jonathan,  207,  245. 

Digging  for  Money,  220. 

Dike,  Rev.  S.  W.,579. 

Dioceses,  Roman  Catholic,  546,  547. 

Disciples,  485. 

Discipline,  History  of,  at  New  Haven,  ii6. 

Discoverers,  26,  74. 

Disestablishment,  83,  776. 

Dissent,  in  New  York  Colony,  97,  98. 

Dissenters  excluded  from  Virginia,  117,  ii3. 

Distilled  Liquors,  Origin  of,  440. 

Distillery,  Deacon  Giles's,  447. 

Disorder  at  Ordinations,  151. 

Divergent  Currents,  194-211,  300-312,  492,  etc., 

624,  etc. 
Divorce,  555,  578,  etc. 
Dix,  Rev.  Dr.,  97. 
Doak,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.,  294. 

Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  294. 
Dobbin,  Rev.  Dr.,  417. 
Doctrinal  Restatement,  671,  672. 
Documents,  Colonial,  98. 
Doddridge,  Rev.  Dr.,  135. 
Dodge,  Rev.  William  E.,679. 
Dominicans,  The,  19. 
Dominie,  The,  154. 
Doolittle,  Hon.' Mark,  445. 
Domer,  Dr.  J.,  680,  765,  778. 
Doubting  Thomases,  533. 
Dougan,  Governor,  97. 
Douglass,  Hon.  S.  A.,  472. 


786 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Dowj  Rev.  Lorenzo,  387. 

Dowiingj  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  530. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  w; 

Dred  Scott  Decision,  472,  S^?- 

Drew,  Rev.  J.  A.,  445- 

Drifting,  502,  503. 

Drinking  Habits,  212-214. 

Druellettes,  Father  Gabriel,  53,  54,  55. 

Dubois,  Bishop,  329,  549. 

Dubourg,  Bishop,  329. 

Duchd,  Rev.  Jacob,  D.D.,  266,  311. 

Dudley,  Givemor,  io6. 

Duelling,  342,  772, 

Duffield,  Rev.  George,  D.D.,  146,  281. 

Dummer  Academy,  239. 

William,  183, 
Dunkers,  The,  42,  285. 
Dunster,  Rev.  Henry,  175,  241. 
Durbm,  Rev.  J.  P.,  D.D.,  428. 
Dutch  Church,  31,  38,  87,  136. 

Colonies,  Religion  m,  133. 

Dominies,  213. 

Language  in  New  York  Colony,  278. 

Republic,  27. 
Dwight,  Rev.  Timothy,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  196,  201, 
244,  245,  314,  315,  3191  etc.,  418. 

E 

Earthquake  in  New  England,  139. 
East,  Route  to  the,  13. 
Eastburn,  ReV.  Joseph,  415. 
Eaton,  Gen.,  Report,  612,  730. 

Rev.  Peter,  D.D.,493. 
Eckley,  Rev.  Joseph,  D.D.,  306. 

Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  496. 
Eddy,  Rev.  D.  C,  D.D.,  500,  502. 
Edgar,  Henry,  53^. 
Education,  Agenaes  of,  426,  etc. 

and  Romcinism,  611,  etc. 

Christian,  229,  etc. 

in  Colonies,  23P,  etc. 

in  West,  396,  etc.,  433,  434. 

in  Utah,  649. 

of  Ministry  ,  430. 
Edward  HI.,  171. 

\a.,  167. 

Edwardean  Revival,  202. 

Edwards,  Rev.  B.  B,,  D.D.,  431,  435. 

Rev.  Jonathan,  140,  204,  218,  246,  306,  360, 
669. 

Works  of  J  141. 

Rev.  Justm,  D.D.,  399,  444,  476,  477,  575. 
Eggleston,  Rev.  Ed  warn,  221,  222,  692. 
Elder,  Rev.  John,  281 
Election  Day  in  Colonies,  262. 
Eliot,  George,  663,  664. 

Rev.  John,  54,  131,  174-183,  193,  225,  492. 
Elliott,  Rev.  Charles,  D.D.,  358,  431. 
Ellis,  Rev.  George  E.,  D.D.,  175,  178. 
Ellsworth,  Hon.  Oliver,  251. 

Hon.  W.  W.,  434. 
Emancipation,  452,  562-570,  769. 
Emancipator,  The,  457,  469. 
Embassy  to  Canada,  328. 
Embury,  Philip,  43,  689. 
Emelyn's  Incjuiry,  205. 
Emerson's  History  of  First  Church,  Boston,  129, 

132- 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  504,  506,  569,  535, 629, 
639,  655. 

Rev.  William,  493,  504. 
Emigration,  E^ly  Anglo-American,  147,  291. 


Emmons,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  402,  670. 
Emory,  Rev.  Bishop  John,  D.D.,  463. 
England,  Rev.   Bishop,  81,  121,327,  548,  etc^ 

615,  618,  763. 
English  Chtirch,  91.  : 

English  Enter  Florida,  78,  ;; 

Episcopal  Board  of  Missions,  4x4.  / 

Episcopal  Church  and  the  Revolution,  s  79. 

Clergy,  354. 

Founded,  35,  36,  274. 

in  Delawcire.  96.  . 

in  Maryland,  135.       ^ 

in  New  England,  109. 

in  New  York  Colony,  120,  136. 

in  Southern  Colonies,  134,  139,  etc. 

Record,  279.  '.,•      ...^■. 

Reformed  Church,  676.  'i^;  :\g:^-ki 

Ethics,  Negative  and  Biblical,  663,  66^'      '  -•^'■ 
Evangelical  Alliance  Volume,  650. 

Association,  The,  286,  479. 

Knowledge  Society,  423. 
Evangelizing  Agencies,  700,  etc. 
Evaxts,  Jeremiah,  399,  418,  442,  444. 
Everett,  Edward,  Hon.,  302,  444,  458,  472«49it-^ 

501.  .   ^'r.-,.. 

Evolution,  656.  ■■'■f% 

Ewer,  Rev,  F.  C,  D.D.,  651.  . -Jf 

Ewing,  Rev.  John,  D.D. ,280. 
Exeter  Hall  Lectures,  The,  686. 
Exhibition,  The  Worid's,  686. 
Exiled  Churches,  The,  499. 

French  Clergy,  329,  330. 
Exploit,  Bold,  70. 

F 

Faith,  extended,  674. 

Iconoclastic,  673. 
Falls  of  St.  Mary,  70. 
Family,  The,  341. 
Fast  Days,  130,  171,  349. 
Fee,  Rev.  J.  G.,  471. 
Felt,  Joseph  B.,  199. 
Fichte,  661. 
Fifty  Cities,  743,  etc. 
Finley,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert,  371. 

Rev.  J.  B.,  D.D.    295. 

Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  143. 
Finney,  Rev.  Charles  G.,  D.D.,  374,  460. 
Fisher,  Professor,  LL.D.,  194. 
Fisk,  Professor  John,  651,  653,  655. 

Rev.  Ezra,  384. 

Rev.  John,  169,681. 

Rev.  Wilbur,  D.D.,  445,  462. 
Fitch,  Hon.  James,  244. 
Fitzpatrick,  Rev.  Bishop,  598. 
Five  Nations,  58,  59. 
Flaget,  Rev.  Bishop,  329,  335,  554. 
Flagg,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  155. 
Fletcher,  Colonel  Benjamin,  35,  98. 
Flint,  Rev.  James,  D.D.,  493. 
Flogging  Servants,  222. 
Florida,  18,  78,  291. 
Foot  Stoves,  159. 

Foreign-bom  People,  256,  745,  etc  ,  759. 
Forbes,  Rev.  Eli,  D.D.,  188. 
Forest,  Rev.  Nath2m,  269. 
Foster,  Stephen  S.,460. 
Four  Days'  .Meetings,  375. 
Fourierism,  366,  534,  etc. 
Fouseca,  Bishop  of,  16. 
Fowler,  Rev.  Bishop  C.  H.,  LL.D.,  581. 
Fox,  George,  39. 


INDEX. 


787 


Fox  Girls,  641. 

Fox  River,  73. 

Framers  of  the  Constitution,  317. 

France  Aids  the  Colonies,  326,  327. 

Increase  of  Population,  758. 
Franchise  in  the  Colonies,  199.  ^ 

Franciscans,  The,  19,  20,  21,  etc.,  46,  50,  79. 
Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  317,  326,  351. 
Freedmen,  The,  710,  711. 
Freedom,  Religious,  68,  83,  96,  97. 
Free  Inquiry,  766,  768. 

Methodist  Church,  The,  676. 

Religion,  509,  635-639. 

Soil  Party,  472. 

Will  Baptists,  The,  211,  285,  414,  461,  483. 
Freeman,  Rev.  Bemardus,  186. 

Rev.  James,  D.D.,  301,  303,  493,  494. 
Freeman's  Journal^  600,  602,  618. 
Frelinghuysen,  Hon.  T.,  445. 
French  and  Indian  War,  77,  145,  172,  195. 
;/    •  Civilization,  757. 
'l^i       Discoveries,  etc.,  44-77. 
V-       Infidelity,  313,  etc., 
iiy'       Skeptics  and  Tracts,  417. 
Friends,  39,  228,  285. 

Progressive,  the,  517,  625. 

The,  and  Slavery,  225,  226,  459. 
Frobisher,  Captain,  25. 
Frothingham,   Octavius  B.,  524,  630,  632,  638, 

639,  665. 
Froude,  James  Anthony,  651. 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  567. 
Fuller,  Margaret,  505,  535. 

Thomas,  27 
Fulton  Street  Prayer  Meetings,  694. 
Funeral  Customs,  212,  214. 

a 

Gallipolis,  Ohio,  348. 

Gannett,  W.  C,  204. 

Garnishing.  346. 

Garrettson,  Rev.  Freeborn,  269. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,    451,   452,   453,  456, 

etc.,  529. 
Gay,  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer,  205,  206. 
Gazette,  The  Boston,  280. 
Genealogical  Dictionary^  256. 
General  Assembly  Missions,  414. 
Genesis  and  Geology,  642. 
Genet,   M.,  273,  321-323. 

Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation^  The,  450. 
Geology  and  Genesis,  642. 
Georgetown  College,  329,  etc. 
Georgia  Settled,  139. 
German  Catholics,  81,  615,  763. 

Evangelical  Synod,  677. 

Newspapers,  762. 

Reformed  Church.  41. 

Seventh-Day  Baptists,  42,  285. 
Gibbon,  Edward,    195. 
Gibbons,  Rev.  Archbishop,  587. 
Gibson,  Rev.  Tobias,  296,  387. 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  25. 

Rev.  Michael,  295. 
GiUett's,    Rev.    Dr.  E.  H.,  History  of  Presby- 
terian Church,  39,   120,   1.36,  137,  144,  147, 
Ti^Z,  372,  .382,  3»5,  462,  522,  676. 
Gilmour.  Rev.  Bishop,  598. 
Girls,  Education  of,  234. 
Given,  Rev.  A.  P.,  D.D.,  677. 
Glen,  Rev.  James   310,  311. 
Gloria  in  hxcelsis,  14. 


Godwin,  Parke,  536. 

Golden  Bible,  The,  539. 

Goodell,  Rev.  William,  445,  451,  452. 

Goodrich,  Rev.  Dr.  C,  377. 

Rev.  Dr.  Elihu,  277. 
Gookin,  Daniel,  179. 
Gough,  John  B,  447. 
Governments,  Colonial,  83-87. 
Graduates  of  Colleges,  250. 
Graham's  History  of  United  States,  1 16. 
Graham,  Isabella,  427. 

Rev.  William,  265. 
Grammar,  Indian,  67. 

Schools,  233. 
Granby  Prison,  345. 
Grand  Orient,  The,  318. 
Great  Britain,  Population  of,  758. 
Greek  Catholics,  677. 
Green,  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald,  374. 

Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel,  265,  287,  374. 

Rev.  Beriah,  457. 
Greenwood's  History  of  King's  Chapel,  302. 
Grier,  Rev.  James,  281. 

Griffin,  Rev.  E.  D.,  D.D.,  371,  374,  408,  497. 
Griffith's  Annals,  95,  145. 
Grillet,  Rev.  Stephen,  524. 
Gross,  Rev.  J.  D.,  41. 
Growth  of  Churches,  732-755. 
Gruber,  Rev.  Jacob,  449. 
Gutzlaff.  364. 
Guyot,  Professor  A.,  LL.D  ,  642. 


Half-way  Covenant,  The,  108,  138,  140,  150, 

etc.,  200,  etc.,  300. 
Hall,  Gordon,  411,  412. 

Rev.  James,  D.D.,  265.  288,  384. 
Hallock,  Rev.  Dr.  William  A.,  418,  445, 
Hamilton,  Hon.  Alexander,  247,  317. 
Hampden  and  Sidney  College,  249. 
Hancock,  Hon.  John,  207. 
Harbinger,  The,  537,  629. 
Harmer,  General,  291. 
Harper,  Hon.  James,  445. 
Hart,  Rev.  Dr.  Levi,  251. 

Rev.  Luther,  374. 
Hartley,  David,  197. 
Hartman,  Professor,  654,  657,  659. 
Harvard  College,  130,  131,  241,  242,  495. 
Harvard,  Rev.  John,  241. 
Harris,  Rev.  T.  M.,  D.D.,  493. 
Harrison,  Frederick,  666. 
Haven,  Hon.  Samuel,  444. 
Hawkins,  Dexter  A.,  591. 

John,  446. 
Hawks,  Rev.   F.   L.,    D.D.,  68,  90-93,  94,  95, 

116-118,   127,   128,  135,  136,  145,  267,  431, 

432. 
Hawley,  Rev.  Gideon,  188. 
Hebrew  College,  624. 
Heck,  Paul  and  Barbara,  43. 
Hecker,  Rev.  J.  T.,  615,  616. 
Hedding,  Rev.  Bishop  Elijah,  D.D.,  463. 
Hedge,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  H.,  535. 

Rev.  Dr.  Moses,  370. 
Hegel  quoted,  66t. 
Henderson,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert,  394. 
Henry,  Patrick,   117,  147,  316. 
Heresies,  Laws  Against.  106. 
Herrick,  Miss  Elizabeth,  452. 
Heterogeneous  People,  759,  etc. 
Hewett,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  445. 


788 


CHRISTIANITY  IN   THE   UNITED  STATES. 


Hicks,  Rev.  Elias,  449-  625- 

Hicksites,  517. 

Higginson,  T.  W..  317- 

Hildreth's  History  quoted,  loo^  X04,  ips,  131, 

^97. 
Hinchman,  David,  495. 
Hines,  Rev.  J.  V.,  519. 
Hitchcock,  Rev.  Gad,  D.D.,  49a. 
Hoar,  Rev.  Leonard,  241. 
Hoboes,  28,  195. 
Hollis  Professorship,  495. 

Thomas,  242,  438,  495. 
HoUey,  Rev.  Dr.,  522. 
Holmes,  Obadiah,  no. 
Holyoke,  Rev.  Edward,  241. 
Home  Missions,  395,  396,  395,  etc.,  401,  403, 

407. 
Homoousianity,  662. 
Hopedale  Community,  535. 
Hopkins,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  205,  228,  251,  359. 

Governor  Edward,  234. 
Horribile  Decretum,  670. 
Horton,  Rev.  Jothan,  464,  480. 
Hospital,  The  First  in  Quebec,  47. 
Houston,  Hon.  Samuel,  473. 
Hour-glass,  161. 
Howe,  Mr.  D.  D.,  641. 
Hubbard,  Hon.  Samuel,  445. 
Hudson,  Henry,  31. 
Hughes,  Archbishop  John,  548,  549,  551,  552, 

554,  587,  596,  etc.,  615 
Huguenots,  19,  20,  31,  32,  33,  39,  757. 
Hull,  Rev.  Hope,  288. 
Hume,  David,  193. 

Humphrey,  Rev.  Dr.  H.,  377,  378,  442. 
Hunt,  Rev.  Thomas  P.,  445. 
Huntington,  Rev.  Joseph,  D.D.,  210,  307. 

Lady,  211. 
Hurons,  The,  49-32,  69. 

Massacre  of  the,  51. 
Hurst,  Rev.  Bishop  John  F.,  668. 
Hutchinson,  Ann,  112,  114,  131. 

Governor,  227. 
Huxley,  Professor,  653. 
Hyde,  Orson.  541. 
Hymns  and  Tunes,  164,  165. 


Iconoclasts,  29. 

Illinois  Indians,  69. 

Uluminati,  The,  318,  320. 

Immaculate  Conception,  72,  73,  555,  556,  588, 

etc. 
Immigration,  543,  57 1.  583,  585,  620,  6^3,  710, 

760-762. 
Imprisonment  for  Drbt,  344. 
Indentured  Servitude.  220-222. 
Independence,  Scotch  Declaration  of,  283. 
Independent,  The,  472,  593. 
Independent  Methodists  676. 
Indep>endents,  28,  29,  88,  100. 
Index,  The,  204,  317.  639. 
Indian  Bible,  131,  177. 

Church  Constituted,  179. 

Communities  in  Massachusetts,  179,  185. 

Emigration,  185,  193. 

Language,  180. 

Magistrates,  i8o. 

Massacres,  20,  56,  80,  gt,  120,  121.  r28,  364. 

Missions,  133,  144,  172-193,  332-335,  404.  4 M- 

Population,  173. 

Powwows,  178.  182. 

Questions  to  Eliot,  176. 


Indians  and  Strong  Liquors,  193. 

and  the  Jesuits,  190,  etc. 

Christian,  in  Virginia,  126. 

Condition  of  the.  174. 

Education  of,  128,  177,  etc.j  191,  etc. 

Ei^llish  Society  for  Education  of,  176,  etc. 

in  Albany  Church,  186. 

in  France,  44 

in  New  England,  256. 

Praying,  i&i,  »8:   etc. 
Infallibility,  Papal,  589. 
Infidelity,  287,  313-323,  393,  394,  521,  etc,  525, 

526,  529. 
Inimicus  Libellus,  92. 
Instrumental  Music,  165. 
Inspirationists,  646. 
Insubordination,  Civil,  339,  340. 
Intemperance,  347,  441^  etc.,  772. 
Interior.  The,  690. 
Intolerance,  108-124. 
Iowa,  First  Churches  in,  395. 
Irish  Catholics  in  Pennsylvania,  81. 
Irish   fVor/d,  The,  619. 
Iroquois,  The.  58,  etc.,  63,  69,  r88. 
Isabella,  Queen,  13,  14. 
Italian  Republics,  771. 
Iverson,  Hon.  Mr.,  563. 


Jackson's  Centenary  of  Methodism,  417. 

Jacobins,  The,  273,  320-323. 

Jacobs,  Mr.  B.  F.,  692. 

Jamestown  Founded,  27,  28. 

Jarratt,  Rev.  Devereux,  148,  etc.,  267,  348. 

Jay.  Hon.  John.  33,  321-323,  331, 

Jaym<r,  Louis.  80. 

Jefferson,  Hon.  Thomas,  243,  302,  316,  523. 

Jenks,  Rev.  William,  D.D.,  444. 

Jerks,  The,  369. 

Jesuits,  The,  18,  45,  46,  47,  48,  52,  54,  55,  58- 
66,  72,  76,  80,  81.   106,   119,  120,  121,   172, 
190,  etc.,  230,  328,  336,  544,  545,  608. 
iJews,  The,  43,  286,  416,  624, 

Jogues,  Father  Isaac,  53,  60.  63,  64,  65,   70, 

186. 
[Johnson,  Ben,  28. 
[     Oliver,  455,  456,  469,  470. 
Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  246. 
[     Sir  William,  188. 
1  Jones,  Rev.  Abner,  516. 
I      Rev.  Samuel  P.,  696. 
I  Joselyn,   Rev.  S.  S.,  460. 
■Journal  0/  Commerce,  399. 

of  the  Times,  454. 
'Juarez,  19. 
j  Jubilee   Volume  of  American   Tract   Society, 

419. 
Judson,  Rev.  Adoniram,  411^13. 
Judgment,  the.  Future,  305,  etc. 

K 

Kansas-Nebraska  Trouble,  472,  567. 

Kant's  Philosophy,  653.  654,  659,  660,  661. 

Keith,  Mr.  George,  226. 

Kendall,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  493. 

Kent,  Chancellor,  y22>- 

Kentucky,  Morals,  Religion,  etc.,  333^  334,  382, 

394. 
Ketcnum,  Hon.  Hiram,  552. 
Kidd,  Captain.  219. 
Kidder,  Rev.  Dr.  D.  P  ,  428. 
Kidnapping  in  England,  iny. 


INDEX. 


789 


444.  49|> 


Kimball,  Heber  C,  541- 

Rev.  J.  C,  662. 
Kings's  Chapel,  36,  joi. 

College,  246. 

Mountain  Affair,  272. 
Kirkland    Rev.  Dr.  J.  T. 

Rev.  Samuel,  188. 
Kittery,  Baptists  in.  iii. 
Kino's  Journal,  etc.,  417. 
Knapp,  Isaac,  455. 

Rev.  Jacob,  374,  446. 
Kneeland,  Abner,  211,  459,  528. 
Know-Nothings,  553,  586,  596. 
Kobler,  Rev.  John,  296. 


Labasas,  19.-  * 

Lafayette,  General,  475. 
Laidlie,  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald,  146. 
Langdon,  Rev.  Samuel.  D.D.,  241,  863. 
Lanphere,  Mr.  J.  C  ,  693. 
La  Salle,  74,  75,  289. 
Lathrop,  Rev,  John,  D.D.,  205,  492. 
Latin  School,  The  Boston,  233. 
Laws  of  Connecticut,  io6. 

of  Massachusetts  Colony,  106. 

Penal,  in  Virginia,  89. 
Lay  Agencies,  680,  etc. 

Trusteeship  Contest,  550-553,  555. 
Leavitt,  Rev.  Dr.  Joshua,  445,  457,  469. 
Lectures  on  Revivjds,  Sprague's,  371,  374, 
Lee,  General  Charles,  316. 
'  Mother  Ann,  312. 

Rev.  Jesse,  358,  426,  458,  515. 
Legislation,  Early  on  Religion,  89-108, 
Leicester  Academy,  239. 
Le  Moyne,  Simon,  186, 
Lessing,  509. 

Lewis,  Professor  Tayler,  658. 
Liberal  Christian,  The,  507,  627,  632,  633. 
Liberator,  The,  454,  455,  467,  539. 
Liberty  of  Conscience,  87-89. 

Religious,  93,  94,  274. 
Lieber,  Hon.  Francis,  LL.  D.,  601. 
Life,  The  Religious  in  Colonies,  125-152. 
Lilies  0/  France,  77. 
Limitations  of  Early  Charters,  86-88. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  568. 

Hon.  Solomon,  206. 
Lindsay,  Rev.  John,  463. 

Vindication,  301,  302. 
Liquors,  Consumption  of,  447,  572,  575,  773. 

At  Funerals,  212,  213. 
Litch,  Rev.  Josiah,  519. 
Litchfield  Enquirer,   The,  354. 
Literature,  Infidel,  315. 
Livingston,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.,  39,  146,  438. 
Local  Preachers,  689,  739,  740. 
Lock,  John,  121. 

Rev.  Samuel,  LL.D.,  24r. 
Logan  County,  Kentucky,  348. 
"Log  College,"  The,  143,  etc.,  245. 
London,  Bishop  of,  134,  135. 

Company,  85,  90,  91,  127. 

Repository,  The,  5x5.  . 

Londonderry,  N.  H.,  32,  40. 
Long  Sermons  and  Prayers,  165,  166,  167. 
Lord,  Rev.  John,  374,  375. 
Lotteries,  218,  219. 
Lotze,  Professor,  652. 
Louis  XIV.,  71,  75. 
Louisiana,  75,  291,  381,  543. 
Lovejoy,  Rev.  E.  P.,  470. 


Low,  Rev.  Benjamin,  383.  , 

"  Low  Countries,"  Laws  of,  90. 

Loyola,  Army  of,  47. 

Lumpkin,  Hon,  J.  H.,  445. 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  449. 

Lunt,  Bishop,  647. 

Lusson,  St.,  Daumont  de,  71. 

Luther,  194,  229,  766. 

Lutherans,  32,  34,   41,  42,  119,  133,   134,   254, 

255,  256,  285,  414,  491. 
Lyman,  Rev.  Joseph,  D.D.,  412. 
Lyons  Propeiganda,  327. 
Lysanias,  652. 

M 

Mackemie,  Rev.  Francis,  39,  120,  136. 
Madison,  Hon.  James,  273,  317. 

Rev.  Bishop,  316. 
Magee,  Rev.  John,  296,  368. 

Rev.  James,  368. 
Magoun,  Rev.  Dr.,  239,  240,  250. 
Maguire,  Hon.  J.  F.,  615. 
Mail  Carriers,  342. 

Mail,  The  and  the  Sabbath,  473,  474. 
Maine  Invadtd  by  Jesuits,  52. 

Law,  571. 
Maiden,  Town  of,  106,  603. 
.Mandarin  Grandeur,  69. 
Manhattan  Island,  31. 
Manning,  James,  249. 
Mareclial,  Rev   Ambrose,  329. 
.Marietta,  Ohio,  Settled,  297. 
Marquette,  James,  71,  72,  etc.,  289. 
Marshal,  Chief  Justice,  359. 
Martial  Spirit,  264,  etc. 
Martyrdom  of  Brebeuf,  51. 

of  Jog^es,  65. 
Marriage,  154,  163,  579,  580. 
Maryland  Settled,  66,  etc.,  84,  93,  94,  96,  135, 

139,  145- 
Mason,  Hon.  Jeremiah,  251. 

Rev.  Dr.  John  M.,  282,  438. 

Hon.  R.  M.,  of  Virginici,  472,  ^52. 
Massachusetts   Bay  Colony,   29,    85,   88,    100, 

lOI. 

Historical  Society  Collections,  121,  356. 

Home  Missionary  Society,  402,  410. 

Missionary  Magazine,  411,  424. 
Massacre  01  the  Hurons,  51. 
Materialism,  530,  654,  etc. 
Materialistic  Adventists,  520. 
Mather,   Rev.    Dr.   Cotton,   131,  139,  176,  178, 
179,  180,  20T,  ao2,  225. 

Increase,  D.D.,  137,  139,  201,  241. 
Mather's  Magnalia,  239. 
Mattignon,  Rev.  Father,  333. 
May.  Rev.  Samuel  J..  451,  452. 
Mayhew,  Rev.  Jonathan,  D.D.,    197,  205,  209, 

210,  242,  259,  263. 
Mayhews.  The,  175-183. 
Mayo,  Rev.  Dr.  A.D.,  630. 
McCalla,  Rev.  M.,  D.D.,486. 
McClintock,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  426, 
.McCloskey,  Rev.  Cardinal,  588. 
McGee,  Revs.  John  and  William,  3681. 
McGlynn.  Rev.  Dr.  Edward,  592,  60a,  763. 
.McKendree,  Rev.   Bishop,  369. 
McLeod,  Rev.  Norman,  649. 
McMaster's   Popular    History,   238,  243,    324, 

343-346. 
McQuaid,  Rev.  Bishop,  602,  616. 
McTyeire,  Rev.  Bishop,  D,D.,  43,  297, 
i  McWhorter,  Rev.  Dr.  A.,  401. 


790 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Meacham,  Joseph,  312. 

Meade,   Rev.  Bishop  William,  D.  D.,  92,  128, 

134, 148,  149.  209,  2ir.  307, 316,  404, 423, 

521. 

Meeting  Houses,  156-159. 
Mennonites,  32,  34,  42,  139,  285. 
Merrick,  Judge  William  M.,  617. 
Merritt,  Rev.  Timothy,  445,  514. 
"Messepi,  The,"  71. 
Methodism  and  Abolition,  358,  462,  etc. 

and  Theology,  669. 

in  America,  42,  43. 

in  St.  Louis,  390,  391. 

in  the  West,  295,  etc.,  386,  etc. 
Methodist,  The,  quoted,  592. 

Book  Concern,  421,  etc.,  723. 

Economy,  403. 

Episcopal  African  Church,  478. 

Episcopal  Church  formed,  284. 

Episcopal  Church,  South,  414,  481. 

Home  Missions,  403. 

Magazine,  369. 

Missionary  Society,  404,  414. 

Protestant  Church,  479. 

Quarterly  Review,  424,  508,  528,  688,  691. 

Republican,  284. 

The  and  the  Puritan,  480. 
Methodists  and  the  Revolution,  268,  etc. 
Metternich,  Prince,  562. 
Mexico,  Missions  in,  706. 
Midnight  Cry,  The,  519. 
Milbum,  Rev.  W.  H.,  D.D.,  293. 
Millard,  Rev.  David,  517. 
Milledoler,  Rev.  Dr.  Philip,  282. 
Millefj  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  286,  370,  401,  494. 
Millerism,  518-520,  693. 
Mills,  Rev.  Jedediah,  251. 

Rev.  Samuel,  265. 

Rev.  Thornton  A.,  434. 

Samuel  J^  377,  382,  411. 
Ministerial  Dress,  153. 

Influence,  155. 
Ministers  as  Educators,  155. 

Congregational,  278. 

Education  of,  250-252,  429,  etc 

Epi-copal,  279,  280,  388. 

in  1770,  256. 

Statistics  of,  733-755- 

The  Baptist,  283. 
Missionaries,  Female.  701. 
M  issionary  Societies  formed,  364. 

Woman's,  701,  etc. 
Missionary  Herald,  424,  701. 
Missionaries,  Papal,  45,  etc.    . 
Missions,  Baptist,  413. 

Episcopal,  414. 

Foreign^  410,  etc.,  700-709.    '  *^ 

Free- Will  Baptist,  414. 

Home,  710-714. 

in  Asia,  704-5.  .":■ 

Indian,  172-193,  414.  .^ 

in  Europe,  703.  '^ 

in  North  America,  706,  etc. 

in  Polynesia,  705. 

in  South  America,  707. 

Lutheran,  414. 

Methodist,  414. 

Mexican,  7oi6. 

of  the  World,  415. 

Spanish,  17,  etc. 
Mississippi  Company,  290,  291. 
Missouri  Compromise,  567. 
Mitchell,  Rev.  Jonathan,  131. 


Mivart  quoted,  658. 

Mobs  and  Abolition,  457. 

Mulnieaux,  Rev,  Robert,  544, 

MoAhly  Anthology,  The,  494. 

Momreal,  4^-49. 

Mojts,  De,  45. 

Mooldy,  Rev.  Dwight  L.,  690,  695. 

Mooir,  Mr.  Joshua,  192. 

.Moore,  Rev.  Thoroughgood,  187. 

Rev.  Thomas,  281. 
Moorfielda,  The,  142. 
Moot.  Moot  Meetings,  etc.,  156. 
Morals,  77,  128,   132,   138,  140,    141,    212-228, 

337-350,  381,  etc.,  392,  etc.,  561-584. 
Moravians  and  the  Indians,  187,  190. 

The,  32,  34,  42,  255,  256,  285,  292,  293. 
Morgan,  Morgan,*  148. 
Mormon,  Book  of,  5  p,  541. 
Mormonism,  538-542,  646-648,  649,  780. 
Morning  Star,   The,  425. 
Morris,  Hon.  Gouverneur,  524. 

Hon    Robert,  524. 

Rev.  Bishop T.  A.,  D.D.,  391. 
Morrison,   363. 
Morton,  Hon.  Marcus,  445. 
Morse,  Rev.  Dr.  Jedediah.  205,  494. 
Motley,  Rev.  Joseph,  493. 
Mudge,  Rev.  Enoch,  309. 
Mullen,  Rev.  Robert,  D.D.,  618. 
Murphy,  Mr.  Francis  696. 
Murray,  Rev.  John,  209,  304-309,  510. 

J.  O'Kane,  604,  619,  759. 
Music,  Church,  165. 

N 
Nantes.  Edic-t  of,  ^. 
Nassau  Hall,  246. 
Natchez,  First  Church  in,  387. 
Natick,  Massachusetts,  Settlement  of,  178-181, 

193- 
National  Temperance  Society,  573. 
Natural  Religion,  195. 
Naturalism,  530. 
Nauvoo,  542. 
Navigation,  363. 

Neale,  Rev.  Bishop  Leonard,  330,  etc.,  544. 
Negroes,  Condition  of,  570. 
Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  364, 
Nevins,  Rev.  Dr.,  376. 
Newcomb,  Stillman  J.,  455. 
Newcomb's  Cyclopedia,  411-413. 
New  Divinity,  369. 
New  England  First  Fruits,  131,  234. 

Founders  of,  29. 

Puritan,  The,  425. 

Romanism  in,  332,  etc.,  752. 

Rum,  440. 

Settled,  129. 

Statistics  of,  748,  749,  752. 
New  Englander.  The,  ■2jf),  242. 
Newgate  Prison,  345. 
New  Hampshire  Colony,  84. 
New  Harmony,  531. 
New  Haven  Col  ny.  103. 
New  Jersey  Colony.  31,  84,  96. 
New  Jerusalem  Church,     I  he,   310,  311,   518, 

626. 
New  Life,  The.  363-380,  etc. 
New  Lights,  The,  203   204. 
New  Measures.  374,  375. 
New  Netherlands,  31. 

Ceded  to  England,  120. 
New  Orleans,  76,  289, 


INDEX. 


791 


5ion,649.\  ] 

Si  97-         \ 


•  New  Salem  Academf ,  339. 
Newspapers,  338,  340, 425,  7i7,  etc 
New  West  Education  Commission, 
New  York  City  Churches,  286. 

Missions,  409,  410. 

Evangelist,  The,  425. 

Historical  Society  Collections 

Jesuits  in,  58-66. 

Observer,  425,  6go. 

Tribune,  536. 
Nicholet,  Jean,  69. 
Nisbet,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles,  281. 
Noah,  Judge  Mordecai,  624. 
Nonantum  Hill,  175. 
Normandy,  The  Mariners  of,  44, 
North  American  Review,  The,  167,  593,  629, 

653- 
Norton,  Rev.  Andrews,  493,  498. 
Noyes,  J.  Humphrey,  531,  532,  i:!^,  537. 


Oakes,  Rev.  Urian,  241. 
Observer,    The  New  York,  165. 
Occum,  Rev.  Samson,  189,  191,  193. 
Oglethorpe,  Governor,  139. 
Ohio  Company,  291. 

Growth  of,  758. 
O'Kelley,  Rev.  James.  284,  515. 
Old  Churches  of  Virginia,  ^,  92. 
Old  South  Church,  Boston,  36. 
Old  World  Institutions,  125. 
Oneidas,  Mission  to,  188. 
Opinion,  Public,  771,  772. 
Orders  of  Monks  and  Nuns,  335,  604-5. 
Ordinations,  88,  157. 
Organic  Relations  of  Churches,  675,  etc. 
Osgood,  Rev.  Scunuel,  D.D,  494. 
Otheman,  Rev.  Bartholomew,  463. 
Otterbein,  Rev.  William,  38,  286. 
Outward  Religion,  151. 
Owen,  Robert,  486,  527,  etc.,  530,  578. 

Robert  Dale,  641. 


Padilla,  Rev.  Father,  21. 

Paganism  and  the  State,  82. 

Page,  Mr.  Harlan,  682. 

Paine,  Thomas,  317,  320,  323,  341,  349,  523- 

525- 
Palatines,  The,  34. 

Palfrey's  History  0/ New  England,  113. 
Palisades,  The,  157. 
Palmer,  Blind,  525. 

Panoplist,    The,  420,  424,  442,  494,  498. 
Papal  Funds,  18. 

Power  Broken,  364. 
Parish  System,  Rights,  etc.,  102,  108,  499. 
Parker,  Chief  Justice,  498. 

Hon.  Isaac,  443. 

Rev.  Nathan,  D.D.,  493. 

Theodore,  212,  etc.,  470,  505  S07-509i  629, 
etc.,  636,  etc.,  661. 
Parkman,  Francis,  47,  53,  54,  63,  64,   72,    77, 

493. 
Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  408,  497,  681. 
Parochial  Schools,  600,  604. 
Parsons,  Chief  Justice,  356. 
Pastorates,  Long,  155. 
Peabody,  Miss  Elizabeth,  505. 

Rev.  Oliver,  180. 
Pearson  on  Infidelity,  640. 

Rev.  Dr.  Eliphalet,  430,  431. 


Pedicord.  Rev.  Caleb,  269. 

Pelagianism,  204. 

Penal  Laws,  89,  90,  123,  345,  346. 

Penn,  William,  33,  39,  221,  224. 

Pennsylvania,  32,  81,  84,  96,  136,  139. 

Persecution  by  Papists,  390. 

Periodicals,  424^  717. 

Personality  of  God,  506. 

Pessimism,  674. 

Peters,  Hon.  J.  S.,  LL.D.,  ii6,  226. 

Hugh    117. 

Rev.  S.  A.,  115,  265. 
Pews  in  Churches.  159. 
Phalanx,  The,  536,  5.  7. 
Phelps,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  A. ,  460,  470. 

Rev.  Professor  Austin,  D.D.,  577,  673,  695. 
Phillips  Academy,  239. 

John,  435. 

Wendell,  505. 
Phrenology,  509,  530,  650. 
Physicians,  154,  155. 
Pictures  of  Slaver)',  453. 
Pierp>ont,  Rev.  James,  I40. 

Rev.  John,  445,  447. 
Piety,  Decline  of,  137. 

Rootless,  697. 
Pilot,  The,  606. 
Pioneer  Preachers,  388. 
Pitch-pip>es  Voted,  157. 
Plenary  Council,  586-7. 
Plymouth  Colony,  27,  29,  85,99,  '73- 
Pocahontas.  128,  . 

Poles.  Protestant,  34. 
Pond,  Rev.  Enoch,  D.D.,  520. 
Population,  Colonial,  81,  256. 

Problem  of,  757. 

Roman  Catholic,  614-622. 

Rural,  744. 
Post  Bellum  Periods,  337,  etc.,  572. 
Post,  Rev.  Frederick,  292. 
Pormont,  Philemon,  237. 
Porter,  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer,  251,  418,  442. 

Rev.  Dr.  Eliphcilet,  444,  493. 
Potter,  Rev.  W.  J.,  632. 
Powder,  Kegs  of   158. 
"  Power  of  Prayer,  The,"  694. 
Powwows,  Indian,  178,  182. 
"  Practical  Infidelity  Portrayed,"  526. 
Prayer  in  Congress,  266,  317. 
Prayer-Meetings,  694,  712. 
Prayers,  Long,  161,  165,  166.  167. 
Prentice,  Rev.  Professor  George,  D.D.,  508. 
Presbyterians  and  Foreign  Missions,  4x4. 

and  Home  Missions,  401. 

and  Publication  Work,  424. 

and  Slavery,  357,  358,  461. 

and  the  Revolution,  270,  280-283. 

Cumberland,  487. 

Growth  of,  294,  295,  373,  384,  385. 

Irish  and  Scotch  and  Swiss,  32,  40,  137. 

Old  School  and  New  School,  487-489,  675, 
679,  680. 

Persecuted,  n8,  120. 

Reformed,  40,  487. 

Statistics,  282.  733,  735,  736-741. 

the  first  in  United  States,  39,  136. 
Prescott,  quoted,  13. 
Pressed  to  Death,  124. 
Priests,  Roman  Catholic,  81,  622,  623,  751. 
Priesthood  of  Believers,  691,  697. 
Priestley,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph,  302,  523. 
Prima  malt  labes,  196. 
Prime,  Rev.  Dr.  N.  S.,  442- 


'^ 


792 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Prime,  Rev.  S.  Irenaeus,  D.D.,694. 
Prince,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  493. 

Rev,  Thomas,  132,  183. 
Princeton  College,  144,  245,  246. 
Problems,  125,  126,  75  7-780. 
Progress  of  Ideas,  154. 
Prohibition  of  Saloons,  574. 
Propaganda,  Papal,  327,  548,  556,  557,  615. 
Protestant^  The,  453. 

Beginnings,  23,  2;,  125. 

Bloodshed,  20. 

Missions,  172-193, 

Statistics,  733,  etc.,  775-778. 
Proudfit,  Rev.  Dr.  James.  282. 
Provost,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  279. 
Publication  Houses,  421,  etc.,  717. 
Public  Opinion,  771,  772. 
Pulpits,  Old,  159. 

Pulpit,  the,  and  the  Revolution,  263, 
Puritans,  27,  28,  83,  122,  124,  129-133. 
Putnam,  General,  291,  297. 

Rev.  Dr.  S.  P. ,  662. 


Qu.MNT  Stories,  25,  26,  92,  107. 

Quakers,  The,  32,  112,  113,  114,   115,  117,  120, 

136,  139,  736,  etc. 
Quarter  Millennial  Anniversary,  57. 
Quebec  Founded,  45,  etc. 
Queen  Anne's  War,  55. 
Quitman,  General,  568. 


Racon  Printing  Office,  196. 

Catechism,  196. 
Radical,   The,  639. 
Raikes,  Mr.   Robert,  426. 
Rale,  Sebastian,  57,  121. 
Ramsay,  238. 

Randall,  Rev.  Benjamin,  285, 
Randolph,  Hon.  Edmund,  272,  273,  316,  565. 

Hon.  Peyton,  266. 
Rapp,  George,  530 
Rawson,  Edward,  177. 

Rev.  Grindall,  168. 
Rebellion,  Sliay's,  272. 

The  Whiskey,  273. 
Rebellions  in  the  United  States,  772. 
Recollects,  the  First  Three,  46. 
Reed,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  493. 
Reform  Clubs,  696. 
Reformation,  Protestant,  14,  24,  125, 
Reformed  Ass'  >ciate  Church,  282. 

Church,  38,  41,  87,  97,  146,  254,  269,  285, 

Church  Manual,  270. 

Messenger,  425. 

Methodist  Church,  478. 

Presbyterian  Church,  40. 
Reforms,  351-360,  440,  etc. 
Rertter,  Rev.  E.  A.,  615. 
Religion  and  Antislavery,  357,  etc. 

Decline  of,  181,  138. 

in  Colonial  Churches,  87,  88,  125-152. 
Religious  Belief,  94. 

Benevolence,  714,  etc. 

Customs,  153,  etc. 

Intelligencer,  425. 

Limitations,  87,  88,  276. 

Monthly  Magazine,  509,  632,  662. 

Orders,  604,  etc., 
Renan,  quoted,  661. 
Republican  Methodists,  284,  516. 


I  Republicanism,  the  germ  of,  ^.  1 

Reput>Iics,  the  Italian,  771. 
Restcrationfem,  307,  etc.,  514,  627. 
Retribution,  Future,  305,  etc. 
Reumon  of  Churches,  678,  679. 
Reverence,  152. 
Revivals,  287,  288,  693-696. 

in  Colleges,  248,  249,  376-378. 

in  1800,  367-379. 

in  New  England,  132,  138,  140,  etc.,  371,  375. 

under  Eklwards,  141,  etc.,  202,  etc.,  300. 
Revolution,  The,  and  morals,  337,  etc. 

Cost  of  the,  261. 
Revolutionizing  Tendencies,  769,  770. 
Rhode  Island  Clmrte'r,  89. 
Rice,  Rev.  Dr.  Asaph,  188. 

Rev.  David,  368. 
Rich,  Rev.  Caleb,  210,  211,  307. 
Richards,  Jcunes,  377,  411,  412. 
Rigdon,  Sidney,  540,  541. 
Ripley,  Mr.  George,  505. 

Rev.  Dr.  Ezra,  324  493. 
Robinson,  One-Eyed,  143. 

Rev.  John,  173. 
Rodgers,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  146,  265,  280. 
"  Rogue's  Harbor,"  348. 
Roman  Catholic  Bishops,  Lives  of,  524. 

Regiments,  594. 

Total  Abstinence  Union,  573. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  13,  325-336,  543,  558, 
586,  etc.,  622. 

and  the  Indians,  335. 

Estimates,  615-616, 

Funds,  591. 

Growth  of,  614-623. 

in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  135,  145. 

in  Bost<  'H,  333. 

in  Kentucky,  334. 

in  New  England, 

Large  Cities,  621,  etc.  . 

Losses,  618-621. 

New  York  City,  331. 

Property,  591,  592,  595,  598. 

Property  in  United  States,  614. 
Romanism  in  the  West,  753,  336,  380,  etc.,  390. 

Statistics  of,  558,  614.  751. 
"  Ruling  Elders,"  102. 
Rum,  184,  212,  440. 
Rupp,  Daniel,  484. 

Rush,   Dr.  Benjamin,  227,  etc.,  352,  etc.,  441, 
etc. 

S 

"  Sabba  Day  Houses,"  159. 
Sailor''s  Magazine,  415. 
Sainte  Famille,  48. 
Salaries  of  Ministers,  156. 
San  Francisco,  22, -80. 
Sanger,  Rev.  Dr.  Zedekiah,  493. 
Santa  Fc,  22,  70,  79. 
Sargeant,  Rev.  John,  184,  185. 
Saunders,  Rev.  Dr.  David  C,  493. 
Sav2ige,  Rev.  M.  J.,  634,  639. 
SchafT,  Rev.  Dr.  PhiHp,  669. 
Scheme,  Papal,  66. 
Schenectady  Indians,  186. 
Schilling,  661. 

Schisms,  465,  478-490,  675,  etc. 
Schliermacher,  663. 
Schmucker.  Rev.  Dr.,  120. 
Scholastic  and  Vital  Truth,  668-672. 
Schools,  47,  95,  171,  229,  233-240. 
I  Schwenkf elders.  The,  41. 


INDEX. 


793 


Science,  642,  658-66a  \ 

Scolding  Punished,  93. 

Scott,  Rev.  Orange,  385,  462,  463,  470,  48i| 

Seabury,  Rev.  Bishop,  279. 

Seaman's  Progress  0/  Sations^  139,  356. 

Seamen's  Societies,  415. 

Sears,  Rev.  E.  H.,  631,  632,6^2, 

Seaton,  Mrs.,  546. 

Separatists,  28,  29,  83,  144,  483. 

Sermons,  154,  165,  166,  2i&2. 

Servitude,  Indentured,  221,  222. 

Seventh  Day  Baptists,  42,  285,  483. 

SewaJl,  Hi)n.  S.,  i66,  183,  207,  206. 

Thomas,  M.D.,  447. 
Seward,  Hon.  William  H.,  5152. 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  195. 
Shakers,  62^. 
Shakespeare,  27. 
Shaw,  Chief  Justice,  356. 
Shay's  Rebellion,  272. 
Shea,  J.  G.,  55,  78.  80,  94,  336. 
Shepherd,  Rev.  Thomas,  29,  130,  176. 
Sherman,  Hon.   Roger,  317, 
Shute,  Rev.   Dr.  Daniel,  492. 
Siegfvolck,  Paul,  209. 
Singing  in  Churches,  161,  etc.,   164,  165. 
Sisterhoods,  546,  604-8. 
Six  Nations,  The,  51,  187,  188. 
Skepticism,    195,  196,  521,   etc.,  640,  etc  ,  664, 

etc.,  667. 
Slat-T,  Mr.  Samuel,  427. 
Slaughter  of  Huguenots,  j,T). 
^   Slavery,  27,  222.  etc.,  256,   359,  448-473,    526, 

675-677.  772,  774- 
Sleeper,  Hon.  Jacob,  443. 
Small,  Rev.  Sam.  W.,  69:. 
Smalley,  Rev.  Dr.,  251,  252. 
Smallfjox,  139. 
Smith,  Hon.  John  Cotton,  445. 

Joe,  539-543, 

Professor  Gold  win,  651. 

Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  265. 

Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhoj>e,  281. 

Rev.  John  Blair,  281,  265. 
Smyth,  Rev.  Dr.  Newman,  659. 
Snell,  Rev.  Dr.,  374. 
Snow's  History  0/  Boston.,  232. 
Social  Condition,  343-346. 
Socialism,  527,  etc.,  530,  etc.,  644,  etc. 
Socinians  and  Socinianism,  195,  196,  503. 
Society  P.  G.  V.  P.,  36. 
South  Church,  Boston,  300. 
Southern  Col  nies,  330,  334. 
Sounding  Board,  159. 
Soaulding,  Rev.  Bishop,  D.D.,  617-619. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  656,  6i5o. 

Hon.  John  C  ,  552. 

Rev.  Elihu,  189. 
Spicer,  Rev.  Tobias,  539. 
Spirit  0/ the  Pilgrims,  495. 
Spiritism,  640,  etc. 
Spiritual  Pegisfer,  T/ie'^ 6^1. 
Spirituality,  696-699. 

Sprague's   Annals,  .46,  182,  189,  243,  302,  306. 
Spring.  Rev.  Dr.  Gardner,  378,  419,  475,  576. 

Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  399,  412. 
Sproatt,  Rev.  James,  281. 
St.  Augustine,  18,  20,  78. 
St.  Domingo,  3.^0. 
St.  Genevieve,  81. 
St.  John's  Rod,  538. 
St.  Louis,  385,  390. 
St.  Mary's  University,  329. 


Stack,  William,  213. 
Stamford,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  4 17. 
Stamp  Act,  260. 
Standard  of  France,  72. 

of  Judgment,  121-124. 
"  Standing  Order,"  The,  no. 
State  and  Church  Sundered,  273-277.    .- 

Basis  of  in  New  England,  101. 
Statistics  of  Churches  in  1775,  255-6. 

Later,  732-755, 
Stanton,  Hon.  Edwin  M.,  460. 
Stevens,  Rev.   Abel,  LL.D.,  2S4,  387,  395,  416, 

417,  421,  426,  463,  658,  691. 
Stewart,  Alvan,  450. 
Stillwellites,  479. 
Stockbridge  Mission,  183,  etc. 
Stocks,  Punishment  in  the,  92. 
Stoddard,  Rev.  Solomon,  D.D.,  138,   150,  301, 

204. 
Stomach  Plates,  447. 
Stool  of  Repentance,  163. 
Story,  Hon.  Joseph,  LL.D., 84,  etc.,  773. 
Storrs,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.,  681. 

Rev.  George,  458,  463,  519,  520. 
Stoves  in  Churches,  158,  etc. 
Stow,  Rev.  Baron,  4.3. 
Stowe,  Mrs.  H.  B.,  472. 
Strauss,  quoted,  509,  661,  663,  665. 
Strawbridge,  Rev.  Robert,  43,  6S9. 
Streeter,  Rev.  Adam,  210,  211. 

Rev.  Sebastian,  510. 
Strong,  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan,  210,  306. 
Stuart,  George  H.,  60. 

Rev.  Professor  Moses,  D.  D.,  494,  520,670. 
Students,  Pious,  130,  437,  730. 
Stuyvesant,  Governor,  43,  120. 
Styles,  Rev.  Dr.  Ezra,  245,  250,  253,  360. 
Sumner,  Hon.  Charles,  471,  473. 
Sunday  Afternoon,  The,  731. 
Sunday  Committee  in  New  York,  575. 

Documents,  477 

Schools,  etc.,  168-170,426,  427,  428,  429,  691, 

693- 
The,  92,   152,   164,    214,    214-217,    340,  365, 
^      473-477,  575,  577- 
Sunderland,  Le  Roy,  463,  464,  480. 
Superstitions  in  the  Colonies,  219,  220. 
Swedenb  .rg,  Emanuel,  310,  311. 
Swedenborgians,  518,  626. 
Syllabus  of  Errors,  600. 
Synagogue.  43,  286. 
Synod,  40,  118,  131,  150. 


T.\BER,  Hon.  Mr  ,  596. 
Table  of  Discoveries,  etc.,  26. 
Tablet,    The,  599,  601,  618, 
Taney,  Hon.  Roger  B.,  449. 
Tappan,  Hon.  Arthur,  457. 

John,  445. 
Tarbox,    Rev.    Dr.    Increase,    151,    214,    218, 

431- 
"  Tate  and  Brady,"  162. 
Taxes  for  Religion,  91,  93,  95.  97,  98. 
Taylor,  Rev.  Dr.  N.,  670. 

Rev.  Edward  T.,  416. 
Teachers,  102,  153. 
Temperance,  351,  etc.,  354,  365,  440-448,  555, 

570-574- 
Tennant,  Rev.  Gilbert,  202,  246. 

Rev.  William,  143,  264,  281. 
Territories,  The,  289,  etc. 


794 


CHRISTIANITY  IN    THE   UNITED  S' 


Tests,  Religious,  276,  etc. 
Texas,  First  Churches  in,  395. 
Thanksgivings,  130,  166,  171. 
Thatcher,  Rev.  Daniel,  288. 

Rev.  Peter,  151. 
Thayer,  Rev.  Dr.  Nathaniel,  493. 

Rev.  John,  y>^. 
Theaters,  3^2. 
TheologicaJ  Seminaries,  329,  430,  437,  etc.,  437- 

439,  730- 
Theology,  Purification  of,  d68. 
Thirty  Years'  Wai\  The,  27. 
Thompson,  Hon.  George,  463,  466,  470. 

Rev.  Dr.  J.  P.,  103,  472. 
Thoreau,  quoted,  665. 
Throat  Epidemic,  139. 
Thurston,  Rev.  David,  460. 
Times,  New  York,  591. 
Todd,  Rev.  John,  146. 
Toleration,  Religious,  35,  94,  107. 
Tories  and  Whigs,  337. 
Torrey,  Rev.  Charles  T.,  468,  470. 
Tortures  by  Indians,  61,  etc.,  65. 
Total  Abstinence,  446. 
Town  Meetings  in  New  England,  156,  157. 
Tract  Magazine,  425. 
Tract  Societies,  364,  416,  etc.,  477. 
Transcendentalists,  504-506,  629,  633. 
Transylvania  Company,    1  he,  291. 

University,  323,  522. 
Treadwell,  Governor  John,  412. 
Treat,  Rev.  Samuel,  i8i. 
Tree  of  Liberty,  321,  32. . 
Tribune,    The  New   York,  536. 
Trinity,  The,  196,  304,  672,  671. 
True  Reformed  Dutch  Church,   1  he,  486. 
Trumbull,  Dr.  Jonathan,  138. 

Governor,  579. 
J.  Hammond,  168-170. 
Trumpet,  7  he,  307,  511. 
Tuckernian,  Rev.  J.,  D.D.,  445,  493. 
Tunkers,  The,  42. 
Tuns,  The,  156. 
n  urner.  Rev.  Richard,  288. 
Twining,  Rev.  Dr.  C.  F.,  731. 
Tyler.  Rev.  Dr.  Bennett,  371,  670. 
Tyndall,  Professor,  655,  656. 
Tything-Men,  161,  162. 


Uberweg,  194. 

Ultramontanism  in  America,  592. 

Uncas,  178. 

Unchastity  in  Colonies,  217,  218. 

Unitarianism,  196-208,  302,  303,  498,  628-635. 

in  Boston,  492,  496,  497. 

Statistics  of,  635. 
Union  American  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
676. 

Meetings,  299. 

Plan  of,  386,  488. 
United  Brethren,  38,  286. 
United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America, 

079. 
Cntted  States  Gazetteer,  295. 
Unity  of  Churches,  679. 

Universalism,  209,  304,  etc.,  510-515,  626-628. 
Universalist,    The,  307. 
"  University  of  Henrico,'   230. 

of  Pennsylvania,  249. 
Upheaval  in  Europe,  24. 
Usher,  Archbishop,  28. 
Utah,  Churches  in,  649. 


Vaill,  Rev.  Joseph,  4X),' 
Vanderlip,  George  M.,  6s6. 
Verl^  Dei  Minister,  154. 
Vextlla  Regis,  71. 
Vibratory  Movements,  673. 
Vickers,  Rev.  Thomas,  632. 
Villeinage,  220,  222. 
Vincennes  Founded,  81. 
Vincent,  Rev.  John  H.,  D.D.,  692. 
Vinton,  Rev.  J.  A.,  103. 
Virginia  Colony,  30,  84. 

Colony  Legislation  in,  89-93. 

Company,  128. 

Council,  126,  129. 

Indians  in,  189. 

Religion  in,  126-128,  134,  145,  i47-i5a 

Sons  of,  243. 
VisitSj  Religious,  712. 
Voltaire,  374,  417,  661,  697. 
Voluntary  Principle,  83. 
Voyages,  English,  24-27. 

Spanish,  13-20. 

Waban,  175,  180. 
Wabash  region,  290. 
Waddell,  Rev.  James,  281. 
Wadsworth,  Rev.  Benjamin,  241. 
Wages,  344,  645,  646. 
Walker,  Rev.  Jesse,  381,  387,  389,  390. 
Walworth,  Hon.  R.  H.,  LL.D.,  445. 
Ware,  John,  M.D.,  444. 

Rev.   Henry,   D.D.,  206,  439,  493,  494,  504- 
506. 
Warren,  J.  Collins,  M.D.,  443,  535. 

Rev.  W.  F.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  523,  530,  650. 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  249. 

General,  249,  284,  328,  340,  341,  565. 
Washingionian  Reform,  The,  446. 
Watchman.  The,  425,  480,  686. 
Waters,  Rev.  Francis,  D.D.,  479. 
Watertown,  Massachusetts,  Church  in,  130. 
Watts,  Hon.  Francis  O.,  686. 
Wayne,  General,  291. 
Wealth,  Increase  of,  699. 

of  Churches,  716. 

of  United  States,  715. 
Webb,  Captain,  43,  689. 
Webster,  Miss  Delia,  471. 

Rev.  Noah,  494. 
Weld,  Theodore  D.,  450,  460. 
Wells,  Rev.  William,  D.D.,  493. 
Wentworth,  Governor,  248. 
Wesley  and  Temperance,  351,  etc. 

Followers  of,  42. 

Rev.  John,  42,  43,  190,  226,  228, 268,  309,  4>6, 
426. 
Wesley  an  Books,  421. 
Journal,  425. 

Quarterly  Review,  464, 

Revival,  416. 

Schism,  465. 
West  India  Company,  31,  87,  97,  133. 

Rum,  440. 
West,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D.,  185,  492. 

The,  292,  753. 
Western  Reserve,  292. 
Westfield  Academy,  239. 
Westminster  Assembly,  105. 

Revieiv,  -jfyi. 
W  hatcoat,  Rev.  Bishop,  284. 
Whedon,  Rev.  Dr.,  D.D.,  463. 


/ 


IXDEX. 


793 


•  334-  I 

;ar,  189,  191,  igi,  248, 


Whelan,  Rev.  1-ai.        M 
Wheelock,  Rev.  Ur.  L.ieazar, 

251-  \ 

Rev.  John,  24S.  \ 

Whining  Tones,  152.  \ 

Whipple,  Edwin  P.,  133,  655. 
Whisky  Rebellion,  273. 
Whitaker,  Rev.  Ale.xander,  127,  128. 

Rev.  James,  312. 
White,  Andrew,  66,  etc. 

Hon.  Joseph,  238. 

Rev.  Bishop  William,  266,  279,  426. 
Whitefield,    Rev.    George,    43,    140,    142,   etc., 

144,  202,  206,  211,  226. 
Whittemore,  Rev.    Thomas,  307,  510. 
Whittier,  quoted,  359. 
Wickenden,  Rev.  William,  120. 
Wiggleswortli,  Edward,  163. 
Wilberforce,  Bishop,  172. 
Willard,  Rev.  Samuel,  241. 
William  and  Mary,  85,  135. 
William  and  Mary   College,  135,  230,  etc.,  242, 

243,  316,  521. 
Williams  College,  411. 
Williams,  Roger,  112,  113,  123,  340. 
Wilson,  Hon.  Henry,  355, -357,  3^0,  4  =  1. 
Winans,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  388. 
Winchester,  Rev.  Elhanan,  304-30^,  510,  672. 
Winebrennerians,  484,  etc. 
Winship,  Rev.  A.  E.,  646. 
Winslow,  Edward,  177. 
Winsor,  Justin,  LL.D.,  109. 
Winthrop,  Governor,  29.  106. 
Winthrop's  Journal,  128,  132,  133. 
Wisconsin,  First  Churches  in,  395. 

River,  The,  70,  73. 
Wise,  Rev.  Daniel,  D.D.,  428. 
WithersfXJOn,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  246,   264. 
Witchcraft,  219.  224,  104. 
JVi'iness,  New  York  Daily ^  595. 


Wolfe,  General,  290. 

Wood,  Rev.  Aaron,  386. 

VV'oods,  Rev.  Leonard,  D.D.,  444,  49.1. 

Woman's  Christian  1  emperance  Union, 573, 6g6. 

Work,  688,  689. 
Women's  Crusade,  573. 

Missions,  701,  702. 
Women  Ducked,  92 
Worcester,  Rev.  Dr.  Noah,  493. 

Rev.  Dr.   Samuel,  311,  412,  443,444,  518,  598. 
World's  Temperance  Convention,  447. 
Worship,  Attendance  on,  216,  etc. 

Freedom  of  in  New  York,  97. 

Neglect  of  Punished,  116. 

Puritan,  161,  etc. 


Yale  College,  no,  244,  etc  ,  301. 

Infidelity  in,  319,  320. 

Revivals  in,  376,  etc. 

Rules  of,  245. 
Yale,  Rev.  Cyrus,  444. 

Elihu,  244. 
Yancey,  Hon.  Mr.,  568. 
Yearly  Meetings,  39. 
Years  of  Labor,  712. 
Yeomans,  Professor,  666. 
Young,  Brigham,  542. 

Rev.  Benjamin,  386,  387. 

Rev.  Jacob,  381.  387. 

Men's    Christian   Associatior,    685-687,  695, 

747- 
Women's  Christian  Association,  689,  747. 
Youth's  Companion,  7 he^  425. 


Zeisberger,  Rev.  DaviJ.  293. 
Zion's  Herald,  quoted,  309,  425,  463. 
Watchman^  463. 


IN  COMPLIANCE  WITH  CURRENT 

COPYRIGHT  LAW 

OCKER  &  TRAPP  INC. 

AND 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL 

PRODUCED  THIS  REPLACEMENT  VOLUME 

ON  WEYERHAEUSER  COUGAR  OPAQUE  NATURAL  PAPER, 

THAT  MEETS  ANSI/NISO  STANDARDS  Z39.48-1992 

TO  REPLACE  THE  IRREPARABLY 

DETERIORATED  ORIGINAL.  1999 


1    1012  01181    7022 


